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10 Soundhole Pickups for All Styles of Steel-String Strummers

Fishman soundhole

Whether you’re looking to conjure crisp clarity or crunchy character from your steel-string, these 10 soundhole pickups cover a range of sounds and prices.


LR BAGGS M1 Active

This active pickup promises 1,000 hours of playing time on a single battery. Its built-in volume control, gold-plated 1/8" jack, and adjustable pole pieces offer flexibility and high-quality feedback-resistant sound.

$229 street

lrbaggs.com

EMG ACS

With a custom-designed internal preamp and adjustable pole pieces, this pickup is built to deliver clarity with a low noise floor and a broad frequency response.

$159 street

emgpickups.com

DEARMOND Tone Boss

This passive humbucker includes an onboard volume control and adjustable pole pieces, and comes in black, cream, and tortoiseshell trim options.

$89 street

dearmondpickups.com

RECORDING KING Gold Foil Soundhole Pickup

For lo-fi, old-school sounds, it doesn’t get any simpler—or more affordable—than this.

$49 street

recordingking.com

CURTIS NOVAK DA-1200 Soundhole

This customized copy of the iconic DeArmond soundhole pickups comes in three coil options—vintage, hot, and GT. It’s available with either 250k or 500k volume pots, and can be configured with various cable options.

$359 street

curtisnovak.com

FISHMAN RareEarth

Available in both humbucking and single-coil models, this low-current active neodymium pickup runs for up to 240 hours on a set of batteries.

$219 street

fishman.com

SEYMOUR DUNCAN Woody HC

With a custom maple, walnut, or black-stain housing, these double-potted humbuckers deliver an elegant look.

$79 street

seymourduncan.com

MOJOTONE Quiet Coil NC-1

This active option is voiced to mimic the sound of a condenser mic and promises over 500 hours on a pair of lithium batteries.

$199 street

mojotone.com

BARTOLINI 3AV Acoustic Guitar Soundhole Pickup

Designed to be installed on a soundhole’s bridge side, this stacked-coil hum-canceling pickup features ceramic magnets and B-string mass compensation.

$136 street

bartolini.net

KNA HP-1A

This active neodymium humbucker features a mahogany-capped birch housing and comes with a 1/8" to 1/4" cable.

$119 street

knapickups.com

We’re giving away more gear! Enter Stompboxtober Day 24 for your chance to win today’s pedal from Maxon!

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Fender’s Greasebucket system is part of Cory Wong’s sonic strategy.

Courtesy of singlecoil.com

Here’s part two of our look under the hood of the funky rhythm guitar master’s signature 6-string.

Hello and welcome back to Mod Garage. In this edition, we’re continuing our journey through the Fender Cory Wong Stratocaster wiring, bringing it all together.In the previous installment, the last feature on the funky 6-stringer’s signature axe that we discussed was the master volume pot and the corresponding treble-bleed circuit. Now, let’s continue with this guitar’s very special configuration of the tone pots.

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The Keeley ZOMA combines two of iconic amp effects—tremolo and reverb—into one pedal.

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Your 100 Guitarists hosts are too young to have experienced SRV live. We’ve spent decades with the records, live bootlegs, and videos, but we’ll never know quite how it felt to be in the room with SRV’s guitar sound.

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