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This is most likely my fault. Earlier guitar. Can the foil be repaired?

I vote no.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Appreciate the vote. Being an engineer, I want to know why it is not fixable. Does anybody know?

Is the pickup working consistently, or does the damage to the shell seen in the photo manifest itself in performance issues not related to other installation problems (too tight/too loose slot, leaning saddle, bottom of slot or saddle not flat/true, debris in slot)? If the pickup is not working consistently, will 30-60 minutes of setup for and troubleshooting of issues cost more in time than replacing the unit with new? At $80 - $120 per hour for charged labor, it might be tough to explain why the $100 charge ($100 labor for troubleshooting and repair) was warranted, when a straight order-and-replace ($80) was going to be cheaper for the customer and potentially more reliable.

Jobs like this are what the boss calls 'time-sucks'...eliminating open-ended troubleshooting tasks in favor of component replacement (subject to vintage/original component considerations, etc.) avoids both the opportunity and schedule costs for the shop and charging the customer for what can sometimes be a fruitless effort.

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower

Where do u get them for $80?

I think he was saying the shop charges $80/hr.

Makes me think I need to increase my rated

Is the pickup just dead now? The foil acts as the ground so if so then it could just need to be grounded. IMHO it can't hurt to try and fix it but I agree with Woodie to a point too, could be a waste of time.

Also FWIW I've purchased a few of those cheap Artec piezo strips over the last couple of years and honestly I cannot tell a difference between the $12 dollar Artec one and the $120 dollar Fishman. I still use the Fishman for people that want it but when my own personal guitar started having problems I replaced it with an Artec (plugged into the Fishman on-board preamp) and am as happy as ever.

Thanks Woodie! Completely agree and we call what you guys call a "time suck" "scope creep....."

Mike these elements are VERY fragile and we've messed around with rewrapping, and other things to repair them before and ended up having it be a "time suck" with "scope creep" because we ended up having to buy new elements anyway.

I don't remember where Dave found them for sale but the replacements were excellent quality and actually ended up being an upgrade over the original system. They went in two 1937 Martin OO-18s that were four serial numbers apart. The owners (father and daughter) were thrilled with the tonal improvement.

The crystals do break down over time even if there is no visible damage and that's what likely led to the improvements that the owner's cited. If you can wait until tomorrow I'll ask Dave were we got them from, I hate to bother him on weekends. I do recall them being about $92 with sales tax. Wonder why I remember prices and not sources....

Fishman sells them for $99. $92 not a big improvement. Amazed those little things cost so much. I wouldn't mind substituting $12 Artec, but not going to do it.

+1 for Artec

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Alright Ken. Which Artec piezo would sub for a narrow fishman?

I have not use one yet but the new flexible design seems like a good idea.

http://artecsound.com/acou/index.html

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Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

There website is unusual in that it keeps the same URL when clicking on other links. So you have to go to their home page and then click on the first Piezo Transducer link, or just go here: http://artecsound.com/acou/piezo.htm

I think maybe you are talking about the SF pickup. I've used it and it works quite well. Of course I always assure that the saddle and slot are as dead flat as possible so I can't say that I really tested the flex design but I agree, it's a good idea.

They come shipped wired to a 1/8th inch jack so you jsut snip that off to attach it to what ever. In my guitar I wired it into my existing Fishman Matrix preamp. But I have wired them straight in to just a passive system jack too on other guitars and was quite pleased with the results, at that price in particular. Again, honestly, I could hear no difference.

$80 was our last buy on replacement USTs...I am guessing they are a bit more now if buying the genuine article, rather than the $15 'Fishman' knock-off from eBay!

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A constellation only takes shape when one maps the whole.
- Beth Brower