The Collings Forum

I am new to Collings and am the lucky custodian of a new OM2H-T with an old growth, baked Sitka top. It’s a marvelous instrument.

I’m not a professional musician (maybe in another life). I’m a retired lawyer who has played guitar for 50 years, the last 20 or so seriously. Mostly finger style, playing for myself, family, and friends.

My question concerns pickups. I don’t want to modify the guitar, so I’m probably looking at a sound hole pickup. I like the sound of the LL Baggs mag-mic on my Martin 0028.

What do you recommend for the Collings?

Thanks in advance.

Correction: it’s a Seymour Duncan, not a Baggs.

For soundhole pickups, I've used two (well, three if you include the old Dean Markley, which wasn't tonally good). I used the LR Baggs M1 (passive version) in my D2H from 2005 onward (running into a Baggs Para Acoustic D.I. box). It's a humbucking design, so it's quiet, but that same design emphasizes the midrange (to my ear), and I grew dissatisfied with that over the years. A few years back, I switched to the Sunrise (the version with the output jack coming out the soundhole, rather than drilling through the end block). It's used by many pros, including one of my favorites, Richard Thompson. It's a single coil design, so it's not noise-free. I prefer it tonally. It costs more, but compared to the price of a great-sounding Collings? Not so much.
I hope this helps.