I've got a Rare Earth double-coil model that I used with my first Lowden, an O10. It sounded very good - a lot more 'acoustic' than some of the under-saddle transducers. Only trouble was that I hated seeing my beautiful hand-crafted instrument sullied by this lump of black plastic and metal stuck across the soundhole, it got right up my nose. So I went for the Fishman Matrix transducer with the Pro-EQ 2 outboard EQ box, and I get just as good a sound as with the Rare Earth.

Whistle Stop (and anyone else contemplating fitting a pickup to a Lowden) - you don't have to do any cutting or drilling when you fit an under-saddle transducer to a Lowden. They're pre-drilled under the saddle for the cables when they're built, with a shim under the saddle that you simply remove when you put the transducer in. You don't even have to reamer-out the endpin hole because they're pre-drilled to the correct size for an endpin jack, with an oversized wooden endpin supplied. It's a doddle.

Peace to all Lowden Freaks
Johnny