Bert, my friend who has a rather large upper torso has suggested the same idea. Perhaps the idea of custom casting a guitar's back to match a performers front could be a worth while venture. My experience with amplification of my acoustic guitars has been a struggle as well. Though I love playing without, I've found it necessary to equipe my guitars with pickups. I heard a friend perform with two pickups that gave him excellent results. One was a magnetic style and the other was a transducer type. It didn't seem to matter what brand as long as they were of sufficient quality to keep from producing that 60 cycle hum. He ran each through a separate channel in the PA. All bass through the magnetic pickup and all treble through the transducer. Then he just balanced their volumes by ear on stage before his performance. I have yet to try this with my flat-top but I can't wait. The little mic in the soundhole and the under the saddle transducers and combinations of the two that I have heard on guitars of others, though adequate, have not been very successful to my ear by comparison to this magnetic/transducer blend. Of course nothing can beat a great mic operated through the right PA by a great soundman. I'm going to try this combination on my home-made rezophonic as well. Reggie in Sultan