Guitars by Jake Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 I have an Idea for a jazz guitar, that is basically a solid body guitar, with one humbucker in the neck, and a bridge with a bone-saddle, on an ebony bridge. Like an acoustic,(just the bridge) But Solid body electric jazz. The other addition would be a piezo pickup under the saddle. Am I wasting my time? Of course I would like to be able to blend the magnetic pickup, with the piezo, and other variations from there. I have seen those electric piezo systems, but the Idea is to use a bone saddle. Any input would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelinchld Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 i think it would still work because you can put a piezo...i assume ur talking about the little piezo buzzer element thing for like 2$...on just about anything and it will still pick up sound through it so i dont see why a bone saddle wouldnt work as long as is attached so it can pick up the vibration of the strings. please tell me if you find a good eq/buffer because thats what i have trouble with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitars by Jake Posted March 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 i think it would still work because you can put a piezo...i assume ur talking about the little piezo buzzer element thing for like 2$...on just about anything and it will still pick up sound through it so i dont see why a bone saddle wouldnt work as long as is attached so it can pick up the vibration of the strings. please tell me if you find a good eq/buffer because thats what i have trouble withThats another problem! where do I put the pre-amp? Better yet, can I get away without it? (Kinda doubt it) As far as eq, I used a fishman on an acoustic I built that I liked, but ...same problem. Where does it go? Seems like alot of extra gear for an electric guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Why can't you use an external preamp? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeppelinchld Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 that would work but it becomes a hassle and in my opinion unless your buying a prebuilt piezo system it really isnt worth while. i still suggest you get one to try because there fun and cheap. and yes u definitely need a preamp/eq type thing or else you can get horrible feedback with any distortion or effects but on just a clean signal it will work but sound quite crappy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billm90 Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 (edited) http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b7cc39b3...3D550/ry%3D400/ I built this LP copy into an electric nylon string guitar. I made my own saddle. It has and artec piezo strip under the saddle. The artec preamp, which is basically the 1/4 jack. No controls. Then I took popsicle stick and made a really skinny bridge, Cut 6 piezos into individual piezo's and epozied those to the popsicle stick. So I have a plastic bridge basically. If it were electric strings... I could put in a magnetic pickup. I have a jazzmaster replica body and neck. I am building the parts for it to turn into a neck/bridge humbucker, with an ebony archtop bridge converted to flat top, and I will install diY piezo's into the center of it. I have done it before and it works... Not like a pro setup, but it works. Edited March 5, 2009 by billm90 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted March 5, 2009 Report Share Posted March 5, 2009 This is nothing new. Google "Ken Smith" custom Basses. Piezo and a bone saddle bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guitars by Jake Posted March 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 This is nothing new. Google "Ken Smith" custom Basses. Piezo and a bone saddle bridge. "New" is getting harder and harder to come by these days. At best I am trying to put my own spin on great designs, (of course with due respect to their creator) and maybe come up with a few of my own innovations along the way. If this can be achieved with some respect earned at the end, then I have succeeded. If I wanted to come up with a completely different instrument, I wouldnt be building guitars! But if its copyrighted, or something, I wont touch it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Nice nylon there Billm90 (unfortunately can't post pic directly) Obviously you can add piezos to magnetic pickups and piezos, especially bridge mounted piezos work primarily from the vibrations at the bridge for the strings directly...so a solid body is not a problem. The guitar might have more "sustain" than a lot of hoolow bodies that you are used to hear an acoustic guitar from. You routinely find solid body electric violins and many electrics have piezos and mags of various sorts (peavy, parker, ghost saddles, etc) and many have made their own. I had some interesting success with putting a piezo in the neck pocket of a strat for instance. However, there is not and "easy out" piezo's and magnetic pickups are completely different beasts. There are massive impedance mismatches and this needs to be corrected electronically with a preamp or buffer on the piezo at least. There is also a different range of sounds from a raw piezo and it generally requires quite a bit of tone shaping...that's why you generally see a fair amount of EQ's in piezo systems. You can make your own preamp, or mixer type circuits...there are a few about. As for "new"...not a lot new really. There are lots of little improvements perhaps that people can make but it is hard to be "new" unless you are prepared to step right out of conventional technologies and have a particular goal in mind...IMHO. Also, you may need to travel a long frustrating road (look at the sustainer thread!) However...I like the idea of a guitar like the parker that integrates the acoustic and electric elements. There is a particularly nice combination of piezo (giving a sharp percussive attack) and electric (smoother, rounder tone) that this kind of hybrid instrument can produce. I have a project on hold that is an LP with a khaler tremolo and a piezo fitted to the wood under this to give some of this effect. So, it is worth pursuing. My jazzstrat project is a similar thing I guess...a mash up of a hollowbody and strat but including a full on EQ'd acoustic pickup inside it as well (see link in sig). pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 However...I like the idea of a guitar like the parker that integrates the acoustic and electric elements. There is a particularly nice combination of piezo (giving a sharp percussive attack) and electric (smoother, rounder tone) that this kind of hybrid instrument can produce. Yeah, I love my Parker Mojo Nitefly. It's really cool to be able to blend the magnetic and piezo pickups together and/or send them to two different amps/processing systems. I don't normally ever play thru two seperate amps, but I like that I have that capability if so desired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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