The background is my first CBG with piezo pickup. That's it in my avatar. I have two piezos mounted in the box with a switch so I can select between the two. I read about mounting the discs but couldn't really figure out what people were telling works best. So I mounted both of them on the neck (I had clearance between the neck and the top of the box. One was ceramic side up and the other was ceramic side down. They definitely sounded different but not good enough. Mounting was done with a blob of silicone sealant about 1/8" thick. Easy and quick. The better output was from mounting ceramic side toward the wood. I then moved one of the pickups to the underside of the top near the bridge area. That gave me good output.
Piezo setup had grounding issues that I just ignored but that passed a lot of noise to the amp and limited the volume somewhat. I then read about preamps and decided to get the little unit from CB Gitty delivered to my home for a little over $14. For that price, I had to try it.
I am glad that I ordered preamp from CB Gitty. If you are considering a build or wanting to get a bit more out of your guitar than you can with piezo disc plugged directly into your amp, you must get this gizmo. It comes with the undersaddle bar pickup. I thought about wiring my existing disc into the mini jack provided, but then, being lazy, I decided to just install the bar style pickup in the lid of my CBG. All I did (I mentioned being lazy, right?) was cut a shallow groove in the underside of the guitar top about 2" up (Toward the neck) from the bridge. I put some super glue in the groove and put the bar in the groove. (I also need to mention that I like super glue). Then I just had to cut the hole for the main box and it was done pretty quick.
The results were dramatic. I can crank this to painful levels if I want to and NO NOISE. That's right - no hum. Everything is shielded and the clean signal is boosted by the preamp. The EQ is a very handy addition to have. I can get a variety of sound depending on whether I am finger picking, using the slide or just beating the heck out of it.
I wanted to post my experience with the preamp since I would have started with this on my first build if I had know how easy it would be to get great output from my CBG. Now I will have to put one in the CBG that I built for my friend Larry.
Many thanks to all who post here with questions and solutions. Both have helped me in my builds.
Comments
Yeah - preamp box on a belt clip . . . would work with all of your guitars.
Here is the link to the Preamp at CB Gitty
Here is what the installation on my guitar looks like.
Wayfinder - I appreciate the comments that the disc piezos should also be noise free but I did not figure out how to do the shielding to eliminate the hum. I knew it was a grounding issue but I am better with the hammer and saw then with the soldering iron. That is part of the reason I like the preamp so well. Everything is connected nicely and it works well.