Revolutionizing Biwa Amplification: A Special Session with Kaoru Sumire

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Kaoru Sumire, a renowned Chikuzen Biwa player, to our studio to test out the MSP Pickup!

elec.琵琶　菫薫（Sumire Kaoru）

筑前琵琶に外付けのコンタクトピックアップを取り付けて比マイクの較

The Biwa is a traditional Japanese lute, a beautiful instrument that even many in Japan rarely see up close. It often raises questions for musicians:


"What is its standard shape?"

"Wait, does it even have a soundhole?"

"How on earth do you attach a pickup to that?"


To solve these mysteries, we conducted an installation experiment. Check out the results in the video below!

What did you think? The mounting position was quite a surprise!

In the video, Kaoru provides a detailed review, comparing the MSP Pickup with dynamic microphones and her previous contact pickups. For those who perform on stage, her insights on usability and feedback resistance are incredibly valuable.

筑前琵琶に外付けピックアップMSPピックアップを覆手に磁石で取り付け

Technical Discovery Seeing the Biwa in person was a great learning experience for us. We noted its very small soundholes, the thick wooden body (which typically makes capturing vibrations difficult), and the unique bridge structure known as the Fukuju.

A New Breakthrough Following our session, Kaoru continued experimenting at home and shared a brilliant new setup on Instagram:

He discovered that attaching the pickup to the Fukuju (bridge), or even placing the pickup body inside the instrument with the magnet on the outside, worked wonders!

Until now, we often struggled to provide specific advice for Biwa players due to a lack of test cases. Thanks to Kaoru’s collaboration, we now have a much clearer "resolution" on how to amplify this beautiful instrument.

We are thrilled that he loves the sound, and we look forward to helping more Biwa players around the world!


| 123sound.jp (MSP pickup company site) | 123sound.jp SHOP |

#MSPpickup #Biwa #TraditionalJapaneseMusic #KaoruSumire #BiwaAmplification #InstrumentPickup #ContactMic #WorldMusic #AcousticPickup #123sound

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