Seymour Duncan Woody XL Hum-Cancelling Acoustic Guitar Pickup

The Woody XL is a passive, noiseless, magnetic soundhole pickup with adjustable pole pieces that delivers a full spectrum acoustic tone that is great for everything from jangly strumming, to quiet fingerstyle playing. It gives you a great balance that combines the fat bottom of the HC version, with the sparkly top end of the SC version all with no 60-cycle hum. The individually adjustable pole pieces enable you to really fine tune your sting to string balance. All of the Woodys are available in our custom maple, walnut or black stained housing, and are double potted to keep them resistant to feedback. It mounts instantly into your soundhole, with no modification of any kind needed to the guitar and can easily be removed at a moments notice. It comes with a 14-foot low capacitance, studio quality cable that will plug directly into your favorite amp, PA, direct box, or console. Fits all standard soundholes (3.75 (94mm) to 4.0 (100mm). Great for all standard types of steel string acoustic guitars. NOTE this is a magnetic pickup, and will not work with nylon stringed instruments.Available Colors Maple, Walnut, or Black.

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Here a quick clip comparing the sound of an acoustic by itself to the sound of the Seymour Duncan Woody XL acoustic pickup alone through a loudspeaker.  Listen to the first 30 seconds to hear the natural sound of the acoustic in a room without the pickup activated. Skip to 0:30 to hear the Woody XL through the loudspeaker and you'll notice that it does a fair job representing the full sound of the guitar, although you do lose a bit of that natural "hollow" resonance that lends to that authentic acoustic sound. Nonetheless, the Woody XL manages to preserve the high-end sparkle and low-end warmth of the acoustic, giving you the best of both worlds for a hybrid of the HC and SC model pickups.

The player is Otway Ross and he is using a Maton CW-80 acoustic guitar. The song he is performing is an original entitled, "Slowed Down By Memories." His recording system consists of a Boomerang III Phase Sampler, Radial J48 Active DI Box, Soundcraft EPM6 desk, dB Technologies Opera 208D loudspeaker, Rode NT55 microphone, Motu 8pre FW interface, and Logic Pro 9.

This video covers the basic setup and features of the Woody XL. This pickup features a passive humbucker design with adjustable pole pieces, allowing you to raise or lower the pickup to find the perfect balance of tone and volume. Skip to 2:20 to see the easy installation of the pickup, seamlessly attaching to your soundhole for instant use. The Woody XL comes equipped with a robust cable that can plug directly into any amp, DI box, mixing console, etc. In a matter of seconds, you will be able to amplify your acoustic, resulting in a hi-fi sound with ultimate tonal control -- especially in a live setting. Take advantage of its quality direct sound, giving you sparkly highs and fat lows for a rounded acoustic sound with great focus and control.

The player is Otway Ross and he is using a Maton CW-80 acoustic guitar.

This video demonstrates the sound of the Woody XL in three distinct applications: the sound of the acoustic guitar, the sound of the pickup through a loudspeaker, and the sound of the pickup through a mixing desk. Skip to 1:30 to hear a series of single low notes played through each of the three systems. When using the Woody XL through a loudspeaker, you will notice a slight tonal shift -- the high end is rolled off a bit, while the low end and low mids seem to be accentuated a little more. Through the desk, however, you get more midrange content with a low-end warmth around 100HZ, while everything under 50HZ is kind of tapered off, resulting in a sound that has a little more clarity and fullness overall. Medium range single notes can be heard from 1:48-2:02 where you will notice a similar trend -- the loudspeaker seems to have a more nasally sound, while the desk system sounds a little clearer and rounder. Skip to 2:05 to hear high-pitched notes for a similar effect. Strummed chords can be heard at 2:28 and fingerpicked passages are played around 3:05. Using the Woody XL directly through a mixing desk seems to yield the best representation of the natural acoustic sound, with a more even EQ and greater presence. Through a loudspeaker, the pickup tends to sound a little dark and nasally, although I think it still does a decent job capturing the detail of the acoustic, adding a lot of low-end and midrange punch that could fit well into a live mix.

The player is Otway Ross and he is using a Maton CW-80 acoustic guitar. The song he is performing is an original entitled, "Slowed Down By Memories." His recording system consists of a Boomerang III Phase Sampler, Radial J48 Active DI Box, Soundcraft EPM6 desk, dB Technologies Opera 208D loudspeaker, Rode NT55 microphone, Motu 8pre FW interface, and Logic Pro 9.

The Woody XL is the top of the line acoustic pickup offered by Seymour Duncan. Jump to 0:15 to hear it in action, noting just how well it captures the full-bodied and articulate sound of an acoustic with amazing balance and clarity. You can even take advantage of the adjustable pole pieces that allow you find the perfect blend of tonal frequencies and volume to cater to your personal taste. Listen at 0:50 and you'll instantly be able to hear just how well the XL picks up the detail in fingerstyle passages, giving you a quality direct sound that is naturally compressed and extremely focused. The Woody XL combines the deep lows of the HC model with the sparkle of the SC model, yielding a noiseless pickup with a rich full sound.

The player is Steve Booke and he is using a Larrivee LV-03RE acoustic guitar.

The Woody XL can sound great in a direct recording application using an audio interface, especially if sweetened with a few basic effects like compression, EQ, and reverb. The pickup already gives you a naturally compressed sound that allows each individual note to punch through with brilliance, and a little EQ can go a long way in addressing some of the tonal shortcomings you may face when recording direct with a pickup (it can sometimes sound too nasally with a bump in the midrange). You can easily get a full sound that is balanced and musical with a little tweaking, although the pickup itself does an excellent job accentuating the musical character of the acoustic itself.

The player is Adam Hall-Osman and he is using a Crafter LITE-T CD/N acoustic recorded straight from an audio interface in Logic with compression, EQ, and reverb.