Hello I almost finished my latest 4 string tin can banjo. I put 2 piezoelement on the inside wich works exelent as long as i don't close the lid (which i must do before i can put strings on it) just a small gap and i'm having output again.
Does anyone know if it's impossible to get a signal out of piezo's in a Faraday cage when not what could be the problem?
Would it help if i cut some soundholes (which i prefer not to do) ?
Thanx Niels
Replies
The mag pup picks up off the lid ,if it is a ferrous metal, (If a magnet sticks to it ,it's a ferrous metal) . It will work just like it does on strings and just needs to be close to the lid , not touching . Mag. pups work by electromagnetism , NOT vibrations, as such, it picks up the movement of ferrous metal caused by vibrations . ( Think , oscillations ! ) You can check this out by holding the mag. pup, plugged into a amp, close to your tin(but not the strings) and strumming your strings .
Although I usually do it just like in this pic, it's ok of it's stuck on the soundboard too, you just don't want that contact to be intermittent, that's when you'll get the nasty click-buzz just like tapping the poles on a pickup with a screwdriver or coin etc.. If in doubt a bit of tape over the pole pieces, or a leather cap like Randy did might be wise, although I never bother. I think you'll like the sound, I put one under the cone on all those solid body resos I do too
Dunno if that will work with nylon strings, i think normaly the vibration of the lid is causing the changes in the electromagnetic field in the pickup. (you can call them whatever you want but i see the lid as a vibrating metal membrane causing oscillations (wich is just fancy word for vibration on a not physical scale :-) in the em field)
When the pickup touches the lid i think its the same as with nails hanging on a magnet (i mean hanging a nail on a nail which is hanging on a magnet) it expands the range of the pickup and than the em field in the lid changes throught the vibrating (ferrous metal) strings
but theory is one i will try it in real when i got the ukelele
This one for example. http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/p1010001-33?context=user
i stand corrected..;)
It looks to me like you just made things a whole lot more complicated than they need to be. Why not just wire up the piezos and make sure they work, then use some double sided tape to stick them to the tin or the neck?
Whats going on..
That said... look I dont want to offend in any way, and it looks like youve done a great job on this axe..
but these piezos directly on the tin lid WILL NEVER sound any good, sorry. Piezos emphasise all the wrong frequencies for this job, its difficult enough to get em sounding halfway decent on a nice warm cedar soundboard, but on a harsh, toppy steel one ? forget it.. If you really are committed to using a piezo i reccommend mounting it in wood to take the top edge off.. Mount in to the neck like Uncle Randy says, or sandwich it with softwood, pine, cedar etc..
what you really wanna try is this, trust me, ive made many many tin guitars..
I just finished 2 canjos made out of old 35mm film cans. I encased the piezo discs in silicon and just attached them to neck with more silicon. -but looking at Kid's pic here, I'm tempted to pull them apart right now and stick some cheap pickups inside instead. That is really cool!
Super i will fix it tomorrow must have turned the wires after the they let loose when trying to connect the second wire.
Good advice is never offending ;-) , this one I will keep this way but I will try the neck thing on the next one, and i will certainly try the electromagnetic pick-up as above, I like the idea, and thanx for the pic it looks like a better way to put the neck trough the box can, I cant use it for my next one (the neck is already finished) but i got a couple of tin cans waiting to become more.
hmm I think I´ll try the electromagnetic pickup on the hearth shape tin can Ukulele I want to build next. Electromagnetic on Nylon strings :-)
Thanx
Neils, the mag pup will not work with nylon strings,
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