K&K Mandolin Twin Internal

Incredible product! I noticed that the reviews vary from "it took me 15 minutes" to "this is impossible to install." I am a member of the "It took 15 minutes" crowd. Was simple to install because I had the right tools. You will need a metal step bit to be successful. They are available cheap on this site. The sound quality is amazing! I installed it on The Loar mandolin. One install thing that was helpful was using the bent nail to test for supports inside the instrument. This prevents you from gluing the pickup incorrectly and I found it very helpful.

This pickup produces some of the most wonderful sound from my mandolin. I am extremely pleased! I am a huge fan of acoustic music, when amplified, being just as warm and natural sounding as when it is not amplified. K & K has achieved that and more at a very reasonable price. You can pay much more for pickups, but I've never heard a better sound from a mandolin except when using a $2000 acoustic microphone. The tones of the K&K are very natural across the entire range of the instrument. No distortion, no ringing, no buzzing, and yet it is very sensitive. Some musicians do not like to hear the amplified sound of their fingers sliding up or down the wound strings. In fact, when using a microphone, they'll often point the mic directly on the sound holes to try to filter the sliding sounds out. But I find this to be a beautiful part of the natural sound of playing, as long as it isn't overpowering and distracting to the music. That is exactly what this pickup provides. Just the beautiful tones of the mandolin -- only louder. That being said, your tastes may vary, in which case you may want to consider pairing a multi-band equalizer with this to adjust the tonal response to your own liking. In my opinion, you simply cannot go wrong with this pickup, especially for the money. It is a bit challenging to install, so if you haven't done any similar installations previously, and before doing so on a really prized instrument, you might try it on a beater, or hire a luthier to do the installation. There are YT videos available for the particulars, but I don't agree with every detail on any of them. My friend, who is a luthier, did my installation (I was too nervous). When we took the strap button off, we found the hole was slightly off-center with the hole in the tailpiece. So he left the tailpiece and strings on and used a self-centering drill bit to drill through the tailpiece, through the shell, and through the tail-block. Make sure your bit is the exact size recommended by K&K. You don't want it a sloppy fit. Before drilling, my friend measured to ensure the tail-block was long enough to accommodate the length of the pickup jack shaft. He then also measured carefully to set the exact length of the jack that he wanted to protrude on the outside, and then set that length with the inner nut on the jack shaft before inserting the pickup assembly through the 'f' hole. We had a bit of trouble getting the actual piezo pickups (there are two) to adhere to the underside of the mandolin top. We used both the double-sided tape included with the pickup and a small drop of superglue, as recommended in the very detailed instructions that came with the pickup. The issue is that the top is not truly flat but has a slight arch in it -- it's a Japanese manufactured copy of the Gibson F5. My only comment is that you should make sure you use quick-setting GEL superglue, and be prepared to hold the pickup in place -- without any jostling -- for a full, tedious 3 minutes, minimum. Once installed, the pickup is entirely invisible from the outside. It's really a wonderful piece of equipment!

I initially tried the Myers Grip with 3" Gooseneck only to experience feedback. While those pickups (it's actually a mic) sound very good and natural, feedback is something that may be an issue for some folks. When using the Myers in a setting where the user needs to be loud, there is a limit to the volume before feedback starts. If you are in need of a pickup system that allows the user to get loud, and sound very natural, the K&K is the one to get. I purchased the K&K Mandolin Twin Internal for my application and it ROCKS! Additionally, I purchased the LR Baggs GigPro pre-amp and I use that to shape the sound of the K&K in my mandolin. It has Bass, Treble, Trim and a Volume knob, which is very helpful when going straight into the PA via D.I. box. I also use a Marshall AS50D acoustic amp, which could replace the pre-amp, but the Volume knob on the pre-amp is very helpful when playing on stage during live settings. I do want to stress that the tone of the K&K is very good. When using the Myers pickup (mic), I would put the mic inside the F-hole on the mando, but it seemed to amplify the hollowness of the instrument, which in turn ended up resulting in feedback when attempting to reach my desired volume level. Additionally, I could not seem to find the 'sweet spot' position for the Myer's -- either I would get strong bass tones, which left the high side lacking, or I would get a very thin bass sound when moving the mic around. With the K&K, that does not occur. The sound of the K&K is very natural and projects the bass and treble sides perfectly. I have noticed that with other types of acoustic guitar pickups, you might get a good bass sound, but the treble strings are very weak. Not with the K&K tho! This dual, internal pickup is awesome!

My wife's Washburn mandolin sounds GREAT when it's not plugged in. We went with the best when it was time to put a pick up in it (we thought) and bought an LR Braggs Radius Mandolin Pick up. We've battled feed back problems and overbearing upper end tones for several years. Even put a preamp and notch filter on her pedal board. Nothing helped..... So, a friend of mine asked around and a bunch of professional mandolin guys all said the same thing "Get a K & K"... so we did. Boom. WAY more natural sound and she gets a LOT more volume out of her amp with no feedback issues. The tone is a huge improvement. We don't have video or any recordings of the new pickup but you can hear the old one if you look up "The Captain Ledge Band" on youtube or steam some music from spotify. Thank you for the great product K & K!

I should have known better when my very experienced luthier, who has installed pickups in several of my guitars, said he would not be interested in installing this. So I tried. Dumb. Should have known better when the "installation tool" is a bent nail. Three stars because I know K&K makes good products. Does anyone know how to get drops of Crazy Glue off of a mandolin?

I followed instructional video on YouTube & installed this myself. My Northfield Big Mon sounds great through my preamp. Just need to take your time and be very careful not to scratch the instrument. Note: don’t use too much putty on the bent nail installation tool when you glue the transducers inside the mandolin - it only takes a dab. Otherwise it wont turn loose.

I have tried to previous popular pick ups on the market. The first, the LR Baggs Radius, was to microphonic and picked up every noise and hand movement on the mandolin neck. I just couldn’t live with the noise of my fingers fretting the strings. Thump, thump, thump. I then tried the very popular Myers Feather pick up. It sounded great, and the customer support can’t be beat, but I could not stop the feedback even at low levels from my Marshall AS50D. This pick up is a little microphonic and does pick up some noise from the body of the instrument, but not as much as the Baggs. It’s also mounted internally, which means I don’t have to mess with it all the time like the Myers. No pickup is perfect but this is the best of the three most popular for live performances.

Bought this to install on my mandolin. First time I ever installed a pickup. After a couple YouTube videos I got this thing in. It works great, and has consistent output.

works good