jartzh wrote:I have not bought a pickup in 20 years. What is the current thinking for the best pickup style .. for a dreadnought.
I have belt hanging gigpro. So I need a "passive" pickup, I think.
I've used JJB piezo pickups mounted on the bridge plate. K&K has similar pickups (and John Hall is a K&K dealer) which cost more but seem to have a better reputation. Both are pretty easy to install, particularly on a build, and usually require nothing more than drilling out the endpin hole to accommodate a 1/4" jack.
Undersaddle pickups are also possible, but they are more of a pain to install, because they require a remorselessly flat seat for the saddle, some saddle modification (reduction in height to allow for the thickness of the pickup), and a hole to be drilled into the bridge for the lead. From what I've read, people on the Acoustic Guitar Forum tend to prefer the bridge-plate mounted pickups to the under-saddle ones.
I've also got a JR Baggs Lyric pickup waiting for my next build, but haven't heard how it sounds.
These are all sort of entry-level pickups. For money, you get condenser mikes, piezo pickups, and electromagnetic pickups (like an electric guitar) or some combination thereof. These are mostly active systems, which mean that you've got to put a battery in there somewhere. If it's for a build, I highly recommend that you install a battery case accessible from outside the guitar, like on the ribs or at tail. You'll be glad you did!