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Is there any advantage to more than one piezo pickup?

Posted by Rusty Summer on December 9, 2015 at 3:51pm in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I have read that having 2 piezo pickups in parallel can reduce the hum but are there any other benefits to tone or anything else? I am sure this has probably already been asked but I don't know how to word my search to find it.  Thanks

Rusty Summer

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Replies

  • Cory LeBeau December 16, 2015 at 2:37pm

    Glad I found this thread,I completely forgot why I signed up today.Used to be Bonefrost,but lost my password.

  • Jim Saraceno December 15, 2015 at 9:46am

    The main reason that I use two piezos in parallel is I found that when I used only one, I could get a good base sound or a good treble sound but not both. I mount them on the lid on either side of the bridge (inside the box) using hot glue. This seems to have the most well rounded sound in my opinion.

  • Rusty Summer December 10, 2015 at 11:19am

    Thank you all for your input.  I just scored a whole bunch of old USB cables that are shielded and have 4 wires. I am going to use them to create a double piezo. I had already bought 20 piezo elements from cb gitty.  I am stoked to give this a try. Gotta finish the 3 acoustic builds for my kids before I do though. I plan on using this technique. 

    • jawbone > Rusty Summer December 10, 2015 at 1:55pm

      Hey Rusty - another little trick you can try  - you can cut the disc, with a pair of sissors, basically take a bit of the crescent off each side. Do this to two discs and hot glue them into a bridge. I think it helps get rid of some of the "handling" noise.

      • Rusty Summer > jawbone December 10, 2015 at 2:31pm

        interesting. I think potting them with hot glue is supposed to accomplish the same thing.

  • darryl kernaghan December 9, 2015 at 5:26pm

    Not my own info,but i think it came from Ted Crocker,Piezo's,in series,apparently improve their ability to be played without the need for a pre amp up to a combination of 7,i've not tried that many myself though

  • Paul Craig December 9, 2015 at 4:48pm

    Piezo's are so strong they still hum even in parallel. They don't act just like magnetic coil pickups do. Don't know about the series wiring yet, have heard that they don't sound as good as parallel but that is always according to someone's opinion. You can get rid of some hum by covering the piezo's top with hot glue or double sided tape once you get it/them placed where they sound best. With 2 disc's, you can place one in the bridge area and one on the bass side of the strings towards the neck to mix you overall tone or wire them to a 3-way toggle/blend pot.

    • Rusty Summer > Paul Craig December 9, 2015 at 4:54pm

      I am going for simple so I will probably just stick with one! I really don't care too much about the hum.

      • jawbone > Rusty Summer December 9, 2015 at 5:57pm

        I find that two piezos in parallel made them sound much better - in my opinion it took a lot of the "harshness" out of them and it's not much harder to place two.  I would often use a rod and a disc in parallel.  

      • Paul Craig > Rusty Summer December 9, 2015 at 5:13pm

        Try it in a few different places to see where it sounds best first, then attach with the hot glue and cover the top or use the double sided tape and cove the top with a piece. Should be fine. If your using a volume pot, most people start out with a A500k. I ended up using a A1meg volume with the piezo half way between the bridge and neck and just to the side of the low/bass string.

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