I've built my very first CBG and installed a simple , single piezo w/o volume control . Mounted it right under the bridge as well . The connection between the jack and amp cord is good but I get no sound at all . Having max volume on the amp does no good . Anyone have any ideas ?
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Hi, first disregard the earlier post I made re tremolo, I tried to delete it but it turned up here.
RE the piezo issue. A piezo in good condition will work, with good volume, even if clamped to the peghead so I'm thinking your problem is elsewhere.
Cheers Taff
Thanks Taffy . Actually I gave up trying to get the piezo to work so I installed a magnetic pick up . It was a little tricky but finally got it in and working . Thanks to everyone for their input
Hard tail bridges are normally used with magnetic pickups, so they don't transfer the string vibration as well too the top, which is usually a solid body top. I see your build is fretless (looks nice btw), so maybe make a simple wooden bridge and place it between your current hard tail bridge and soundhole, and see if that doesn't increase the output from the piezo? You can stick a piece of scrap would to test, just so it is the right size to contact the strings and the guitar top enough such that there is string pressure going to the top.
not the problem causing "no sound". I've built CBGs with both mag and piezo pups on selector switches with hardtail bridges with no problems. fault here is defective piezo, wiring or jack....
Thanks for the info Sam. That should be an easy fix.
The metal hard tail bridge will work fine with a piezo. Will offer a different tone than a wood bridge, but will work fine.
Thanks Paul, I would like to give this a try: which position of a hard tail bridge do you prefer: at the edge of the box or where you would put a floating bridge? Where to put the piezo: just underneath the bridge or somewhat away?
Well acoustically speaking, bridge placement is best towards the center of the top or just off center and making your neck to accommodate this bridge position with scale length. You'll need support of some kind under the top to screw/bolt the hardtail bridge and brace for the downward pressure. A neck through construction or through piece with bolt on neck will work great.
Placement of the piezo depends on your personal tastes. you could cut a small pocket in the through piece/neck through under the bridge and place the piezo there, mount it to the through piece/neck between the bridge and box side, anywhere under the top or in the neck/through piece pocket of a bolt on style construction.
You could wire 2 piezo to a 3-way switch and place the 2 piezo in different places to switch between or use both.Lots of ways to go with.
On the other hand some factory guitars often take shortcuts, you would be surprised of what I see inside many of the top brands. Bracing is not always fitted well, joints are far from tight. One brand did not even check the ends of the bracing into the side linings.
And this is the problem, you could push the brace off of the inside face of the guitar, especially if the bracing is stiff and needs extra effort to make the top move.
Sorry to be so wordy. By way of an example...a customer brought in his guitar (the brand that does not secure the brace ends into the side linings) tucked it under his arm clamping it to his chest, just I said don't do that....a loud crack came from the guitar, you guessed it....I got a brace repair job too.
Why am I saying all this? It ain't gonna happen with a CBG.
Cheers Taff
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