When we find gear the works and get us totally inspired, it’s so easy to overlook the little quirks in our gear that, in other circumstances, might be a bit annoying. Such is the case with my magnificent Seymour Duncan SA-6 Mag Mic. I’ve raved and raved about how it sounds, and though I knew that there would be a potential annoyance regarding the battery, I ignored it because it sounds so damn good.
What’s the issue? Actually a couple of things. First, the instructions say to mount the velcro strip at the base of the neck. That’s actually not too big of a deal, BUT if you put don’t make sure that the entire strip on the battery pack is making contact with the mounting strip, a simple jostle will make the battery pack come loose… which is a perfect segue into the more serious annoyance.
Even if you mount the battery pack squarely on the mounting velcro strip, a quick jarring of the guitar could potentially make the battery pop out of its holder. I had a gig last night, and my guitar case was inadvertently knocked over. Mind you, it wasn’t a full fall to the floor. The case tipped over from where I leaned it on a railing, and landed in a corner of the railing. All told, it was about a foot that it slid, then came to rest. I didn’t think too much about it because my guitar was in the case and I knew it would be safe.
But when I picked it up and plugged it into my rig, I got no sound out of it. At first, I thought it was my rig, but when I moved around, I heard the battery sliding around the inside of my guitar. So I removed the pickup, loosened my strings, reached inside, removed the battery holster, re-inserted the battery, re-mounted the holster, tuned up, plugged in and voila! I was in business.
But what concerned me at the time was looking forward, because when I’m performing on-stage or at church, the battery might pop out in the middle of a performance. I’m the kind of musician that gets kind of carried away when playing, and I jump around.
To mitigate this, and since I have another gig tonight, I wrapped a small piece of duct tape around the holster to hold the battery in place. I wouldn’t have had to do this if the holster’s edges wrapped around the battery a bit more. Plus, if the bottom edge of the holster that holds the battery in place was just a millimeter higher, it shouldn’t pop out so easily. Mind you, this isn’t enough to make me reconsider using the pickup. The sound just kicks ass.
But this is an example of how we gear sluts can easily overlook obvious design flaws…
Guitar Gear 
Wow, sorry that happened to you during a gig
I bought a Duncan Woody HB, I knew there were many acoustic pup’s available, but the simple Woody serves me well, and sounds amazing with my Taylor. Wondering, do you have any Semi Hollow Bodies in your collection ? My Son recently bought me an Epiphone ES 335 Pro….. what a magnificent guitar ! Wondering what your thoughts are on them….. Have a blessed weekend, my friend Dave
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Yeah… it was a bit of annoyance, and if it happened at home, it wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it happened at a gig. Oh well… lesson learned. As to your Epi ES335, that’s a nice guitar! In my life, I’ve owned three of them – all Gibsons. But I could never bond with them for some reason. The music I write and play just doesn’t seem to work with that style of guitar. They’re incredibly playable guitars, there’s no doubt about that. But you gotta go with what you bond with, and I couldn’t bond with any of them. I may revisit a 335 again in the future…