Hi Jon. I play a big bodied Dave Freshwater cittern and seldom need a pickup in club situation. I do use one for home recording though and that's an Ashworth Transducer on the face (takes time to work out the right position)through a preamp which is essential to adjust the balance of the treble to bass and mid range. It sounds fine with one big exception and that is that when you do hammer ons you can hear the thump of the finger on the fretboard on the recording. It's really annoying and, being no electronics expert, I haven't yet found the solution, though when I played in the club tent at Cambridge, it sounded fine. Microphones work well if you don't move around too much. I'm quite a 'mobile' player so it doesn't work for me.