Schaller Oyster S/P

I've brought Schaller Oyster S/P Piezo for recording the sound from a nylon string guitar as a hobby at home. Before I've brought it, I've read the reviews and watched some videos about this piezo, and everything seems to be acceptable.

However when I've received this little thing, I found that it is very hard to find a good place on my guitar to attach it to. It either sounds too loud, muddy, with tons of lower frequencies; or too quite, too sharp. At last I've found a balanced position for it, but I'm still not satisfied by the sound it provides. All the details will be recorded, such as some very tiny hand movement on the guitar. And if used with amplifier, the feedback is a serious problem. Since this is the first time I'm trying piezo, probably it is the common problem of piezos though.

After found the balanced position of the sound, I've tried to use double-side adhesive tape attached it to my guitar. And then I've found the cable really annoying, with such a long cable I could hardly put my guitar into the guitar case without squeezing the cable onto the guitar.

So at last I decided to remove the double-sided adhesive tape and used some adhesive pads (usually used for posters) to attach it to my guitar, which is cleaner than the "knetmasse" shipped with the piezo. Whenever I need to record it, I'll attach it to the guitar, otherwise I'll just remove it.

The finishing of the piezo is quite good, the metal shell seems to be very stable. However the problem is still the cable, it is very thin, makes one have the impression that it is going to be broken easily.

So to sum up. On the good side, the metal shell looks very stable, however the cable is a big problem. And not all guitars might have good sound recorded with it.

PROS: Great little compromise between a microphone and an under-saddle pick-up. The under-saddle pick-ups fitted as standard to many electro-acoustic guitars tend to give a 'brassy' sort of sound. Because you can place this pick-up anywhere on the sound-board you can choose more treble or more bass as you like (by proximity of fix to bass or treble strings), plus you are picking up directly the acoustic properties of the instrument from the soundboard rather than the bridge, so you get a much better tone, The 'blu-tak' adhesive is plenty sufficient for a seated gig and doesn't stain the surface. The sensitivity of the pick-up and the tone are great (for a transducer).
CONS: The wire is thin and not robustly attached to the pick-up, so don't start doing Peter Townshend impressions! I carry a spare! The pick up casing is also prone to loosening and rattling (a smear of blu-tak can cure this). You will probably need a pre-amp (the signal is quite weak without it). A simple foot pedal type 'booster' for about £25 that doesn't 'colour' the sound is best.
OVERALL: Does the job, and surprisingly good sound quality for the money.

Not a bad product but nowhere near the requisite standard for a paid gig. You do get a sound out of it and I have used it at a couple of acoustic gigs but if you're considering trying to use it at a full band gig I'd suggest looking at the higher end electronics as these should provide the necessary control and clarity for a full band situation.

In summary, good for messing about at home, open mics, samll gigs etc. but if you want to be serious about you banjo sound I'd look elsewhere as this product will only get you so far.