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New to the forum w/question on piezo pickups

Posted by Wyndham Dennison on March 5, 2011 at 10:39am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I followed several threads here recently and thought I might enjoy some of the building going on here.

I have been interested in making a solid body electric lap dulcimer and found a thread here on using piezo electric rod pickups that seem to go with what I've been learning about,

I'd like to find out if there is a preference between the Humbucker magnetic pickups and the piezo electric rod pickups. is the sound about the same? Can a piezo even be used in a solid body design?

I realize this is a forum primarily about using Cigar Boxes but I hope some here might have an idea on this idea. There is very little info on this in other forums.

I read that the piezo  embedded in different bridge woods or materials would give a different quality or type of sound but if there's a way of comparison, is it just ease of install or personal pref.or limitation I'm not aware of.

My goal is to make an instrument that allows me to learn "Tapping" as well as strum & finger picking

here is a link to tapping on a Chapman stick. I just was to learn a simpler dulcimer version of this method.

Chapman Stick

 

I'm very excited at the possibilities of the different builds but I also need to know how the Piezo rod is kept in place. If a bridge is made from a dense hardwood(I would think necessary for good sound transmission to the rod) and drilled for the rod( like the threaded eye bolt in another thread), would a spot of epoxy at the two ends be enough to keep it inplace or would a some epoxy putty all alone the  bottom of the channel be better..

I'm looking at making a floating bridge.

Now all this is just in my head right now, I haven't started getting materials yet, maybe in a few weeks

.I'm hoping to learn from others here to get a better understanding of the build.

Thanks a lot for any help Wyndham

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Replies

  • Don Thompson March 7, 2011 at 3:15pm
    1966, in my estimatation one of the best folk rock bands ever. Lovin' Spoonful.
  • Wyndham Dennison March 7, 2011 at 2:59pm

    Those look nice, lot of choices out there. Reminds me of the  song"Did you ever have to make up your mind"

    Wyndham

  • Don Thompson March 7, 2011 at 12:15pm

    http://www.guitarpartsusa.com/item--Guitar-Pickups-Fender®-Style-P-...

    Used as is, they come wired as humbuckers,seperated they are single coils.

    Don 

    Wyndham Dennison said:

    Thanks for the video and help, I may try several ways and see what works better.

     

    Don, Is there such a thing as a 4 post mag pickup

    Wyndham

  • Bluesdog March 6, 2011 at 3:01pm

    You can use rod Piezo's on a solidbody, it would probibly require a preamp like the man in the video is installing but it does work. Heck, our very own Barefoot Cajun put a T.c. Rocker Piezo on a brick and it sounded great so i don't see why it wouldn't work.

     

     

  • Wyndham Dennison March 6, 2011 at 2:04pm

    Thanks Mark, I'll be sure to check them out.

    Wyndham

  • Mark Bliss March 6, 2011 at 1:09pm

    Oh yeah, several people here offer custom wound with any number of poles and spacings. There are plenty of options. Commercially there are fours as well. Ck out the ads on the home page, and there are plenty of discussions on it here as well.

    I am not going to recommend any specific ones as I dont want to forget or offend anyone. But research it a bit and you will find plenty of options. And one or two of them are likely to speak up any moment here.......

  • Wyndham Dennison March 6, 2011 at 1:06pm

    Thanks for the video and help, I may try several ways and see what works better.

     

    Don, Is there such a thing as a 4 post mag pickup

    Wyndham

  • Wyndham Dennison March 6, 2011 at 1:01pm

    Hey Wes

    Tim is in Asheboro, his shop is just south about 4 miles in Ulah on old hiway 220. His biz is "Affordable Computing". I'll be down that way sometime this coming week and I'll mention your name and family. I'll also give him this forum if he wants to post  a message or PM.


    Wyndham
    Wes "Moanin' Mule" Yates said:

    No foolin? Where is he at? I'm originally from NC (winston salem. family is from Raleigh area). He might be related.

    -WY



    Wyndham Dennison said:
    Wes, I have a friend here in NC that builds strats from kits , plays in a metal band, has a computer repair shop, his name...Tim Yates.
  • Mark Bliss March 6, 2011 at 12:52am
    Thanks for that Don, very interesting. Its a new one on me! Now I have to find a recording of someone playing one!
  • Don Thompson March 5, 2011 at 7:36pm

    I prefer magnetics, however I don't care for his use of six string pickups, they look out of place. Other than that......nice.

    http://www.tomyocky.com/electric_intro.html

This reply was deleted.