The Realist acoustic transducer was designed by Ned Steinberger in collaboration with David Gage.

David Gage on the development of The Realist: “Recognizing the limitations of microphones and traditional piezo transducers, Ned and I decided that for the working musician, things could and should be better. We felt a transducer should be equal in it’s ability to recreate an acoustic pizzicato and arco sound through commonly used amplifiers.

Furthermore, this pick-up had to be simple, dependable, and affordable. After years of consideration and tests, we have come up with a system that achieves all of these goals.

We understand the hours of practice it takes to draw your sound out of your instrument, and with this pick-up we feel your voice can be heard more accurately through an amplifier. Both recording engineers and professional musicians have been startled by the great tone and even response when playing pizzicato and arco. Finally, you can play both pizz and arco without having to play with your controls.”