Fishman Neo-D02 Humbucker Soundhole Pickup

I've had the Fishman Neo-D humbucker pickup permanently installed in my '84 Sigma Martin DM-4S for a number of years now and I'm very happy with the sound I'm getting from it. I have a number of acoustics from Martin, Guild, etc. but none of them have pickups and I have no desire to install on these guitars as they reside primarily in my home studio and I want to keep them structurally pristine. I needed an acoustic to gig with so I had the Neo-D installed permanently on the Sigma dread with an end-pin jack and also had volume and tone pots installed. I run it primarily through a Fishman LoudBox (eq flat with a touch of chorus) and the tone is amazing, much better than the guitar sounds acoustically on its own - rich bottom, smooth through the middle, sparkling highs. I've used it through different amps, PAs and it always gives me a very natural and balanced acoustic sound. One thing to note - this is a passive pickup (not powered) and it requires a bit more gain than an active pickup does (this has not been an issue for me but your mileage may vary). That aside, this pickup sounds fantastic, is a great value and I can wholeheartedly recommend!

Perfect for those who don't want to mess with micing an acoustic guitar. Installation in my Orangewood Echo took about 30 seconds. Did not have to remove or loosen the strings. Plugged into my POD HD500X. Sound great to my ears. The only real downside, which does not effect me, is that if your acoustic has low/moderately low action, your higher strings cannot clear the pickup past the 12th fret (+/- a fret or two depending upon your action.) If you play chords or scales/leads in the higher frets, this pickup probably isn't for you. This is due to the thickness of the cork padding where the pickup clamps into your sound hole. If you don't mind voiding the warranty, I imagine you could replace the cork with a thinner padding and reduce or eliminate the higher fret fingering issue.

This has been in my drawer for years. Popped it in my new Taylor Mini and played through a Fishman LBX Mini. WOW. Lush and articulate. Love it again.

On my Gibson CF-100E, the stock factory P-90 did not give the desired sound: it was too exaggerated in the low mid-range freqs. I had a Fishman under-bridge pick up put in that was not well-balanced, even when using the best Fishman preamp with graphic EQ. My friend had one of these on his Guild and I loved the sound of it, as it was very natural-sounding and had good output, without a pre-amp and without any EQ. The structure of my CF100E didn't allow me to mount the pickup in the sound hole by the neck, so I put it in the sound hole at the bridge end, which sounds a little bright, but a little simple EQ fixes it quite nicely. I am super happy and much relieved! Also, very little hum is picked up!! YAY!!!

I am sure it works well since it's fisherman, but it needs to be emphasized that this Fishman pickup has a ten foot cable with a MALE 1/4 plug on the end to plug into a FEMALE jack. It is NOT pre-wired with a female jack for insertion into a pre-drilled hole. I drove to the store, brought it home, and was disappointed when I could not install it into my acoustic with a pre-drilled hole. Cord just hangs out when playing and is very much in the way.

I bought this to replace an old Bill Lawrence acoustic pickup. After installing the Fishman I began to test it out. Everything was fine until I started to play in higher frets. Around the 10th fret, the quality was diminished. At the 12 fret, all I got was "tink." My strings were hitting the top of the pickup when fretted. I tried to lower the position of the pickup, but there isn't much leeway as the length of the pickup doesn't expand. I had to send it back.