Our customer, Mark, asked Doc if it was possible to add a magnetic pickup to the existing factory installed undersaddle pickup and preamp to increase the versatility of his L.P. styled Traveler guitar. A Duncan mini-humbucker with a Firebird mounting ring was the logical choice for the new pickup. A routing template was fabricated in 1/4" Lexan and the pickup cavity was cut on our pin routing machine. An existing round cavity on the back of the guitar, which was used for routing the undersaddle pickup leadwire to the side-mounted preamp, was modified to accept a mini 500k volume control for the new Duncan pickup. Locating this volume control in a more conventional spot on the lower bout was not possible due to the battery box on the back of the guitar. A stereo output jack was used to allow the output signals for each pickup to run through a stereo y-cord to separate amps to optimize the very different sounds of the undersaddle piezo and the new mini-humbucker. This arrangement also allows the use of different effects pedals for each pickup, which makes for some very creative sound possibility's from this little guitar.
The Result