I guess my use of the term rewire was inspired by the comedian who does the 'tool time' TV show. He does a intorduces a number of jokes by saying that he looked at the product the way it was manufactured and found it inadequate; 'so he rewired it'

And yes, while I have some affection for the Backpacker, my main interest is, as you say high-strung guitars in alternate tunings. You would hve good results with many guitars - however; I do think the Backpacker's shape, size, volume all add to the dulcimer-like sound qualities the 'rewired' instrument produces. I should try the same tunings on an another guitar just see - maybe that's another article!

And I've tried a contact pick-up (granted not a good one) on the Backpacker and there was very little quality sound. In the studio when I used the backpacker, the recording engineer told me as much sound came out of the sides and back of the instrument as came out of the front. In deed he placed mics all around the instrument. I may never get a great sound out of a pick-up for the Backpacker.

I like the Fishman stuff very much. I've considered trying their 'in hole' magnetic pick-up for my Acoustic Bass guitar - My Larrivee has a Fishman matrix. Sound like I should check out McIntyre, too.

Thanks for the comments!