Skullnick Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 I tried making a piezo system for my guitar. I tried with a few different piezo elements and with a buffer but the sound was not that good. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make the piezo sound like the ones that you would normally buy? I especially like the ones from Music Man. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnH Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 (edited) I tried making a piezo system for my guitar. I tried with a few different piezo elements and with a buffer but the sound was not that good. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make the piezo sound like the ones that you would normally buy? I especially like the ones from Music Man. Thanks. I did this to a Strat type guitar - you can read all about it here: http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...amp;thread=3718 John Edited January 26, 2009 by JohnH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billm90 Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 (edited) I tried making a piezo system for my guitar. I tried with a few different piezo elements and with a buffer but the sound was not that good. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make the piezo sound like the ones that you would normally buy? I especially like the ones from Music Man. Thanks. What kind of guitar are you trying this on? I have done this many ways. just depends what you have. I have mounted one on the headstock under a huge brass truss rod cover plate. it sounded ok at that end of the guitar. I have mounted one under the neck in the neck slot in the body/ also the neck bolt plate. this was a bit off tunning to get it to sound decent-ish I have expoxied them into a tremelo block on a strat. this one was not a solid block that the stings go through. it was open, So I placed 2 buzzers in there. added some straws to guide the strings, and taped it up, and filled the whole thing with epoxy to make a solid block. this worked well. I took it apart one day and have been looking for this bridge ever since. I have a new bridge and I am putting this guitar back together. This one has a solid block so I am going to try and add 2 buzzers epoxied to the block, similar to the one posted in the link. I have made single piezos for each string. this is a serious test of patience, as it is hard to get them balanced. I must of built 5 bridges before I got a good result. Yes that means I wasted 30+ buzzers... I have cut 3 buzzers to fit under a tune-o-matic bridge. expoxied these to the bottom. it did ok.... I tried removing the crystal material in one piezo and attaching it to the tune-o-matic saddle them selves. this was hard... and not very consistant. but I have found the liquid solder in a tube and will try again. The ideal way to go, for the best tone I have got out of a buzzer.... get them embeded into an acoustic saddle. I have done popsicle sticks and epoxy.... placed them (2 or 3 buzzers) inside. grinded the bridge and tried them on the leading and trailing edge. Or the individual piezo per string. Which I also tried on a wood arch top bridge. this one actually sounds good, but they are breaking off because I did it so shotty. no way would these survive horse play. I cut strips and put them right on top of the bridge. half of the length of the piezo was hanging off. these sounded great, but break off easily. I am going to try a new method once I get settled.... this would allow me to make one per string and if it is out of balance (one is lower in volume from the others) I can simply replace it by building a new single one, instead of trashing the whole thing. Another things I noticed is size. I was thinking if I could get the whole buzzer into a acoustic bridge, it might sound better then the cut-to-fit version as for working with piezos (soldeing/cutting/ having them fall apart)... if you need tips on that, just ask. they can be a PITA and you will destroy a few before you figure out how to deal with them. Edited February 9, 2009 by billm90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 http://fittell.id.au/piezo/ Haven't tried this yet but seems pretty simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 (edited) I tried making a piezo system for my guitar. I tried with a few different piezo elements and with a buffer but the sound was not that good. Does anyone have any suggestions about how to make the piezo sound like the ones that you would normally buy? I especially like the ones from Music Man. Thanks. I did this to a Strat type guitar - you can read all about it here: http://guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.c...amp;thread=3718 John Hey, that is a pretty cool idea! I refer to your website once in a while for guitar related info. From reading many people's experiences with trying to use homegrown piezo pickups, it sounds to me like me like the best way to go is to just get the real deal so you can have an authentic acoustic sound. I can not recall anyone ever really nailing that sound on an electric guitar with DIY piezo pickups, but you come darn close. Edited February 11, 2009 by Paul Marossy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesy Posted February 11, 2009 Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 http://fittell.id.au/piezo/ Haven't tried this yet but seems pretty simple. They look ideal to put under the bridge on my floating bridge archtop. I am going to try it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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