"Not the type" Clinton? In a pig's eye! I've got two shoe boxes full of my Frankenstein experiments with pick-ups. For 18 years while my part-time folkie friends were being VERY acoustic I was using pick-ups for sheer self defence. You don't face a rabid horde of possible in-breds in Wawa on a Saturday night with JUST an acoustic Larrivee. (well, at least you don't live to tell about it.)

Converting to "phantom power" seemed to be harder than actually just moving the battery holder to a more easily accessable spot inside the guitar (just south of the soundhole so I could reach it without having to loosen the strings. So I did that once. It involved a little soldering and some new wires, plus some velcro.

Being the technophobe I am though, I DID once smash a mike to the floor before a gig in total disgust when it failed to operate. A big Indian guy standing next to the stage (this was in White River) casually said "Hey man, isn't that a condenser mike, have you checked the battery"? I was red-faced (so to speak) when I picked it up and HE unscrewed it. Sheeeitt! I'd had it (an Audio Technica 125) for two years and didn't even know about the little double A battery that made it work!

Now that I work mostly soft seaters, I've tried to become "acoustic again" guitar wise, but I still have my Fishman Rare Earth on board just in case!

Rick