Rio Grande Lute Hole/Rio Grande Soundhole pickup review

The fine hardwood Lute Hole feedback suppressing soundhole plugs have now been mated with a soundhole pickup to make just about the prettiest-looking soundhole pickup we've ever seen.

The pickup is custom designed for Lute Hole by Texas tonemongers Rio Grande. The singlecoil unit is topped with mahogany and mounted just beneath the maple Lute Hole soundhole cover.

A genuine 3.5m George L's cable is hard-wired to the pickup and can be easily snipped to the desired length, thanks to a solderless jack plug.

Alternatively the cable can be retracted and fed into the body of the guitar should you prefer your repairer to do a more permanent installation using an end-pin jack socket.

Sounds

Wow! This pickup is simplicity itself to fit. Just slacken off the strings of your acoustic guitar and push-fit the pickup into the soundhole.

With a little gentle wiggling from the side to seat the pickup, you're ready for action. The sound from the Rio-Grande pickup is impressively well balanced, warm and rich, and a fundamentally acoustic tone.

We tried the pickup in both spruce and cedar soundboard guitars and were impressed with both the detail and faithful reproduction of each guitar.

There are cheaper sound hole pickups but, at £115, the Lute Hole Sound hole is not extortionately priced.

Considering the speed and ease of fit, and its consistent sound quality, players toting several acoustic guitars, or open mic devotees after a good amplified tone, should check it out.

It looks amazing, sounds even better, requires no batteries and is a doddle to install - the perfect cure for the piezo blues.