Current Piezo offerings for tune-o-matic lover

[Metalman_666]

Happy July everyone,

I've been on standby for my custom guitar build for about a year through various delays, and we're finally getting close. The woods have been glued up, soon begins the cutting and making it happen!

I had originally wanted to go with a Schaller Hannes piezo bridge in gold because although I've never even touched one in the flesh, it looks very slick, and the builder has used many of the non-piezo variety with great success. Unfortunately it appears the 6-string piezo version of the bridge is discontinued,

I'm not thrilled about ashtray/Fender-style bridges, and the tune-o-matic string-through-body is what feels most at home to me in terms of palm muting, tension, and overall comfort. Not into the idea of a stoptail.

Doing some research it looks like contenders would be:
- LR Baggs T-Bridge + Control-X
- Fishman Powerbridge + Powerchip
- Graphtech Ghost Resomax NV + Acoustiphonic Advanced

As someone who only knows piezos from his JPX and other trem-equipped guitars, I'd love some advice. Does anyone have anything to watch out for with these choices? Would one be better than the others for string-through construction?

[ehdwuld]

I ordered one from Black Dog in the UK for my first one.
Kaish has one on Amazon

There is a thread in the pickup Lounge on what parts and caps are paired with it

[idsnowdog]

I bought a Kaish and it works well.

[ehdwuld]

I bought a Kaish and it works well.

Its your thread i was referring to

[Obsessive Compulsive]

I have Graphtech Ghost in my semi hollow, those Fender style black graphite saddles. The sound was thin and had to be combined with electric pickup with the tone rolled off to compensate for the lack of bass. Three of the wires connecting the saddles to the preamp eventually broke rendering the thing unusable. And the wiring inside was a mess too. Not recommended If you are looking for acoustic guitar replacement.

[ehdwuld]

They all sound a bit bright and harsh on their own

A lower value pot may darken it up
this worked for me

[Mincer]

I have used the GraphTech as well as RMC piezos, and both needed significant processing to be usable. I still don't think it sounds much like an acoustic guitar- more like a cleaner, clearer electric sound. We must not be too far from a standalone pedal that can EQ//model/whatever an acoustic sound better than a piezo system can.

[Securb]

I have the Fishman with the Power Chip in my Ibanez it sounds like an acoustic. It is also useable with gain thrown at it. It has a very full sound.

[idsnowdog]

I wasn't able to find a value pot that I really liked with the Kaish so I just wired it straight to a stereo jack. Magentics one side and piezo the other. It could stand having a preamp. I found that when I plug directly into a audio interface there is an ugly frequency band around 700K that needs to be attenuated. But I found the same thing with the rest of my piezos.

[Metalman_666]

Thanks for the feedback so far guys,

I don't expect anything to be as good as an acoustic sound so I'm sure I won't be disappointed unless it's total crap.

I have the Fishman with the Power Chip in my Ibanez it sounds like an acoustic. It is also useable with gain thrown at it. It has a very full sound.

Is it the same TOM style Fishman bridge?

Sent from my SM-G991W using Tapatalk

[Securb]

Yes, I have the TOM you can see the wire for the pickup hugging the post under the high E.. You wouldn't notice it playing the guitar it would have to be pointed out. It is directly under the bridge.