Hey all- Searching old threads here answered all of the questions I had while building my first CBG, but I'm on to my second and third now and I can't find anything here about this.
Are the buzzers in old washers, dryers, dishwashers, and ovens piezos? If so, are they much different from the ones you get at Radio Shack? Is there any reason they wouldn't work as a CBG pickup?
Part of my job involves occasionally hauling old appliances to either a scrap guy or a guy who fixes and resells them, so I think I might have a source for free pickups. But I don't want to waste my time if a bunch of other guys have already tried and failed at it.
And yeah, I know you can get piezos online for like six bucks a dozen. I'm just a cheap bastard who thinks upcycling is a lot cooler than buying new stuff.
Replies
It depends on the age of the appliance. Really old ones are magnetic coils. Newer ones are piezos. Like Dan says, hook em up and see what happens.
It sounds like it would probably work. It would be easy enough to find out, just pull one out and hook it up to an amp and tap on it. If it makes noise, you are good to go.