Wednesday I picked up my Lyric Classical and installed it in my Cordoba c10 (solid spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides), replacing a Miniflex Model 1 internal microphone system. Before I removed the Miniflex I recorded a song (my arrangement of Thad Jones' A Child Is Born) straight to Garageband through my Focusrite Scarlett i2i interface. Then after pulling out the Miniflex and installing the Lyric (and dialing in the presence control), I recorded the same song in the same way. This was for the purposes of doing a YouTube video review of the Lyric in comparison to the Miniflex. After watching some sample videos of the Lyric Classical and reading some reviews in the Classical Guitar Forum, I had high hopes that the Lyric would be an upgrade from the Miniflex, but to my great disappointment, in my recorded examples the Lyrics sounds much inferior to the Miniflex, much less warmth and air and, especially unsettling, some of the "quacky" tonal characteristics of an undersaddle transducer. The benefit to the Lyric is that it's lighter, has onboard volume control, and seems as though it might be more resistant to feedback. My one hope is that perhaps with a different placement of the mic it will improve the tone. In the installation diagram a tradition Torres 5 fanned braced guitar top is shown with the mic placed to the bass side of the center brace. My Cordoba varies from this in that it has 6 very small braces with 3 braces each straddling the center of the top. So, taking my cue from the steel string Lyric placement, I put the mic right in that center space in front of the bridge. So my question is, would I be better off moving the mic to the next space between the braces toward the bass side or the treble side? I presume the bass side, but I don't want to take anything for granted at this point.
I am presently at work, but when I get home I can post the sound clips comparing the two if you wish.
I am presently at work, but when I get home I can post the sound clips comparing the two if you wish.
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