Jonathan Woo Guitars

I chanced upon Supernatural while on a business trip with Jeffrey to Guangzhou. We were brought to the home of Bradley Clark, where I first met him. Now at that point in time I still had no idea who he was, but I was familiar with artist such as Tommy Emmanuel, Jack Johnson, Keith Urban, and Lloyd Spiegel. Digging a little deeper I eventually found out that this man was behind the design, sound and development of Cole Clark Guitars, and had served as the CEO of Maton Guitars.

I became obsessed with pickups in the last year or so. Reason being is that I had always intended to build guitars that people would use- that would be the workhorse of gigging musicians. And that, without any question would require some sort of amplification system. Now I’ve had the privilege of testing out many pickup systems, having formerly owned a music store in Subang Jaya. I’ve tried many systems, Magnetic, Mic, Piezo, Blended Systems, Wireless, etc, and often never found myself quite satisfied with any of them. Usable, sounds pretty good, sure, but still one thing or another that annoys me quite a bit. And with that, I’ve concluded that no pickup system can really be a 100% true representation of your guitar, but they can come really close- Enter Supernatural.

I personally liked this system for a few reasons- First, being the original system (in Matons and Cole Clarks) are a tried and tested system by many reputable artists around the globe, and many whom are my personal favourites as well. Second- it solves my pet peeve of having a soft coaxial wire/piezo that sits under the saddle, robbing the instrument of some tonal transfer from strings/saddle to the guitar’s top. Third- I thought the design was brilliant, no need to route any additional holes in the guitar’s side, no magnetic pickup sitting across the sound hole, easy access to the battery via a tool (not needed in my designs though), and of course, the 9 presets that come with it.

This comes across to me as a pickup system designed for the gigging musician. There are times where a musician steps into a venue, not knowing what kind of sound systems are available, whether great or plain crappy speakers. Having these 9 presets to choose from allows the player to pick a starting point that would work with the system, and having all the EQ sliders to fine tune it quickly. I will not run through the specs here, you can read about it on the Supernatural Page.

My initial worry was that since the piezo itself looked big and heavy, it looked like it would rob the instrument of some tone, but after installing it on a few guitars now, I am assured that it does not affect the guitar’s natural sound, as it really is quite light. I think I’ve figured out the most optimum way of setting it up, after having *almost* destroyed the first two I installed in my personal guitars (I did not!)- I count those as my tuition fees. I am very happy with this system this far, and would happily feature it as the pickup system on all my future builds.

Installation on other existing guitars are available, and if you are anywhere near me (Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia), you are more than welcome to try the system out on my guitars. Do contact me here for any questions. Have a great day!

In the midst of this pandemic, we have been working on something we can help, and also give back to the community. So Jeff came up with this initiative to do so, hence this project. This guitar will be up for a lucky draw on the 29th of November 2020, which will be on Facebook. Entries are via a minimum donation of USD$10, which gets you a ticket for a chance to win this guitar. The more a person donates increases their chance of taking this beauty home.

I found this piece of wood at a local timber shop. Chanced upon it as we were looking for wood to construct necks. There was only a single piece, and even after getting the workers to look through, there was just nothing like it. This guitar is a one off build, never to be replicated again.

100% of the funds will be channeled to those who are most affected by the Movement Control Order here in Malaysia, who have lost their incomes and jobs in the midst of this pandemic. We have identified the possible beneficiaries and the outcome will be shared to all. For now, have a look at this beaut:

This guitar is a Jeffrey Yong OM model, body constructed entirely of Meranti (a local Mahogany variant), Flamed Maple Bindings, Abalone Rosette and Purflings, a bolt-on 7-piece Laminated Nyatoh Neck, with Malaysian Blackwood for the Fingerboard and Bridge. Hardwares are Schertler Gold Machine Heads with Ebony knobs, Bone Nut and Saddles, Jescar Evo Gold Fretwires and Solid Brass Pins.

For more information on this lucky draw, do not hesitate to contact me here, or you can e-mail Jeffrey at jeffreyyong2009@yahoo.com directly as well for more information or to make your donations.

I will be bringing in these pickup and preamp sets, both to be sold and installed, as well as to be built into my future guitar builds. There are currently two options; the SuperDiscreetPower (SDP) and the SuperClear (SC) systems, both available with the options of a Gooseneck Microphone, or a Face Sensor. The piezo pickups are installed right under the saddle of the guitar. Both these sensors will contribute to a very natural, highly accurate representation tone of the guitar to be amplified.

The system has been designed to fit into most guitars, without the need for excessive modifications or removal of wood from the guitar sides. A control panel sits right at the lip of the guitars’ sound hole, making available these controls- a switch that scrolls through 4 preset EQ settings calibrated by professional musicians, Bass, Mids and Treble sliders for fine tuning a selected EQ preset, and of course, a volume slider. An LED bulb acts as an indicator for selected preset through a series of blinks, and also doubles as a low battery indicator. The main preamp sits hidden inside the guitar, mounted inside or on the heel.

I have been following the work of Bradley Clark since I became a Tommy Emmanuel fan. No stranger to the industry, Brad is an Australian Luthier, former CEO of Maton Guitars, and also co-founder of Cole Clark Guitars. Both these big brands have a reputation of amazing amplified sounds, and Brad is the brains and engineer behind this. I had the privilege of meeting Brad sometime spring of 2019 in Guangzhou during a business trip and factory visit.

I aim to make this product available to musicians here in Malaysia, and for any inquiries or bookings, please do not hesitate to contact me here. Retail prices are approximately RM895.00 for the SuperDiscreetPower system, and RM1095.00 for the SuperClear System. Differences in the systems are entirely based on preference. I will post more details and sound samples when the pickups arrive, and update accordingly. For more information on the pickups, visit: Supernatural Guitar Preamps.