I see these charts and diagrams...blah blah blah, but none of them are 101. They all start off with the assumption that you know what the heck you are looking at. I dont know what the parts are called that go into a pickup and I dont know any of the vocabulary to understand. I've searched the forums and found very little useful help for the completely helpless beginner (thats me, lol). We all know you can buy pre-fab'd items, but none of us want to do that all the time.
so lets say I know absolutely zero about it...break it down with detailed explanation. What the parts are, what they do, how they wire together and why, where to find them, and troubleshooting typical problems.
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you can buy them already wired to a jack on ebay. They even have double piezo tranducers wired. I installed one in an acoustic guitar years ago...worked great. Don't know who I got it from but you'll find them if you do a search. Hope this helps.
Wichita Sam said:
Hi Spencer,
Yea, I know things seem complicated and confusing to a newbie, but hang in there. The piezo assembly you picture (and the instructions) is just fine. There is some difference of opinion about how/where to mount the piezo (that's the metal/ceramic disc thingy). In the beginning I would suggest that you glue it (CA/Crazy glue... same thing) to the underside to the lid under the bridge position. If you want to emphasize bass tones, move it to a position under the bass side of the bridge (that's the fat or top strings)... If you want to emphasize treble tones, move it to a position under the treble side of the bridge (that's the thin or bottom strings)... You will reduce feedback (that's the harmonic "squeal" you get when you have the gain too high on your amp and/or the CBG to close to the speaker) if you encase the back of the piezo in hotglue, mouse pad material or something else to dampen the piezo vibration and isolate it from the body cavity (I like 100% silicone caulk)....
Its nice, I'm not gonna complain...but its just a stick on piezo in a pretty round package wired to a 1/4 male. I actually hate using the puddy on my instruments, and bet $35 that I can make one just as good for about $3.50 using an old chord.
Right on, Ted, will do - of course, I do need to build the rest of the CBG before getting too far ;-)
Thanks, y'all!
Ted Crocker said:
Steve, hard to tell from the pic but instead of a piezo this looks like an electromagnet. A little experimentation will tell you if this will work like a magnetic pickup. Attach the red wire to the positive lug on a jack and the black to negative. Plug it into an amp, hold the pup near a plucked string and tell us what happens.
I don't know what it is either, but it looks cool even out of focus.....
the best,
Sam
Steve Pugh said:
Sage advice, Sam - apologies for my cellphone's irrational Macro focus (it draws a little box around the coil saying "I'm totally gonna focus here" and then doesn't...)
There's a wire-wrapped coil of some sort with thin discs at either end, one of which is attached to the circuit board and the other of which is attached to the thin metal plate which made one of the component's 'walls'. It looks neat-o to me, but I'll be darned if I know what any of it is ;-)
Sage advice, Sam - apologies for my cellphone's irrational Macro focus (it draws a little box around the coil saying "I'm totally gonna focus here" and then doesn't...)
There's a wire-wrapped coil of some sort with thin discs at either end, one of which is attached to the circuit board and the other of which is attached to the thin metal plate which made one of the component's 'walls'. It looks neat-o to me, but I'll be darned if I know what any of it is ;-)
You're probably going to find a piezo (they don't have to be discs, just cheaper to make that way). But, who knows until you do surgery?
Take a pic and let us know....
the best,
Wichita Sam
Steve Pugh said:
Hi all,
This is the "ask questions later" part of "shoot first, ask questions later"...while at the local Fry's Electronics, I checked out the audio electronic component section and they had a few small 'buzzer' components. Knowing that piezo pickups are often scrounged from buzzers, I bought one ($2.00).
However, it's not a disc - it's a rectangular block, maybe .5 * .75 * .25 inches. I haven't taken it apart yet to see what's inside, but might this work?
Like I said, "shoot first and ask questions later"....any ideas?
This is the "ask questions later" part of "shoot first, ask questions later"...while at the local Fry's Electronics, I checked out the audio electronic component section and they had a few small 'buzzer' components. Knowing that piezo pickups are often scrounged from buzzers, I bought one ($2.00).
However, it's not a disc - it's a rectangular block, maybe .5 * .75 * .25 inches. I haven't taken it apart yet to see what's inside, but might this work?
Like I said, "shoot first and ask questions later"....any ideas?
I was reading on this stuff and...
is this what I'll need? RS has alot of others, but this was cheapest and highest rated...it does however say that the piezo will need an external driver circuit. I dont know what that means, but its my guess that that's only if you dont have an outside source of power such as an amp.
so will this work for me?
I got a soldering iron, some solder, and I'll just strip out some old wire...now I'm just waiting to order some of this since our local RS has nothing.
Replies
Wichita Sam said:
Its nice, I'm not gonna complain...but its just a stick on piezo in a pretty round package wired to a 1/4 male. I actually hate using the puddy on my instruments, and bet $35 that I can make one just as good for about $3.50 using an old chord.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Dean-Markley-ARTIST-KIT-Guitar-Instrument-Picku...
Thanks, y'all!
Ted Crocker said:
Buzzer1.jpg
I don't know what it is either, but it looks cool even out of focus.....
the best,
Sam
Steve Pugh said:
There's a wire-wrapped coil of some sort with thin discs at either end, one of which is attached to the circuit board and the other of which is attached to the thin metal plate which made one of the component's 'walls'. It looks neat-o to me, but I'll be darned if I know what any of it is ;-)
Buzzer1.jpg
Take a pic and let us know....
the best,
Wichita Sam
Steve Pugh said:
This is the "ask questions later" part of "shoot first, ask questions later"...while at the local Fry's Electronics, I checked out the audio electronic component section and they had a few small 'buzzer' components. Knowing that piezo pickups are often scrounged from buzzers, I bought one ($2.00).
However, it's not a disc - it's a rectangular block, maybe .5 * .75 * .25 inches. I haven't taken it apart yet to see what's inside, but might this work?
Like I said, "shoot first and ask questions later"....any ideas?
http://gaussmarkov.net/wordpress/parts/connectors/14-phone-jacks-an...
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103454&c...
I was reading on this stuff and...
is this what I'll need? RS has alot of others, but this was cheapest and highest rated...it does however say that the piezo will need an external driver circuit. I dont know what that means, but its my guess that that's only if you dont have an outside source of power such as an amp.
so will this work for me?
I got a soldering iron, some solder, and I'll just strip out some old wire...now I'm just waiting to order some of this since our local RS has nothing.
that's the plan anyway
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