Piezo pickup that doesn't pick up strings?

[Chistopher]

Is there any way to add a piezo pickup to my guitar in a configuration that will allow it to add percussive body slaps into my playing but not effect the tone of the instrument too much?

 

[beaubrummels]

You'd need a noise gate on it with a high threshold that only allows the percussive impulses through.

 

[Chistopher]

I don't really see an onboard noise gate as practical. Another option I see is just installing a piezo on its own that I can blend with the pickups.

 

[GuitarStv]

Put the piezo on the outside of the guitar and slap right next to it, then mix it into your sound really low. The strings should be low enough in volume that you barely hear them.

 

[idsnowdog]

You can get piezo buzzers cheap and they will pick up vibrations. They will pick up knocks on the guitar but also string vibration to a lesser degree. https://www.ebay.com/itm/3036370105...o69jrEVDEyIGCbfaool-8DoWBrbSOafkaAvBhEALw_wcB

 

[Chris Pile]

What kind of guitar, pray tell?

 

[Mincer]

What about an actual cheap microphone embedded into the instrument? That kind of thing has been done before.

 

[Chistopher]

What kind of guitar, pray tell?

Probably some archtop, no specifics yet

 

[Chris Pile]

Probably some archtop, no specifics yet

So you want a problem solved, but only provide part of the question? Not a great way to get usable answers.

 

[Chistopher]

I feel it's a high enough level question that the exact guitar doesn't matter.

A piezo embedded into the guitar seems like it woulr work well. I don’t know exactly how they work, but I'd think if I put a few piezos in different locations far away from the strings, that might work.

I could also try some tricky wiring and phase shenanigans to see what happens if I put a piezo in a place where it will greatly sense the strings and put it out of phase with one of the pickups, and then put that in parallel with the other pickup. That might do something completely out of left field though.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

More practical for a solidbody electric IMO. Piezos will pickup up the string vibrations.
That's why people build piezo elements into bridges for quasi-acoustic tone.

It'd have to be mixed very low (or gated, as suggested) to prevent bleedthrough.
Gating could be applied downstream, assuming the piezo has its own output.

Perhaps it could be isolated on a pad of absorptive foam?

 

[beaubrummels]

I feel it's a high enough level question that the exact guitar doesn't matter.

A piezo embedded into the guitar seems like it woulr work well. I don’t know exactly how they work, but I'd think if I put a few piezos in different locations far away from the strings, that might work.

I could also try some tricky wiring and phase shenanigans to see what happens if I put a piezo in a place where it will greatly sense the strings and put it out of phase with one of the pickups, and then put that in parallel with the other pickup. That might do something completely out of left field though.

So you don't know how they work, but you think it would work well, and it's a device that picks up vibrations but you think the guitar doesn't matter?

I don't really see an onboard noise gate as practical. Another option I see is just installing a piezo on its own that I can blend with the pickups.

I wasn't suggesting on board. You need the piezo to go to it's own path/cable and use an outboard noise gate to eliminate any stray string vibration.

 

[frankfalbo]

The Fishman power tap is basically that. They have a few different formats and you can wire stuff for separate or combined outputs.

https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/powertap-infinity-series-pickup/

 

[Chistopher]

The Fishman power tap is basically that. They have a few different formats and you can wire stuff for separate or combined outputs.

https://www.fishman.com/portfolio/powertap-infinity-series-pickup/

I like it. Does anyone have experience with the Fender Acoustasonic? It's a bit pricy for me right now, but can it do what I want right out the box?

 

[Chistopher]

So you don't know how they work, but you think it would work well, and it's a device that picks up vibrations but you think the guitar doesn't matter?

Not at this stage, it does not. That's how a preliminary design process works. Ideally when I get this idea fleshed out it will work for any electric guitar. I do know how piezos work, but I haven't tested them in this atypical application.