AMT is now offering easy-to-use pickup installation kits for spiderbridge resonator guitars, including the following items:
- AMT, Fishman or Schertler pickup (pre-installed on spiderbridge)
- AMT high-performance spiderbridge
- AMT low mass, self-centering tension screw
- Switchcraft or Neutrik tailblock output jack (for 1/4" phone plug)
- Drill bit & alignment guide for 1/2" tailblock output jack hole
- Drill bit & alignment guide for 1/8" pickup lead hole thru cone support ledge
- Finish protection tape
- Soldering iron
- Silver solder
- Desoldering braid
- Heat shrink tubing
- Tie-wraps
- Miniature pliers
- Output jack nut wrench
- Detailed instructions
- Optional quick disconnect pickup cable assembly (add $50)
- Optional charge-amplifier pickup buffer (add $100)
Tools included in the kit may be returned to AMT for credit when pickup installation has been completed. For further details or to purchase an installation kit, send an email to Sales@AdvancedMusicTechnology.com or call (616) 243-1548.
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Erik@AdvancedMusicTechnology.com
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So Erik, you have pickup available that you designed? Tell us more!
The AMT reso pickup consists of a thin, lightweight piezoelectric sensing element integrated into a standard ebony-capped maple bridge insert (with other insert cap and base materials optionally available in order to achieve the desired acoustic voicing for a particular reso). A primary design goal for this pickup was minimizing any changes in the bridge insert's mass or sonic transfer characteristics, in order to retain the natural acoustic properties of the reso into which it's installed. In addition to the standard 6 string model, it's also available in 7 and 8 string versions.
To obtain the most natural amplified reso sound, this pickup should be used in combination with AMT's charge-amplifier pickup buffer and/or Fishman's Aura mic imaging pedal.
Please tell us about the high-performance spider bridge and the low mass self-centering tension screw.
AMT's "low mass, self-centering tension screw" is a stainless steel 4-40 machine screw with unnecessary/excess metal removed to reduce its mass by about 50% compared to a standard tension screw. The screw is "self-centering" because the radiused bottom edge of its head is designed to center itself in a tapered opening at the base of AMT's high-performance spiderbridge. This inhibits sideways movement of the screw's head or shaft and focuses tensional force onto the screwhead's outer edge -- improving sonic coupling between the screw and bridge while also preventing buzzing (even when the screw has been adjusted for very low cone tension).
A full description of AMT's new high-performance spiderbridge (and its many advantages in comparison to other reso bridges) will soon be covered in another forum thread.