Another thing you can do is if you are doing a neck-through design, place the rod between the neck and the underside of the box (making a tight groove in the neck for it to sit in) at the point where the bridge is. I've done this loads and as long as there's enough pressure on the rod you can get a great sound.
I've made a couple bridges for rod piezos like this where I attached steel rods to aluminum with epoxy to create sort of side rails to hold the rod then sat brass rod on top of the piezo. The first one I did I used a bolt for the strings to ride on instead of the brass rod, but I used a dremmel to grind a flat spot on the bolt to better transfer the vibrations to the rod piezo. Sorry I don't have a picture of that.
You can hear what it sounds like in the video I just posted. I think it sounds quite nice for a humble piezo rod. Here's a link to the video if you can't find it here on the Nation. Ceramic Body Guitar Demo Video
Also as JL said Shane had a video about putting a bolt on the top of a rod. He somehow had created a channel that the rod sat in, but he didn't show the machining process on the bolt.
Shane had a video where he showed a groove/channel he ground into the underside of the bolt with a dremmel cut-off wheel, to hold the rod piezo. I think it would be easier to make a wooden foot for the bolt to sit on/in with a groove in the wood instead.
Have not but I don't see why it won't work. under the bolt except for getting it to stand up right. Is there room to make a wood base for the bolt and imbed the rod in that? It needs to be in firm contact with the bolt/saddle.
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Another thing you can do is if you are doing a neck-through design, place the rod between the neck and the underside of the box (making a tight groove in the neck for it to sit in) at the point where the bridge is. I've done this loads and as long as there's enough pressure on the rod you can get a great sound.
There is a Shane Speal video on this. You stack 3 cutoff wheels on a dremel to cut a groove in an eyebolt. I can post a picture if that helps.
I've made a couple bridges for rod piezos like this where I attached steel rods to aluminum with epoxy to create sort of side rails to hold the rod then sat brass rod on top of the piezo. The first one I did I used a bolt for the strings to ride on instead of the brass rod, but I used a dremmel to grind a flat spot on the bolt to better transfer the vibrations to the rod piezo. Sorry I don't have a picture of that.
You can hear what it sounds like in the video I just posted. I think it sounds quite nice for a humble piezo rod. Here's a link to the video if you can't find it here on the Nation. Ceramic Body Guitar Demo Video
Also as JL said Shane had a video about putting a bolt on the top of a rod. He somehow had created a channel that the rod sat in, but he didn't show the machining process on the bolt.
Shane had a video where he showed a groove/channel he ground into the underside of the bolt with a dremmel cut-off wheel, to hold the rod piezo. I think it would be easier to make a wooden foot for the bolt to sit on/in with a groove in the wood instead.
Drill hole in bolt.
Have not but I don't see why it won't work. under the bolt except for getting it to stand up right. Is there room to make a wood base for the bolt and imbed the rod in that? It needs to be in firm contact with the bolt/saddle.