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<blockquote data-quote="Gene Hardage" data-source="post: 205079" data-attributes="member: 185">Great to hear some love for the good old Helpinstill pickup system!&nbsp; I love it when you mention this stuff to the younger ones and they of course have never heard of them and when you describe them as a long thin guitar pickup they look at you like you&#039;re crazy.I&#039;ll add to the list here with something that has not been mentioned yet.&nbsp; A PZM type mic can work too.&nbsp; I have one of those old cheap Radio Shack PZM mic&#039;s that was probably made by Crown when they first came out and I altered with an XLR jack and I use 2 short 6 volt batteries instead of the single 1.5 volt AA battery for more push and better fidelity.&nbsp; Some day I might experiment with just removing the battery part and going with the phantom power from the board.&nbsp; PZM only works for quiet jazz gigs and preferably with the lid down.&nbsp; I&#039;ve gotten reasonable volume from this method and just placed a powered monitor pointing at the player but not the piano.&nbsp; I like to lay the PZM under the bass string area but have also taped one to the front cover of a spinet type piano.&nbsp; Way back when we were hauling around a spinet the most pleasing sound was a blend of Helpinstill pickups with the PZM added for the natural sound.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gene Hardage, post: 205079, member: 185"] Great to hear some love for the good old Helpinstill pickup system! I love it when you mention this stuff to the younger ones and they of course have never heard of them and when you describe them as a long thin guitar pickup they look at you like you're crazy. I'll add to the list here with something that has not been mentioned yet. A PZM type mic can work too. I have one of those old cheap Radio Shack PZM mic's that was probably made by Crown when they first came out and I altered with an XLR jack and I use 2 short 6 volt batteries instead of the single 1.5 volt AA battery for more push and better fidelity. Some day I might experiment with just removing the battery part and going with the phantom power from the board. PZM only works for quiet jazz gigs and preferably with the lid down. I've gotten reasonable volume from this method and just placed a powered monitor pointing at the player but not the piano. I like to lay the PZM under the bass string area but have also taped one to the front cover of a spinet type piano. Way back when we were hauling around a spinet the most pleasing sound was a blend of Helpinstill pickups with the PZM added for the natural sound. [/QUOTE]

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