The piezo pickup in my acoustic guitar died. So naturally I wanted to install a new one. I purchased the Journey Instruments pickup to install in side the guitar and watched the tutorial video that came with the QR instructions for the pickup.
They showed an interesting method of using a golf tee and a tooth pick to line up a little cardboard template to show you where to mount the piezo elements. The video even suggested practicing a few times to get the hang of it before attempting to glue the pickup down.
I remember watching the Great British Baking Show with my wife and the one contestant said of making some complicated dessert that the whole thing was a bit of a faff. That word sure seemed appropriate for this process. So I started watching other videos on installing piezo pickups and they all seemed to faff about in a similar manner.
Now it came time to press on but after removing the previous pickup there was still some old glue residue on the underside of the bridge. I didn’t want any of that to get in the way of the new pickup install so I was trying to remove it. I could feel the bump of glue on the bridge but without seeing what I was doing it was hard to scrape off the old glue. So I stuck a flashlight and mirror inside the guitar to get a good look and make sure all the old glue was removed.
With a flashlight in the guitar and a mirror on the back facing the underside of the bridge, I could simply peer through the string peg hole and see exactly where I needed to stick the piezo pickup. So much easier then trying to line everything up blind. And since I wasn’t using any jigs or other things to get in the way I could really hold the piezo tight once it was in the right spot until the glue had setup.
I am surprised and not really sure how no one has come up with this method before, if they have I haven’t seen it. Either way I know that this will be how I install piezo pickups from now on.
Check out the video below to see a demonstration of installing the pickup.
Luke Merwin Music 
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