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Rod Piezo Question

G'day all,

I received a cheap pre-amp in the mail today, & it came with a rod piezo. My question is, can this be glued to the bottom of the sound board like a disk, or would I be better off making a hardwood bridge & embedding it into that? Or would it not make much difference either way?

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on March 6, 2019 at 4:28pm

Rods work better under pressure , many embed them into a bridge , or leave them sticking out a bit on the bottomew of bridge , . even sandwich it betweeen the sound board and neck . Bottom line is to somehow have the string pressure applied to it . or have it already under pressure (embedded) then let the vibrations run through it .

hope that helps . ;-)

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Permalink Reply by mitch jones on March 6, 2019 at 9:31pm

I hadn't thought of putting it between the sound board & neck - just cut a fractionally too shallow groove accross the neck under the bridge & glue the sound board on. Great idea! Then I can still move/remove the bridge.

Cheers mate, that's just what I'll do!

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on March 7, 2019 at 4:08am

You got the right idea ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Jeff 'Bones' Reilly on March 6, 2019 at 8:26pm

pick gave you the good oil ...

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Permalink Reply by JL on March 10, 2019 at 11:39pm

Rods have a tiny fraction of the crystal that disks have, which is why they work better squished between the bridge and the bridge-saddle.

Disks have a LOT more electricity producing crystal, so they work well enough glued to any surface that vibrates.

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Permalink Reply by mitch jones on March 11, 2019 at 12:42am

Gday JL, Thanks for the info mate, that makes sense.

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on March 11, 2019 at 9:12am

Hi, having installed hundreds of strip undersaddle piezo pickups over many years l have found that the better - the flatter the contact surfaces on both sides of the pickup- the better the sound produced. Back in the day certain brands took all types of tricks and tactics to get even sound.

Taff

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Permalink Reply by mitch jones on March 11, 2019 at 10:36pm

I did end up sandwiching the rod between the neck & soundboard under the bridge, & it sounds good! Its a bit quieter acousticly due to the soundboard not vibrating as freely, but that's fine!

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Permalink Reply by Taffy Evans on March 11, 2019 at 11:25pm

I thought that might be the case.

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Permalink Reply by RTZGUITARS on March 13, 2019 at 6:02am

You can install a rod under the sound board, but like pick says " you need pressure on it". If the your using stick thorough design do this.

You can shim it on the back side if you need, make sure you use a hard wood bridge that isn't to high so the pickup is close to the sting. If the top is 3/16 and a bridge under 1/2 it should work fine. A capacitor on the input will help with feed back. A rod under a saddle in a bridge would be better and in my mind make the best sounding electric acoustic CBG.

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Permalink Reply by mitch jones on March 13, 2019 at 9:58pm

Gday, mate, I did make a ukulele a while ago, & I put a rod inside a hollowed out bridge with a saddle & it worked fine. I'm not too fussed about how this one sounds "un-plugged", I've got a few others to muck around with....!