AGP #166 - Ex “Ganmain 3” - “Crazy” Modification4 String Fretted Junkshop GuitarScale: 641.5mm/25 ¼inchesStrings: .040NW .028NW .020NW .016PSTunings: G D G B & A D G BThe original “Canora” Acoustic Git was a $10 Second Hand Store purchase, back in early March 2015, and very soon converted into a 3 String GDg Git, with a Prewired Vol, Tone, Jack, 6k Magnetic Pickup.Of course the “Crazy” modification is my version of J.J.Cale’s heavily modified Harmony H162 Acoustic Guitar, which essentially converts it into a Solid Body Type Guitar.The Back was easily removed with the aid of a Stanley Knife, the Neck Bracing is a piece of recycled 60mm x 35mm Radiata Pine, Glued & Dowelled at the Neck End, and Glued & Screwed at the Bridge End, through the Stainless Steel Steamer Tailpiece.The underside of the Sound Board Top was reinforced with glued 4mm Recycled Cedar Venetian Blind Slats, the Cross Bracing is also recycled 10mm x 30mm Western Red Cedar, the Bracing and Git Sides have been coated with Shellac.New Acoustic Machine Heads were added, the Nut is Buffalo Bone and the Bridge is a piece of Threaded Brass Rod.The Pickups were coupled into 4 Combos of 2 Pickups with 3 Way Switches, leading to their own Output Jacks, as per the Combo Pic.The most amazing thing about this build, was I got the “Rats Nest” of wiring correct first time, the only sad point is of course, the 2 Disc Piezo’s, very Tinny & poor Volume, might be the fact that for the first time, I put it through a Vol Pot with Capacitor, something someone with a bit more Electrical knowledge than me if that’s the problem or not!The other amazing thing about this Build is, how the idiot who Pyrographed the Name, Build Number, Date and Signature into the Pine Neck Bracing, managed to get the bloody date wrong, it’s March not February. :-D
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Thanks again for the info on the Murata brand Piezo's, and the 2 suppliers mentioned, but!, unfortunately MGB no longer ships to Australia, which is a pity, as I used to buy my Pickups etc. from him, also unfortunately for us in the land of Aus, the US Postal Service recently increased their prices for Australian Deliveries, I used to buy all my Strings in Single Gauge Bulk lots of 12 from Gitty, however the last order was never delivered due to the Covid Crap that was going on at the time, Gitty did refund me, the reason for no delivery was I think due to Covid restrictions, but not sure if was the US or Australia which was the cause of the problem, just to give you an idea of the amount of the price rise by US Post, in April 2021 I purchased 10 Gitty GEN 2 Flat Humbuckers for $100USD + $27USD Postage, that same order today would cost $117USD + $60.48USD Postage, which essentially puts any further purchases from the US in the "It's Too Bloody Expensive" category :-{
Actually Alan, there’s a brand called Murata that makes the best disc piezos, the company makes components for Sony branded electronics, so the quality is legit? I think Gitty & Mgb carries them. Also have you tried embedding the discs into the neck? Sometimes soft setting glue can dampen vibration between the piezo, old fashioned clear cement works well in this case?
Thanks for the interest and input 'BQ', the Discs I used on this build were glue embedded, and were previously on other builds, can't remember for sure, but I'm sure they were a lot louder in those other builds, they were purchased from Ebay, and described as Guitar Pickups, but what that really means, is anybody's guess, I did do a test which bypassed the Vol / Cap Pot, but there was no difference, I have had a bit of success in the past with Under Saddle Rod Piezo's with onboard Preamps, but as we all know, when you decide to play one of them, the Battery's always Flat.
I did check out Piezo's Pickups on those sites you mentioned, but what I did find, was that they were way to pricey, and would rather spend that type of money on a good Mag Pup, so the end wash up of it all is, my long time distaste of Piezo Discs is fully confirmed! :-D
Forgot to add, most of the cheap disc piezos out there are buzzers for stuff like security & are not for music, which is why the sound like crap? That’s why it’s best to buy piezos from a source that can verify they are indeed for music. (Fishman,K&K,L.R. Baggs, Seymour Duncan) The name says it all, piezo- electric, which to me, means that it’s not a passive component, so really it needs some voltage to operate properly at all. that’s where the preamp comes in, it runs some voltage across the disc which forms the signal that is amplified? So in essence, it needs a preamp to function properly? Don’t expect too much from it if it only costs a few dollars or cents, a great sounding pickup will always cost more, it’s the law of the music business! :)
The problem is that the disc piezos don’t have half the output of the magnetic pickups without a preamp, or maybe even with one? I think rod piezos are a better choice, but as far as tone goes, there’s no comparison to magnetic pickups, plus you don’t need a preamp!
"Thanks Maddog", as if the Build itself isn't Crazy enough, with 4 separate Output Jacks, the possibilities of plugging them all into different Amps, or in fact all into one Amp is even Crazier, have already plugged 2 outputs into 2 separate Amps, one clean and one dirty, and is best described as interesting, still a lot more experimenting to be done yet, when time permits, but have been in a bit of a Building Frenzy lately. ;-D
Comments
That's why I called this one "Crazy" Poorness :-D
Holy pickups!
Yea, I feel you, we thought we had it bad with the Covid rate hike!
Thanks again for the info on the Murata brand Piezo's, and the 2 suppliers mentioned, but!, unfortunately MGB no longer ships to Australia, which is a pity, as I used to buy my Pickups etc. from him, also unfortunately for us in the land of Aus, the US Postal Service recently increased their prices for Australian Deliveries, I used to buy all my Strings in Single Gauge Bulk lots of 12 from Gitty, however the last order was never delivered due to the Covid Crap that was going on at the time, Gitty did refund me, the reason for no delivery was I think due to Covid restrictions, but not sure if was the US or Australia which was the cause of the problem, just to give you an idea of the amount of the price rise by US Post, in April 2021 I purchased 10 Gitty GEN 2 Flat Humbuckers for $100USD + $27USD Postage, that same order today would cost $117USD + $60.48USD Postage, which essentially puts any further purchases from the US in the "It's Too Bloody Expensive" category :-{
Actually Alan, there’s a brand called Murata that makes the best disc piezos, the company makes components for Sony branded electronics, so the quality is legit? I think Gitty & Mgb carries them. Also have you tried embedding the discs into the neck? Sometimes soft setting glue can dampen vibration between the piezo, old fashioned clear cement works well in this case?
Thanks for the interest and input 'BQ', the Discs I used on this build were glue embedded, and were previously on other builds, can't remember for sure, but I'm sure they were a lot louder in those other builds, they were purchased from Ebay, and described as Guitar Pickups, but what that really means, is anybody's guess, I did do a test which bypassed the Vol / Cap Pot, but there was no difference, I have had a bit of success in the past with Under Saddle Rod Piezo's with onboard Preamps, but as we all know, when you decide to play one of them, the Battery's always Flat.
I did check out Piezo's Pickups on those sites you mentioned, but what I did find, was that they were way to pricey, and would rather spend that type of money on a good Mag Pup, so the end wash up of it all is, my long time distaste of Piezo Discs is fully confirmed! :-D
Forgot to add, most of the cheap disc piezos out there are buzzers for stuff like security & are not for music, which is why the sound like crap? That’s why it’s best to buy piezos from a source that can verify they are indeed for music. (Fishman,K&K,L.R. Baggs, Seymour Duncan) The name says it all, piezo- electric, which to me, means that it’s not a passive component, so really it needs some voltage to operate properly at all. that’s where the preamp comes in, it runs some voltage across the disc which forms the signal that is amplified? So in essence, it needs a preamp to function properly? Don’t expect too much from it if it only costs a few dollars or cents, a great sounding pickup will always cost more, it’s the law of the music business! :)
The problem is that the disc piezos don’t have half the output of the magnetic pickups without a preamp, or maybe even with one? I think rod piezos are a better choice, but as far as tone goes, there’s no comparison to magnetic pickups, plus you don’t need a preamp!
"Thanks Maddog", as if the Build itself isn't Crazy enough, with 4 separate Output Jacks, the possibilities of plugging them all into different Amps, or in fact all into one Amp is even Crazier, have already plugged 2 outputs into 2 separate Amps, one clean and one dirty, and is best described as interesting, still a lot more experimenting to be done yet, when time permits, but have been in a bit of a Building Frenzy lately. ;-D
Crazy Cool!!!!!!!!!!
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