the.ronin
Well-known member
I just brought in my Kamaka HF3 (tenor) to have a pickup installed. I really trust these guys and they come well recommended from people I know as well as folks on this forum.
I just had a MiSi installed on another tenor so I was hoping to get the Baggs 5.0 on this one. But the guy saw it was a Kamaka and showed me how thin the saddle slot was and how the Baggs element would fold up slightly along the sides. So instead he recommended a Fishman element which is noticeably narrower with the MiSi system. Having done this before, on other Kamaka's he mentioned that he had ran it by MiSi themselves to make sure this was ok (actually, I'd read before on their website that using other elements was totally fine). The tech also mentioned that he thinks the Baggs would also work but since he had not done that before, he recommended to stick to this solution that he knows for sure will work.
I was really glad he caught this and we talked it through while I was there but also, I'm a little disappointed because I really wanted to try the Baggs having heard so much about it.
Any other Kamaka owners come across this?
I just had a MiSi installed on another tenor so I was hoping to get the Baggs 5.0 on this one. But the guy saw it was a Kamaka and showed me how thin the saddle slot was and how the Baggs element would fold up slightly along the sides. So instead he recommended a Fishman element which is noticeably narrower with the MiSi system. Having done this before, on other Kamaka's he mentioned that he had ran it by MiSi themselves to make sure this was ok (actually, I'd read before on their website that using other elements was totally fine). The tech also mentioned that he thinks the Baggs would also work but since he had not done that before, he recommended to stick to this solution that he knows for sure will work.
I was really glad he caught this and we talked it through while I was there but also, I'm a little disappointed because I really wanted to try the Baggs having heard so much about it.
Any other Kamaka owners come across this?