We installed a Fishman Matrix active acoustic pickup for a customer in a mid line Ibanez acoustic. Now, I had someone ask me, ‘Why put an expensive acoustic pickup in a mid line Ibanez?’ Well, quite simple, it comes down to, that is what the customer wanted. I have to say however that I’m a firm believer that it does not matter the make of the guitar, it’s all how it feels and plays. So, needless to say, we got on the job.

This first picture is a shot of the bridge, saddle and pickup which will be modified and installed.

Next, we marked the nut with the size of the pickup, drilled the hole for the wire through the bridge, and widened the hole where the old strap holder was to install the Fishman electronics and input jack.

We then took the saddle and our measurements, and routed out the bottom in a way that he saddle still retained it’s original height, but left room for the pickup. Not only does this help in retaining the current setup of the instrument, but it also re-leaves some of the string pressure on the actual pickup itself.

Finally, we mounted the battery ‘sack’, which really was the most disappointing part of the whole fishman kit, and detailed and restrung the instrument. Although the Matrix pickup has the option, this particular customer opted not to have a volume and tone nob installed in case they felt like moving the pickup to another guitar in the future.