Did Pete Ruin His Martin Guitar?!

[@Hel0jen]

Pete Ruins ______ would be a series i'd watch

[@jmaripen]

Yes! 😅

[@KidDozzi]

"Danish Pete: Ruins Everything!" ?

[@acdclexu6296]

definetly petes aging shop would also be a funny video😂

[@davedavem]

Yes! "If it ain't broke... Give it to Pete!"

[@fatsuperfly]

Ha! Seriously. Jk Pete, I’d do the same honestly. Love my guitars, but curiosity always gets me. But when I get scared, I always think “Eddie Van Halen probably would too” lmao probably… 😂

[@davedavem]

Hahahaaa! I love that Pete was so nervous he didn't even pick up on, "just offer it up to the hole and see if it goes in." Brilliant!

[@ScreenDoorSlams]

The farmhouse scene in Inglorious Basterds, the dentist scene in Marathon Man, and Pete and Ben installing a pickup on a D-18. The most tense, stress inducing moments ever put on screen.

[@karl-wilhelmschreitz8549]

I am relieved, did similiar works to my acoustics twice and was ashamed that I was concerned and nervous through the process. Great to see these 2 Pros are stressed too. Thanks for that experience.

[@PC85X]

More of this type of content! Plus awesome to hear Ben on the acoustic again. Guy is a savage on the wooden box

[@I.M.Guitar-Nerd]

Any job done with leftover parts is a job well done! Congrats! P.S. I know this wasn't an Acoustic Paradisio but it's nice seeing Ben with someone to interact with. Hint, hint. 😉

[@dustinthiessen]

as a FOH engineer, I'm a big fan of the Anthem system. They always end up sounding really good in FOH. K&K Pure Mini also are among my preferred pickup systems 👌🏼

[@karl-wilhelmschreitz8549]

Welcome back Ben, its been a too long time. Please more acoustic playing of you, shootouts and presentations.

[@tom5216]

I bought a Taylor 410 20 years ago and it had no pickup. I fitted a Fishman Earthwood pickup that involved drilling out the strap button, fitting a battery holder through the soundhole and modifying the saddle. It took me a while but it still works perfectly and didn’t alter the acoustics or action of the guitar at all. At the time it was the first really expensive guitar I’d owned and I was really nervous doing it. I took my time and worked slowly and it was worth the effort. The main thing is to get the bottom of the saddle completely flat when you remove material. Apparently if you don’t get it completely flat then it’s better to have it slightly proud at the outer extremities. If it’s proud in the centre it can rock. It takes a bit of skill and patience or you can screw it up royally.

[@axilleas]

Tip for next time: before you remove the saddle take a pencil and mark the line where it emerges from the slot. This way you have a reference point for sanding it later. Also, ideally, with that sort of pickup you drill a blind hole on the other side of the slot where you "bury" the end of the pickup to make sure you only have the active part of it underneath the saddle. P.S.: For the endpin jack ream the hole already there to size and make it uniform with the appropriate size drill bit (usually 12.5mm). Use tape and a steady hand but don't be afraid, it self centres in the hole.

[@RyvenProductions]

I could listen to Ben play acoustic all day.

[@windmillcancersurvivor2568]

Always better when you do it yourself and these boys know what they're doing. I was leaning Anthem when I got my D18 but walked out with the K&K upon their recommendation. They both sound amazing.

[@nigel_wadsworth]

Seriously, one of the best videos you've ever done. Watching Ben & Pete together was awesome. More please!! And how good was the playing and sound at the end?

[@stoneysdead689]

If you use a tapered hand reamer, you won't be so nervous. They sell them at Stew Mac or any other luthier supply place. They get gradually larger so the deeper you go, the larger the hole gets- which may sound odd, but it works really, really well. I would assume that's what that guide hole was for- to guide a reamer. The way they work, if you have a little guide hole like this- they stay centered without any effort from you, it's just how they work- you really can't get off center with one. Which makes them perfect for enlarging smaller holes- I use them primarily for installing new tuning keys that require a larger hole than what's already in the head stock. If it's a thicker piece of wood, like a head stock- you have to come in from one side, then flip it and come in from the other. Otherwise, you'll have a tapered hole. But if it's thin, like the face or back of the guitar- you can just come in from one side- it's still tapered but generally speaking that doesn't matter- the wood is so thin that the taper is tiny.

[@donald-parker]

I've modified acoustic saddles many times (for action, intonation, etc). I learned a long time ago that, for the price of a new saddle, the peace of mind is well worth the cost. Mod the new saddle to achieve your goal. If you mess up you still have the original.

[@karlburkes6399]

Did this install to my new D28, strap hole drilled out with very sharp reamer designed for the job. All worked a great, sounds perfect. The right tools And confidence is the key. We’ll Done guys 👍

[@janbrenner9488]

20:38: Ben looks like veterinarian James Herriot is examining a cow, so great!

[@DefenderTIM]

My acoustic has a stock onboard system, but this did remind me to recharge my humidifier. 👍

[@mark.guitar]

This is so good to see Pete and Ben going through the same emotions as just about every student I have taught. On first contact between a guitar and a pointy thing sprinkles of nervous laughter are a given. The looks of triumph are a welcome stage as the success of the job becomes clear ( or not...). Time to get Gavin on camera or simply repeat the nervous energy of these two?..

[@vansongs]

Well done, men. Great outro Ben.

[@wiltshiredoug9959]

Very timely. Just what I am considering for my D35.

[@IanDeQuadros]

Nope, no way, not a chance in hell would I give that a go on my acoustic! A longer demo of what the end result sounds like would be great but fair play to you both for getting it done!

[@seanylewl]

The Maton AP5mic is the only pickup system I've heard that truly retains the character of the guitar. I've never heard a Martin that I like the sound of plugged in - would love to hear what one sounds like with an AP5 in it.

[@GordonPavilion]

Agree.

[@billyellow4849]

Agreed. Was blown away when I heard a Maton amplified.

[@Anthony-qh1xv]

That D18 is SO beautiful! it is subtle, but just so good looking. I played a D16 special, and a D18, and the 16 was set up better, and I liked the rosewood more, so I bought that one, but I know a good D18 would just be great!

[@jasoncasey-eggleton4327]

that is some incredible acoustic playing

[@thethingthatshouldnotbe3035]

My Lakewood came with the anthem, really nice system! Played a musical with that and it worked great!

[@SeanDS1989]

I wasn't expecting such a tense an exciting video from Andertons today lol congrats guys, it sounds great! 24:54

[@likeakite]

Good to see Ben back, one hell of a guitar player

[@croggers1]

I did the same thing to a Taylor I bought from Anderson’s. Wasn’t too happy with the es-2 pickup so I installed an anthem by myself (too impatient to wait). Was pretty easy to do and sounds much better.

[@BrianWMay]

I''m SO glad I don't use pick-ups. Since I only play with myself (!!!), fortunately I don't require amplification. Brave chaps !!

[@musicsoundgear]

A+++ Video. A video from Andertons always makes the day better!

[@user-rs8sp7wh6b]

19:51 was unnecessarily nerve racking. Get the socket Pete!

[@brianlonjak9424]

awesome vid gents! had a blast following along!

[@peterjones4621]

That was fun and nerve racking, the title had me scared. Lots of fun watching you goof balls. Great video!! 🤣🤣

[@egg43002]

Sounded great at the end with Ben playing. Nice one.

[@duanegreaves2232]

I did this some years back. I crapped it all the way through but I managed it and made less of a meal out of it. Fitting the piezo was the hardest part. Especially if you have big hands like myself.

[@rmp5s]

The absolute joy on Pete's face as each step gets done...hahaha

[@Run_Deep]

Great job guys for your first installation nice and neat inside that real important for any trouble shooting if something should ever fall later. I must say I have never had and LA Bags or the Infinity Matrx by Fishman go bad.

[@paulhendershott667]

That was a fun video guys!! Still not a fan of the piezo sound, but if you're a professional musician and need to be heard on stage, sometimes you have to plug in. I put the Fishman Presys Plus in my 000-15M and regret it now. My new custom shop Martin build coming up (thank you Down Home Guitars!) will forgo the pickup system. I realized I only plugged in 3 times in 2 1/2 years. I love the tone of the guitar, but find myself not wanting to look down and see the pickup control box especially every time I look down. I think this pickup is much nicer in that it's hidden from view most of the time, but the Presys seems like it can generate more natural tones...

[@user-lz3rm5yv9m]

Jeez for an acoustic guitar geek this was too good ! Can you two do something similar every month ? Thinking about fitting my HD-35 with a pick up !

[@GuessMyNameOnceMore]

"Hows that" - "Feels Good"..."can you feel that?" .... glad I'm having pictures to that sound :)

[@Aint1S]

That was fun! It's amusing to watch someone try to avoid butchering their favorite acoustic... Acoustics are unique beasts with no two ever being the same and the only instrument where price/brand doesn't always factor for anything more than a better starting chance of a masterfully assembled instrument. When you mess them up, you feel it!

[@rabonour]

Always a pleasure to hear Ben play!

[@jeremystephen5764]

Always wished LR Baggs would buy K&K or vice versa. Both companies have a mix system but both have compromises. The baggs mic and mix preamp is so much better than the k&k - but the pure contact knocks any piezo out the park. Combine both and then….

[@RonBaker456]

😲I got an Ambertone D41 last year and will never install a pickup. It would be like installing a clown nose on the Mona Lisa IMO. I'd never do anything to affect that tone and no matter what people think you can't put objects into a speaker without it affecting the tone. I have a Cloudvocal wireless mic I use in the sound hole blended with a Sennheiser E906 mic. Gets compliments live every time I play live. The folks in the Martin factory are absolute artists.

[@jimmycollette9209]

I have a Martin d-35 with the anthem and a Gibson j-45 with the vtc. Not particularly fond of the vtc but love the anthem.

[@bryantwalley]

I know several pickers in this area that have that same one installed. Very good unit.

[@jsantos1104]

I literally could not watch you do this, so I tuned out. Good luck!

[@MotoLen51]

😞 No piezo pickup ever sounds good. I understand that they're convenient, but for such a beautiful guitar a mic sounds 1,000,000 times better.

[@bennion5300]

Couldn't agree more. When Clapton gets his Martin out, he just makes everyone shut the fuck up to hear it. That's the real compromise

[@peterthecoderd.1210]

This was one of the most unnerving things I've ever tried to watch,

[@jimlutz1290]

Wayne & Garth getting done, sounds great - "Party On, Excellent" ! ! ! 😳🙄

[@michaelbolshazy3532]

I think many guitarists, if honest, would also be doing this as a first. I've played for years and have yet to restring a guitar start to finish. I have been blessed to have good people around me that are very skilled and I trust them. Good Job Pete. Ben, Pete said, "I just bumped my case into my Tele and I DON"T EVEN CARE! I need a relicd guitar so I dont have to be so bump dent ding scared!!!

[@robertchildress1525]

Guide me in Pete! I’m in there!😂🎉

[@benclaase8181]

Thanks for sharing, I am toiling with the idea to add amplification to my Larrivee C-03 TE . Just want to pick the best most natural sounding system available. Tx Ben C

[@Buffrt66]

I see you guys had fun doing the work yourselves. Doesn't Martin guitars build guitars with the pick up already installed??

[@scottiev77]

Years ago I did a LR Baggs piezo install like this on an Epiphone, and it was a bit nerve racking drilling. I couldn't imagine the stress in doing it on my Martin. I think its just going to stay acoustic.

[@ralfkeeler9161]

What fun to watch this pickup installation. Very brave of them to nervously do this on camera. But I have to say, the brief demo of the pickup itself was underwhelming. That Martin sounded terrible with that pickup. The usual tinny piezo sound. I would have liked a bit longer playing portion, with adjustments made to get it to sound better. More mic, less peizo. Thanks for yet another enjoyable episode. You folks rock.

[@seanhershey3390]

Cheeky Pete @ 18:24

[@carlom.3737]

I was sweating watching Pete on his behalf. I've learned enough to do my own basic setup (setting relief, nut slot depth, and saddle height) but I think if I ever install a pickup I'll be paying a local trusted tech rather than sweat it out like Pete did. Well done!

[@myeyesarewaiting]

Two grown men achieve basic DIY capabilities. Well done lads! ;P

[@joshuapaulsen7414]

I don't know why...but some of that footage reminded me of a couple gents assisting the delivery of a newborn calf.

[@nycshelbygt500]

Pro-Tip: The large Anthem controller should be mounted at the bottom of the sound hole, so it is easier to see each button and wheel on a dark stage. That was scarier than watching the Captain interview a beautiful female guitarist (14 year old boy mode). You both must have very delicate hands like a little girl to get into the sound hole for the acoustic pickup install. WoW!!

[@bzznz]

Undersaddle piezos kill the saddle-vibes when playing acoustically, at least on my far cheaper guitars. Therefore I prefer to have the piezo installed inside, like the JourneyTek Passive 3-piezo or similar. The amplified signal can always be EQd mixed and added effects to.

[@garygalinos1176]

Well done guys, such a beautiful sounding guitar.

[@HRJ1411]

I did this to my acoustic back in the 80’s, didn’t give it a second thought! . . . tho, that was a Marlin I got from a catalogue 😂😂😂 Puts gaffer tape everywhere for drilling, tightens bolt with NEEDLE NOSE PLIERS!!!!!, no protection around wood at all! 🤯

[@stuartferguson8967]

That was nerve wracking, and very satisfying

[@soulassasin10]

Oh man that guitar and system sound glorious 🤘🤩🎸🔥🔥🔥

[@Rockriverboarder]

I have a used hd28 that came with an LL bags in it. Considering having it removed and the enlarged hole plugged and redrilled for the original strap button. It works okay but doesn’t sound that great plugged in to my opinion. I feel like just micing it up would work better in most applications. But I’m not a working musician.

[@52Tele]

Such good fun!

[@johnbambara163]

Best way to drill holes in guitars is to start smaller them use the drill in reverse with the larger bits

[@fraenkiboii]

I held my breath for 26 minutes.

[@ronnyskaar3737]

I love the anthem. Have it in my Collings. Did I ruin it?

[@1066wastrel]

I`d die a happy man if I could play guitar like Ben Smith, awesome acoustic player, I wish he`d record a course & sell it online from beginner up please so we could stick to Bens way /style, I`d buy it in a heartbeat!

[@moonray1276]

Ben - "I've got my hand between two pillows." Pete - "Those aren't pillows!" Classic.

[@grimreaper-qh2zn]

Can I just ask, why do most Guitar manufacturers design the Headstock and NUT that (usually 4) strings go at such wild angles. Why not have a head where (certainly on 3 per side) the NUT to Tuner Posts are as near as straight a run as possible. I just wondered. Is there some technical reason? One thing I love about my PRS Guitars is that that run is as straight as possible.

[@scoggers1628]

High drama at Andertons! Haha! Glad it went well, although it has confirmed my conviction that I will not install a pickup on one of my own guitars. Next video: Pete relics one of Ben's guitars. 😂😂

[@thawgyi9944]

I wonder how it sounds on unplugged. When a bare Piezo is put under the saddle, there may be variation in sound.

[@janluszczek1223]

3:57 Strap-on holes? LOL

[@JustinZak7]

Just sounded like the piezo at the end.

[@jameswhite1450]

i have the same pickup in my Seagull Artist Studio. I've never plugged it in lol

[@burtmurry1690]

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Pete 🤘

[@Eddy63]

Great job guy's ...

[@anthonyalfredyorke1621]

Another great video, Next week the new series Ben & Pete try Dentistry & the following week Bomb Disposal "HOW HARD CAN IT BE " !!!!!!!!🤐🤣. PEACE and LOVE to EVERYONE.

[@colinfawcett7509]

Great video - takes the mystery out of it

[@1978BenF]

I've done this to my OO-15 and I was terrified - but the suspense and terror watching this video was somehow worse, ha ha.

[@jurrione]

The binding came off near the soundhole from my friend his Martin. I don't care if a guitar is 150 or 4500 bucks. So I fixed it for him. A hole is a hole. No matter the price of the guitar. A f*** up stays a F*** up. Same as playing, confidence helps.

[@lfaf9509]

I don't think he ruined it, the room size that people play acoustics in now days are way larger than the body sizes were designed to fill, so its good that people see how you can make any guitar work for any room size. The Parlor size guitar was designed for playing in small rooms the size of.. well your living room. Now days, you can put a pickup in a Parlor and play a stadium with it, and it would work just fine. There really is no need for a large body on a acoustic anymore, as pickups have done the job that increasing the body size did, when it was first created. So if a pickup will do the job, it seems to me you are better off getting a Parlor that ether has a pickup in it, or put on in it yourself..

[@karl-wilhelmschreitz8549]

Hey Ben, please send me tabs of your outro!!

[@terrybanks5063]

work it out! half speed the video, simples! its a good lesson to learn

[@merlinsound]

It seems you put the cables on the top? I just got an amazing D18 with factory installed Anthem, and they put the cables on the top, too. They rattled like crazy on some notes (sounded like a punch and then the note died right away). I almost sent it back and then found the issue and temporarily fixed it by putting a little bit of foam in between. I'm getting the cables and their holders put on the sides near the bottom now so that there's no chance of them touching the top or dampen its vibration...

[@davedavem]

I have a few tips, but it's too late... When enlarging a hole, run the drill in reverse so it doesn't pull through. Also, don't try to play Smoke on the Water with your drill while working on your Martin!!!

[@mariodriessen9740]

I'd shit myself. I have the Anthem in my D-28. Glad I didn't have to do it myself.

[@tonylittle2744]

12.30, so close to scratching the top with the drill bit.

[@benzakonium]

Love this. Please do more mod videos.

[@nellayema2455]

Good job. Now let's have a video showing how to install a strap button to the neck heel!

[@mickellyrodrigues2191]

Pete checked out the orangewood with the lr baggs anthem

[@MAP448]

How do u tell a D-18 from a 00-18?

[@adrianp.barbieri7514]

If you think mahogany does it for you, please try the d28 with rosewood, I have a 1941 which has the best acoustic sound ever!!

[@GotYourWallet]

Nice outro!

[@johnwalliss]

Put an anthem in a Gibson acoustic and was really disappointed (although it was better than the original Fishman Sonitone). All my acoustics have Fishman Presys in them now and they sound amazong IMHO

[@limpindug]

Beyond squeaky bum time and poor Ben having to rough it with a plectrum. All's well. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍👍🥃Respect to you fellas.