L.R. Baggs M80 Acoustic Guitar Magnetic Soundhole Pickup

I purchased the LR Baggs M80 to electrify my Blueridge steelstring acoustic. My girlfriend and I play folk and popular music for fun in small venues-- mostly local bars, which can be quite noisy. Since I usually fingerpick, I needed a pickup that can project the sweet sound of my Blueridge, including delicate single-string runs, with fidelity at volume. The M80 has exceeded my expectations. Each note comes through with bell-like clarity, without any hint of distortion. The balance from bass to treble strings is extraordinary, and each string pickup can be fine-tuned with a simple turn of the included Allen wrench. If your playing style includes vigorous flatpicking, the M80 will handle that too, with ease.The M80 has a convenient volume control along the lower corner. It will not turn the volume completely off but will lower it enough so that a poorly planned disconnect of the patch cord will not result in amp-destroying squawking. There is also a battery-check feature: press a little button and from one to four little green LEDs light up, indicating the juice remaining in the single button battery. A fully charged battery will yield over a thousand hours of playing time. We have a little studio set up at home and we always use amplification-- no worries. I have two minor quibbles with the M80 design, though: the battery is installed from the bottom of the unit, which is quite deep, so it is necessary to remove the unit from the soundhole in order to change the battery; and, there is a switch that allows the pickup to operate in passive mode (without battery power), but it is located along the bottom edge of the unit and is nearly impossible to access without removing the unit from the soundhole. Removing and installing the pickup is simple, requiring the loosening of two Philips screws. Unfortunately I am unable to insert the pickup into the soundhole unless I unscrew one of the side clamps almost to its maximum extent, but that's more of a problem with my guitar, which has a soundhole a bit smaller in diameter than that of many full-sized acoustics. The M80 does not fit in my Larivee parlor guitar. Check the specs and measure your guitar's soundhole to be sure it will fit.I installed the RCA jack myself. The installation requires removing the guitar's strap button and widening the hole to 1/2 inch. I placed a strip of masking tape over the hole to prevent chipping of the finish, and carefully reamed out the hole with a 1/2 inch reamer that I purchased at the hardware store for $8. I secured the cord inside the guitar body with velcro strips so that it doesn't rattle around. LR Baggs recommends having a luthier install the jack, but if you have basic woodworking skills and are patient and careful, you should be able to install it yourself in about an hour. Thoughtfully, Baggs designed the internal cord so that it unplugs at the pickup end, so you can completely remove the pickup at any time, without removing the cord and jack.When I want to record my practice sessions, I patch the M80 directly into my Zoom H4 handheld recorder. Sound is delivered to the recorder cleanly and crisply.My only other (very minor) quibble is the color of the pickup-- a bland ivory that contrasts unpleasantly with the usual rich color of an acoustic's top wood. They should offer it in black and/or in wood tones.Quibbles aside, the beautiful, true-to-instrument sound produced by the LR Baggs M80 makes me smile every time I plug in my guitar. I think even the most demanding professional guitarist would be thrilled with the tonal quality of this outstanding pickup. It costs more than others, but it won't disappoint when the stage lights are on.

I was looking for a way to amplify a Mariachi acoustic portable bass, also known as a GUITARRON, which is very difficult to play and produce an adequate volume, if you can't pluck the strings hard enough. I tried a gooseneck sound hole pickup. That didn't work. A music store that sells Mariachi instruments, suggested this pickup. It was the perfect solution! I found instructions on You Tube and installed it myself. It works with either keyboard or electric bass amp (but use a bass amp is recommended by a tech at Guitar Center). I own an Ibanez 4 string acoustic/electric bass. I experienced feedbacks with it. The M80 doesn't feedback.Caution: 1. You have to remove all the strings from the tuning keys first. 2. See if you can insert your arm through the soundhole and reach the inside of the bottom of the guitar first before you proceed any further. If not, the safest way to install the inside part, where the cable plugs in at the bottom, is to use a flexible wire, threaded thru the ready-made hole, pull the inside part out so you can tread the part that holds the strap.3. There are stick-on clips for fixing the cable inside the guitar. I didn't have to install it because there was no excess cable inside the guitarron - just long enough to reach from cable plug to the installed pickup - works just fine. CAUTION: As it says on the instruction manual, it was not recommended to be installed by a hobbyist or by non-professional. The reason probably is, you need to drill a 1/2" hole at the bottom of the guitarron. If you're uncomfortable doing that, have a professional do it for you.

Used on an older 12 string Martin d1 that has a beautiful sound. Was delighted to hear how similar the sound was coming out of the amplifier the first time my wife played it. I have never heard anything like it. The reviews said words to that effect but I really didn’t believe it. My other acoustic-electric guitars all head off into an electric guitar sound when plugged in and that was my expectation. I was shocked when my wife played and I put my head between the guitar sound hole and the amp, there was basically no difference. Love this pickup. Installing is easy except for the stress of drilling a hole in a guitar you love but it went fine with much care and patience. Value for the money is hard to assess in that it isn’t inexpensive but it is amazingly good, and I haven’t tried other products like it. Overall, I am very satisfied.

I like this pick-up.. Using it in a Taylor 818e which has the worst electronics of any guitar I have ever owned! How they could make such a nice guitar and equip it with the es2 garbage is beyond my ability to comprehend. Anyway, this pick-up is replacing a Seymour Duncan Mag Mic which is a pretty good sounding pick-up, but is so cheaply made that it vibrates and buzzes in the sound hole of the big bodied and highly resonant 818. The M80 is much more solidly built but even so, I occasionally hear a little noise out of it when not plugged in. Plugged in there is nothing that gets transferred to the amplified signal. This pick-up is not the holy grail of acoustic guitar pick-ups... There is no holy grail as far as anything I have tried, but things are getting much better for sure. I have been getting pretty close to the natural acoustic tone of the 818 by plugging into a Fishman Aura Spectrum, then into a Focusrite 18i20 and into the DAW (Studio one 3 pro). I believe that this combination could work well for other acoustic guitars too, because there is a lot of potential tone variables coming out of the Fishman Aura. Good luck to all!