Comment

Comment by Paul Craig on August 6, 2016 at 4:28am

Fomhorach - You'll want to wire the piezo's in parallel. They are high impedance pickups, so wiring them in series makes it worse.

Comment by Thomas "Duck" Petry on August 5, 2016 at 6:45pm

Thanks to all for the comments on my build.  I've been really happy with the double piezo set ups, though I must admit I tried a P-90 and really love the sound it gives.  When I do the block mount with the piezos and pot them in with the clear silicone I use a putty knife and put a thin layer across the whole back side of the oak and let it dry so when it's set in place on the box it prevents it from sliding without gluing it to the box, simple and works well.

Here's a picture of the P-90 build. I really like how it came out.

Comment by Fomhorach on August 5, 2016 at 1:14pm

Great pictures duck.

Need to try this sometime. Maybe my next build. Planning on a 26-27 inch 4 stringer (waiting on my T profile bar) but I can drive forwards just now and create a nice bridge just like this. Are your pez's connected in parallel or series?

Comment by Dave Lynas on August 5, 2016 at 12:36pm

I've been ganging my wires for grounds and doing it with one joint. Les times heating the pot. Seems to work good.

Comment by Dave Lynas on August 5, 2016 at 11:00am

Thanks Wayfinder. I learned some good info. I've been holding my pen on the pot back for a long time then adding the solder. Might explain why sometimes my work doesn't work. I'll try the quick method. I like quick!

Comment by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on August 5, 2016 at 3:44am

Thanks for explaining Wayfinder. I was meaning potting as in getting the silicone amount right to avoid hearing everything including the hand moving up and down the neck. Also placement for best results. I just struggle with all of it. I enjoy all the building stuff though so it's all good.

Hey Thomas. That's a cool set up there. I saw some piezo discs on eBay that are encased in maple and have a sticky side for attaching. He had a video track showing how they sound too. Even had the jack socket attached. Bonus. £10 and a nice guy too. Your method looks amazing though and total genius. I'm going to give that a try next time I use a piezo. Thanks for sharing it. Very generous and helpful.

Comment by Thomas "Duck" Petry on August 5, 2016 at 2:43am

Hi Bear, here's a couple of pictures of how I build my piezo pickups.  I use a piece of 1/4" oak or poplar leftover from the boards I buy for my fingerboards (don't fret my builds) and make a 1/8" pocket with a forstner bit on the back side. I stick the piezos in place with clear silicone sealer and after it sets up fill the pocket with clear silicone. Put a hole through the top of the box to run the wires through and just let the strings hold it in place. I generally file s groove in the top side to keep the bridge bolt on place, but if you would rather mount a single piezo on the inside of the box under the bridge area you can make it the same way or pot a single piezo into a bottle cap, fill the bottle cap to the top and stick it to the inside of the box with the silicone. or double back tape if you want to be able to move it around to try different locations.  Experiment, it's fun and the piezos are cheap to play with. 

Comment by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on August 4, 2016 at 8:39pm

I don't pretend to understand half of why what you say really is as you say but I don't doubt the truth of it. I'm not able, so far, to tell the difference by ear but I know the sounds I like. I've only really used piezos in my builds and I have discovered after buying an electric cbg that there is life beyond piezos. Not saying piezos are bad at all. I've yet to successfully pot a disc and have it sound decent though. The ones with piezo that I've bought sound great. I tried a build with a humbucker but had no end of issues when I messed with it to fix the volume knob that wasn't working because the pot was twisting with the knob. I can't even get the humbucker to work now. All in all to say I believe you that sometimes we're just following a crowd, paying for a brand, buying it because we are told it's better. No harm in trying something different though. There are unexpected pleasant surprises in doing so sometimes. It's a balance. 

Comment by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on August 4, 2016 at 4:15pm

You're one of these folks with good ears Wayfinder. I can tell the sound difference between an acoustic and an electric guitar but all electric guitars sound the same to me. Different pickups are all same sound too. Sure I can hear hum in single coils sometimes but I can't tell this one sounds like a strat or that one sounds like a sg. I'm definitely not saying there is no difference, just that I must be half deaf haha.

Well, I have another reason to thank you. After looking at the digitech rp55 (saw a couple of rp50 units on ebay uk too) I've decided to get either one of those or the zoom g1on and a separate Boss RC1 looper. More time for my loops and more options to save loops. I'm probably going to need a preamp for the acoustic guitar if I buy a rp55 but they're only around £30. I'll still let you know how I get on with the pedals. I'm looking forward to playing with them. Thanks again for all the help and advice. Really appreciate it. Cheers pal. :)

Comment by Paul Craig on August 4, 2016 at 2:38pm

The line 6 Pod is fantastic, but a bit costly.

And Way, you might like the Line 6 guitars.

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