Changing a UST to Different Type Transducer

[Greg Miller]

Hello.  I'm new to the group.  I'm just a casual player but like to do my own guitar setups and improvements.  I'm working on a Fender electric acoustic 400CE which has a Fishman Isys III under saddle pickup/transducer.  As I like to improve cheap guitars for myself I'm wanting to change the stock saddle to an unbleached bone.  I'm also changing the stock tuners to Shaller GrandTunes, going to slot the bridge for the strings, perhaps a zero fret, etc.  Questions:  I've done a lot of reading on saddle to bridge coupling when I was upgrading a non-electric acoustic that I have and employed what I learned when putting in a new saddle on it.  Real believer of good saddle/bridge/string coupling to bring out the best sound.  Seems to me that an under saddle pickup if one wants to play in an 'unplugged' mode is contradictory to good sonic coupling at the bridge.  I'll probably experiment with a sacrificial saddle with the UST removed to see if I'm crazy or not.  Before I switch to a bone saddle to get rid of the plastic one, I'd like some opinions about bridge coupling with a UST.  From what I can tell, to get the best of both worlds (plugged in/unplugged) it would be better to use a different type transducer perhaps mounted under the bridge plate but I'd like to use the original preamp.  Thoughts?   

[Mike Cornwall]

I can’t recommend using T88 epoxy strongly enough, that carpet tape is bound to come unstuck at the worst time and it’s so rubbery it’s gotta be killing overtones. A caul like the one I posted keeps the wires from getting squished and puts all 3 pickups where you want them. Use something the epoxy won’t stick to, like a piece of a cutting board from the dollar tree or Delrin if you’re feeling speedy. I have a ton of that stuff if you need any.