Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear on March 14, 2018 at 11:14am

I've done canjos with the jack lead direct into the tin lid. Just didn't sound great, though I didn't get a shock. I fixed mine with a layer of insulation tape between the bottom of the lid and the jack socket. Something about the positive/negative layout of a jack socket? Seemed to sound much better though.

I can't comment or say whether it would help in your situation as I used a piezo in that build. I think (THINK) the same should apply though. I'm sure others will be along soon to help more.

Enjoy the build.

Bear :0)

Permalink Reply by MadGomer on March 14, 2018 at 1:28pm

Holly, I don't believe there's any safety concerns with a disc piezo setup as you have, but per Bear's comment you may need to do some things from a sound quality/feedback perspective.  I haven't done a metal tin yet but I do sandwich my discs between felt or pot them in hot glue when I sandwich them between neck and bridge for conventional wood boxes to calm down the feedback.

Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on March 14, 2018 at 2:35pm

Definitely no safety issues there... the voltages these things produce are so small they are hard to measure...

Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on March 14, 2018 at 3:17pm

No  zap fears  warranted  here  . but .   i'd seperate the jack from the  tin with a rubber / cardboard , plastic , foam./wood washer  etc ..for cleaner tone , looks like you already did that with the vol control. and i'd mount the piezo in in a bed of hot-glue on the  wood  part of the neck , then cover it again in hot glue (or use silicone ) . Attached  right to the tin may be too harsh  , and sound like pulling a cat through a keyhole . (to quote another member here  )  ;-)

ps . did you see the replies in your other post ? 

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/class101/forum/topics/canjo-pic...

Permalink Reply by Holly Hodson on March 14, 2018 at 3:23pm

I did see them, at the moment the disk is held in place with a rubber band until I can get hold of my hot glue gun!

Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on March 14, 2018 at 3:35pm

Cool.  great job on the temporary placement .  you can test  try different areas by  just taping it on to try and find a sweet spot . it seem sto be a different on many guitars . as suggested by  MadGomer , a  felt / foam  sandwich   works too . you gotta muffle it a bit from direct contact  . otherwise you may  hear the hair of  your arm  brush against it and get  feedback  issues. and scare kittys .. etc .. ;-)

Permalink Reply by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on March 14, 2018 at 4:48pm

To get a better sound out of the disc hot glue it into a bottle top and cover the hole thing in hot glue to fill up the bottle top place some tinfoil over the hot glue and gently press down to flatten out the glue let that set then glue the bottle top to underside of through neck in bridge position you will get to much body nous and feed back just using it that way there’s a YouTube video on how to do it , it works very well in my opinion. Here’s a pic that may help good luck .

Permalink Reply by 3qt17g550yh6r on March 15, 2018 at 8:30am

Well, this might not matter as much but if I was gonna use hot glue ( or any glue for that matter ) I would make sure to scuff up the inside of the box, on the spot your gonna glue it. If it's too slick the piezo could come loose. Just sayin