Swapping Taylor guitars pickup

[kkmm]

I have two Taylor guitars, 416CE and K14ce.
From outside, both have 3 knobs for volume/bass/treble control.
I am very familiar with the system with: under saddle transducer with preamp installed on board. Wondering if these Taylor guitars have similar electronics with preamp hidden in the body, so it is not visible from outside (cosmetic?).
Is it difficult to swap the pickup system on thse two guitars ?

[Nevin]

You should be able to check with Taylor if they are the same. I would be careful about swapping as a proper fit of the transducers and saddle are important. Also in my experience Taylor will siez on anything to declare the warranty void.

[kkmm]

Thanks for the suggestions. I won't swap just for peace of mind and less work. "If it is not broken, don't touch" hold true in this case

[Eric Platt]

There are at least 3 variations of the Taylor ES1 pickup system. And the newer Taylors use the ES2 which is entirely different (saddle transducer rather than body and under the fingerboard).

I wouldn't try it.

[Br1ck]

Don’t both the ES1 and ES2 have mag pickups buried under the fingerboard? Am I hopelessly out of date? Again.

I have a love/ hate with the Taylor pickups across the board. They never sound bad but never sound good to me either. But they are perfect in a loud band. I run sound occasionally at an open mic, and it seems to me that Taylor owners just can’t stay away from their controls. Get everything just right, and they boost their volume instead of asking for more monitor volume. You have to pay attention so they don’t screw up their sound. This pertains to all onboard controls.

Give me K&Ks any day as far as ease of use from the sound guy’s point of view LOL.

[rockies]

The MiSi Align XT system sold by Elderly Music is a direct replacement for the Taylor 3-pot electronics. It uses the LR Baggs pickup that goes right in place of the Taylor pick up. Sounds great. Also is a no battery unit uses a quick charge capacitor that gives several hours of playing time, also works very well.
Dave

[Eric Platt]

Don’t both the ES1 and ES2 have mag pickups buried under the fingerboard? Am I hopelessly out of date? Again.

I have a love/ hate with the Taylor pickups across the board. They never sound bad but never sound good to me either. But they are perfect in a loud band. I run sound occasionally at an open mic, and it seems to me that Taylor owners just can’t stay away from their controls. Get everything just right, and they boost their volume instead of asking for more monitor volume. You have to pay attention so they don’t screw up their sound. This pertains to all onboard controls.

Give me K&Ks any day as far as ease of use from the sound guy’s point of view LOL.

ES2 is a saddle transducer. Behind the saddle instead of under the saddle.

Have just run my Taylor controls flat and let the sound person do any changes. Now with just a GS mini with electronics, it's even easier. But I'm more likely these days to just grab my Martin D Jr if I need to plug in. The Fishman seems to be easier for some sound folks to get in the ballpark of sounding like a guitar.

Agree that K&K are probably the best option. But a Fishman plugged into a Fishman amp gets a surprising good tone, IMO. (Yes, it's because the amp dials out the quack.)