fridge Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Hey guys. i was wondering if this idea a freind and i have thought of is possible. im sure this has probably been done before. originality is getting harder to find lol. the idea is this: haveing a semi hollow guitar with one humbucker (Passive) and also throw in an acoustic pickup (not sure if it will be peizo or not). but the catch is this: can both pickups be wired to a 2 way switch and to the same jack? our idea is essentialy an electri/acoustic hybrid idea, made from a scrap guitar. i was just wondering if the pickups can wired this way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Sure if you run the piezo through an internal pre-amp first to get the levels up the same with the magnetic pickup. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fridge Posted March 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 thanks for the info chris. we jsut want to experiment to see if we can get an alright electric guitar sound and as well as an acceptable resemblance to an acoustic guitar sound while plugged in. If it works itl be fun to just fool around with in a jam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 It's called a Parker Fly lol. They also have a button that allows you to mix the signals, or separate them. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Sure if you run the piezo through an internal pre-amp first to get the levels up the same with the magnetic pickup. Chris What type of affordable (under $100) preamp would you recommend? I'm interested too because I want to do this on my next project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dugg Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 I actually did this in the late 70's without a preamp, because I didn't know any better. It worked out ok, the piezo has a more powerful output than the magnetic pickup, and probably would have sounded better with a preamp. It was years ago, so it's taxing my memory banks, but I think I used a normal volume pot to balance it with the magnet pickup. Any way, you can do it without preamp, it's possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 So as long as the output is strong enough a preamp isn't necessary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fridge Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Ok so what about this idea: a pre-amp is required to make the peizo have an equal output to the pickup right? well what if the pickup was "hidden" under the pickguard? an idea i found on another forum. the greater distance would cut back the pup's output significantly would it not? plus an "invisible" pup is kinda kewl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 You may have been led astray here. The preamp or buffer is more to provide impedace matching...the impedance of a piezo will significantly load down any magnetic pickup combined with it, making neither compatible with a conventional amplifier. There are no shortage of piezo and magnetic designs these days, from pevey to parker, and lots of DIY versions as well (have a bit of a search here and elsewhere) but all of them need a preamp. Yes it is true you can get "a sound" out of a peizo but it is grossly inefficient and will bring this inefficiency over to a magnetic pickup because combined they will now share this gross impedance mismatch. Lowering and or hiding magnetic pickups may seem "kewl" but have several major problems which is why you don't "see it" very often and where it has been tried typically it has failed commercially and not been very effective practically. However, adding a piezo may give you some acoustic edge and a preamp or simple buffer will alleviate some of the inherit problems...some filtering (eq) will make it sound more attractive still. pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fridge Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 thanks for the iformation pete. im not realy that good with electronics and the such. would the guitar being a semi-hollow bodyaffect the acoustic tone of the piezo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electrico Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 def possible...my buddy did this once..pretty sure ur on the right track though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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