Re: Piezo pickups?
rspst14 said:
Hey guys, can anyone give me some information on how these work? I know nothing about them, other than the fact that they make an electric sound like an acoustic. I'm thinking of putting together a Strat from parts on Ebay, and I'm thinking of putting in a piezo pickup if it's not too expensive or difficult. I know Pete Townshend has one on the Strats he uses, can anyone recommend a particular model? Does Duncan make anything like this? As far as installation goes, I have plenty of wiring experience, so that's not a problem. Would a piezo require any major modifications to the guitar, and would it sound okay played through the amp's clean channel? I remember reading something about people using them through a PA system. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Ryan
Here's the 'cover my @ss bit' - I've never tried them, so all this is based on stuff I've heard or read somewhere....
I believe a piezo pickup is a sort of 'contact' transducer rather than a magnetic one (as 'normal' pickups are), allowing you to use them with strings that aren't ferromagnetic (like bronze, nylon etc).
I have an idea that Townsend uses an X-bridge but I'm not sure. In any case, the X-bridge is a good place to start searching. I think it is made by Wilkinson/L. R. Baggs, so start looking with either company.
I think Kinman may make strat-replacement bridge saddles that are piezos, so that may be worth looking at too. The advert I remember seeing was for saddles for a vintage style trem, maybe they make others, I don't know.
I suspect you'll also want a preamp of some sort (like electro-acoustics have), which you'll need a route for I'm guessing.
If you use a preamp, I've an idea this'll cause problems if you want to use the piezos with the magnetic pickups, since it'll be like mixing active and passive pickups. Workarounds would be to use a stereo output jack so you can send the passives to one amp and the piezo to another, or maybe to use the DTAR ecllipse circuit, which I understand is designed for exactly this kind of situation.
As far as using your amp's clean channel for the piezo goes, I'm not sure, I guess it depends on how the clean channel on your amp sounds? I've plugged an electroacoustic into a 'normal' amplifier before through the clean channel and it's been OK. Never tried throught a P.A.
If you want to get a rough idea for how well piezos in an electric guitar approximate an acoustic guitar, maybe you could go and try a Parker fly? I think the Nitefly has a wooden body rather than whatever composite they normally use.
On another note, I don't think these piezos come cheap - I remember thinking about it some 5 years ago, and being put off by the price.
