blackjack Posted July 19, 2003 Report Share Posted July 19, 2003 i play classical acoustic, and i have always wanted to amplify my sound. you can get acoustic pickups which fit into he soundhole and new bridegs ect, but these are normally designed for modern guitars and they dont fit into the clasical soundhole and becuase a classical neck is much bigger than modern gitars a new bridge is out of the question. also becuase classical guitars have nylon strings normal pickups wont work. its a dilmea i have been trying to find a solution for for ages. nobody seems to make them, so i think im going to have to do some DIY. i want a pickup that i can permenantly attach to the guitar without affecting the normal non amplified sound of the guitar. does anyone know how i can do this (if at all) or where i can get one? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 What about a piezo that is mounted inside and you plug into it through the strap button which doubles as a jack, I've seen a few of those around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 The best way to amplify a classical is with a microphone placed in front of it. I've honestly never seen a classical with a pickup. I think it's likely because A, nylon strings, I don't know how well a magnetic pickup would work, B, nylon strings don't create the same vibration that a steel string does, not sure how well a piezo would pick it up either. You could try a piezo soundboard pickup, that is about all I could suggest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roli Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 Piezo - especially the soundboard one - sounds really, really bad, unless it's an expensive, professional system. An under the saddle mounted one might be good enough though, but a well placed microphone (or better a pair of them) will do the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr_XD Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 i´ve seen quite a few guitars amplified with a piezo beneath the bridge and with that in conjunction with others over the soundboard, it sounded quite well. maybe a bit of a lack of harmonics with only de undersaddle piezo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 i´ve seen quite a few guitars amplified with a piezo beneath the bridge and with that in conjunction with others over the soundboard, it sounded quite well. maybe a bit of a lack of harmonics with only de undersaddle piezo. Yes, most steel string acoustics work perfectly that way, as that is what the piezo was designed for, even violin pickups, or mandolin, but those are all steel stringed instruments as opposed to nylon string, I'm just not sure that a nylon string would work well with any type of piezo under the saddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackjack Posted July 20, 2003 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 maybe this is a stupid thing to suggest, but what if the nylon strings had a metal covering over where the pickup is. i have no idea how you would do this, but would it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cr_XD Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 i believe there are different piezos both for classical and acoustic, look classical pick up`s but i don´t understand which the differnce can be, because a piezo gets vibration and both steel and nylon give, maybe nylon is weaker?? any ideas?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 Yes, a nylon string creates far less frequency vibration. As a result, the tops in Classicals are generally thinner and have far less braces than a steel string. The top is made thinner and braced less to allow it to move more creating the extra volume. This is also why you cannot put steel strings on a nylon string guitar, the tension of steel strings is far higher and the top will not allow that extra tension. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syxxstring Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 in a word: Electret. they are small cheap microphones that mic companies seem to get lots o dollars for. I bought 40 off of ebay for $12.00. Do a google search for electret circuits. I think I emailed brian some articles a long while back that i got email while on usenet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KeithHowell Posted July 27, 2003 Report Share Posted July 27, 2003 Ive messed around with making my own from the piezo inside of buzzers. They are very cheap about a US$1 So experiment a bit and see how it sounds. Keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowser Posted August 4, 2003 Report Share Posted August 4, 2003 doesnt yngwie (ya, i know almost nobody can stand him) have a nylon string strat? I saw it once or twice on the net, and I think that it said it had just a peizo pickup in the bridge. If thats true, it still doesnt say anything about how well they pick up the nylon strings' vibration but at least they can well enough for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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