Open mic nights

Tall_martin · March 2023

Hi,

The quration-
will people at an open mic night notice a better ( than bog basic) acoustic guitar?

The preamble-

My bands drummer and bass player are moving away and giving up for health reasons respectively.

It leaves me on "functional" backing Vocals and guitar and a singer.

While we look for replacements I'd like to try some open mic nights. Having a drummer made this a bit tricky as there are very few open mic nights round our way with a drum kit.

I have electric guitars and a fully acoustic guitar. It's a cheaply vintage v300 I got for £20 in a terrible state years ago. Last time I got a hankering for an acoustic guitar I preferred the vintage to all the acoustics I tried up to £500 in a shop about 10 years ago.

So 3 options
1) Getting a pick up for my current guitar

2) There is an electro acoustic version of the v300 for £100 second hand

3)Something new to me. A Possible budget £500 new or second hand.

Any thoughts?

munckee · March 2023

If you turn up with a £20 guitar and play great thats a massive win rather than me turning up with my >£2k gibson acoustic and making an ar$e of myself!

hollywoodrox · March 2023

The vintage V300 got the guitar magazine Best guitar £1000 or under award so no worries
I play a Harley Benton that cost about £54 & I’d take that

bertie · March 2023

Tall_martin said:

Any thoughts?

if you're serious about #3 - try and get to a shop and try as many as you can.

Things have moved on a lot in 10 years, if not, then Id say #2

Supportact · March 2023

I reckon if you're happy with the guitar in general and it plays ok then I'd just stick a pickup in it and use that. Unless you really want to go shopping for an upgrade.

Soupman · March 2023

I'm with @munckee . 2/3 of the punters won't notice you're there anyway, as they're busy swilling.
The others will respect what you're doing not what instrument you're playing.
You could get a soundhole pickup, easy fit, various quality/prices.
Or you could take an electric along - some venues have an amp available & a PA.
Best option could be to go along to the venue you fancy as a spectator, then take the guitar next week after you've sussed out the setup. I will say that most of the organisers are happy to chat and attract new talent. If you're under 60 they'll be clamouring for you!

TheOtherDennis · March 2023

Soupman said:

Best option could be to go along to the venue you fancy as a spectator, then take the guitar next week after you've sussed out the setup.

This

Tall_martin · March 2023

Thanks for the suggestions

I'd forgotten that my guitar won that award

I'd love to head along to the open mic the week before, but mostly its tricky to negotiate loads of evening with my wife, my wee one and other Hobies.

I'll go for a cheap option based on the below. I don't need another guitar.

Does something like a sound hole pick up work well enough to be functional?

I'm with @munckee . 2/3 of the punters won't notice you're there anyway, as they're busy swilling

bertie · March 2023

if you're going to spend ££ on a pickup for you current guitar, might as well spend a few more sheckles on the used one with onboards already there............and may be a lot better than you're willing to spend on a p/up ??

you could at least shift that / or you current one if you dont get on. or want to keep two

Snags · March 2023

Very much depends on the night and who turns up. I regularly get compliments for the sound from my Furch + Fishman Matrix Blend at a lot of the open mics I go to, but by no means all. I occasionally get compliments on my playing and singing, but mostly on the guitar

The flip side, though, is that almost no-one comments on how shit some of the cheapy guitars sound. In fact, I can only recall one person regularly getting spoken about, and she was a newbie with some awful entry level Gear4Music job with no pre-amp that went straight to desk and was just fucking horrible no matter what you did to it. She only drew comment because she had an amazing voice and the guitar was letting her down, so it was constructive rather than "Hur hur your guitar sounds shit luv".

(Some of) the other performers will notice the difference between good and bad guitars (rather than guitarists) but almost none of the punters will. Assuming there are punters that aren't performers. Places I go there are people with Fender, Martin, Taylor, Faith, Guild, Alvarez and Tanglewood all in the £250 - £1k-ish range and there often isn't a huge amount between them in a noisy pub. If someone pops up with something really nice, like a decent Martin or Gibson you can hear that, but otherwise they're much of a muchnes. At the bottom end Brunswicks stand out as horrible, although I've also heard someone play one and it sound fine ...

I wouldn't worry too much if it's cheap, as long as you can play it and it has a half-decent pickup/pre-amp working with it, it'll be fine.

TheBigDipper · March 2023

A simple passive sound hole pickup and new strings will sound better than most guitars at open mics.

chickenbonejohn · March 2023

Here's what I've used for years...simple and old school. https://www.chickenbonejohn.com/collections/pickups/products/bill-lawrence-a300-pickup

Supportact · March 2023

If you get a soundhole pickup then you can always transfer it if you do eventually upgrade the guitar. I'd probably do that, and see how it goes.

maltingsaudio · March 2023

Any open mic which turned its nose up at the guitar I brought isn’t one I’d bother to attend.

Petepassion · March 2023

Today I’ve just picked up a LAG jumbo cutaway accoustic from my local guitar shop. It’s a beauty, light as a feather, sounds and plays lovely. Built in pick up, eq, tuner etc. new it cost me just over £500. Yet to try it through an amp or PA, but that wasn’t the main reason for buying it. French company, seems to be put together well, I’m not keen on the black tuning keys and other bits, but looks aren’t really priority for me.

Mellish · March 2023

I always insist on a mic for my OM-28 as well as one for me.

I'm not keen on under saddle or soundhole. They work, I guess, just not my thing.

I'd agree, also, with @Soupman about checking out a venue before gigging there (if at all).

ScreamingDave · March 2023

I’d stick a soundhole pickup on what you have and try a few open mic nights, then you can always upgrade if you’re loving playing those nights and want to do more.

Stratavarious · March 2023

They won’t notice…. Add room noise, chatter, amp effects, likely a crappy PA, etc. it all sounds the same.

Unless you go all in with mics and expensive pickup systems, its gonna sound like piezo. Save the money for a preamp or IR loader and use a beater electro acoustic. It’s gonna get chipped and bumped.

Mid priced Yamaha APX could be compromise. Enough onboard EQ controls to adjust to situation.

Snags · March 2023

The other thing (based on where I go at any rate) is don't worry if it sounds awful in the monitor as long as everyone else has sounded OK out front, as most (not all) of them have horrible monitoring but good front of house.

BenSirAmos · March 2023

I've used my Gibson or a Tanglewood parlour with a sound hole pickup at open mics - and by the time you take account of the audience noise and the crappiness of the pa the difference is so slight that it is easier and less stressful to use the Tanglewood. Of course if you are daintily fingerpicking rather than strumming, it might make more of a noticeable difference - but people have commented more often that the Tanglewood sounds good (fishman neo blend with just a tiny bit of the internal mic). Using a separate pre-amp at an open mic just leads to more problems and disappointment - although I keep trying different options.

FWIW at open mic nights people are more interested in the vocals anyway. I use my own Shure Beta 58 (and a harmoniser) and that is less trashed than most of the other mics on offer - and is much clearer than most. I guard it with my life - I won't let anyone else near it and certainly not any covid-breathed drunks.

Tall_martin · March 2023

Thanks for the suggestions.

I went for a Seymour Duncan woodie pick up.

Practice went pretty smoothly. I realized I've never played an acoustic guitar stood up!

It was also a proper challenge playing under the bridge shifted up 3 semitones with no cut away

Still it was a fun time

RocknRollDave · March 2023

If it plays in tune, nobody will care about which guitar it is.

Soupman · March 2023

@Tall_martin glad you enjoyed it. I've personally always found people friendly & positive at open mic nights.

Adamski · March 2023

I learned guitar and sang with a cheap Yammy from Costco for years. HOWEVER as a singer I can say that a good acoustic that suits your voice is inspirational and you will play and sound better, even if some of that is placebo. At that money I’d look Eastman. You can get an all solid E1D for £529 or a Yamaha LL6 from Peach for £449

if you’re happy performing with the Vintage then don’t worry about it

Supportact · March 2023

Well done @Tall_martin, glad it went well.

Tall_martin · March 2023

Thanks!
@rockneolldave it stayed in tune remarkably well

GramP · March 2023

Stick a cheap soundhole pickup in your current guitar.. it will sound fine for an open mic.. noone will notice and noone will care.... Gear4 Music sell the Belcat for about a tenner... it is not an M80 but it is not too bad.. cheap kit has come a long way.. A freind of mine has one in his acoustic. .sounds fine through a # PA .. remember as soon as you plug you can change th sound however you want with very little effort by adjusting bass and treble

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