Hi all. This is my first real visit to CBN discussion. I'm getting ready to start my 3rd. cbg and
am unsure whether to try using an inexpensive ($8.00) single coil pick up off eBay or just stick with
the little piezos I've used.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
Tags:
Magnetic pickup gets my vote.
Don
Great discussion John...I'll be watchin this closely because i'm in the same quandry, and i take it a step further and wonder if you can mix both togeather or not...I'm thinking Don will have the answer to this as well...
John
I have mostly played electric guitar all of my life. I have tried and use many of the high end pickups out there on the market made by Lindy Fralin, Tom Holmes, J.M. Rolph, and the Seymour Duncan custom shop. I like vintage style magnetic pickups played through tube amps.
I also like the tone some of the guy's get with the piezo pickups through an amp on here, so I would have to say I like the sound of both. Why not make your next CBG with both and wire it to work the way you want it to?
There is a member on here by the name of Juju who makes 3, 4 and six string pickups that sound really good in the video's he has of his builds and I mention him because they are worth checking out. Juju's profile page is worth checking out for the pictures of his builds which are extremely impressive.
You could also make your own pickup. Jason Lollar has written the best book on making and winding pickups and you can find it on his website here(it was out of print, I do have a copy): http://www.lollarguitars.com
Cameron
I know Suhr guitars was using the Fishman powerbridge with piezo pickups on the bridge itself. They were using it this way on a Strat with magnetic pickups which is a complicated setup:
1- Neck
2- Outside neck coil and middle
3- Outside neck coil and outside bridge coil
4- Inside bridge coil and middle
5- Bridge
Push-pull adds the bridge pickup to the 1 and 2 positions.
Normally, position 3 would just be the middle pickup alone or it can be wired so you get both the neck and bridge humbuckers.
The Fishman Powerbridge setup has a stereo jack and you'd need a stereo Y cable to get the piezo output and that signal can be sent to the Fishman Blender pedal for volume and EQ control.
Cameron Bleuer said:
Great discussion John...I'll be watchin this closely because i'm in the same quandry, and i take it a step further and wonder if you can mix both togeather or not...I'm thinking Don will have the answer to this as well...
Glaze
Thanks...sounds pretty indepth for a beginner like me...I've been looking at the Lancaster pickups and thinking about trying a Swart tube amp...
Hi John,
I would add both using a 3 way switch so you get mag pup/ both / piezo options because if you decide to go magnetic to add the piezo will cost very little (piezo disc and a 3 way switch).
To wire all you do is substitute the 2 piezo wires for one of the pickups in a standard diagram (check out wiring diagrams on the electronics group)
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi...
I like the Artec sound ones or seymour Duncan.
Depending upon how much you want to do you can leave it there or give the piezo a separate volume such as this
The reason is the disc will feedback at a lower volume than the magnetic so it gives you better control. Tone pots don't do much to a piezo disc but if you preamp the piezo the preamp will give you tone control and a better piezo sound. Again it seems hard to do but in reality you simply feed the piezo to the preamp and the preamp output to the 3 way in the above (omitting the piezo volume pot) and the mag pup is exactly the same.
CB Gitty sells a good cheap preamp https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/pre-amps/eq-7545r-pre-amp-unit/pro... (out of stock at the moment but for future reference) you can get them off ebay from China/HK for a bit less but you have the long delivery time. These are active and use a battery. There are "passive" preamps which are a passive filter and do affect the tone of the piezo. At present cheapest from ebay and I am amazed at how great they are. They were discussed previously here http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/cbgwiringelectronics/forum/topi... I have bought several from here Ihttp://cgi.ebay.com/Acoustic-Guitar-Piezo-Pickup-Passive-Preamp-Sys... but it does take time for delivery and they no longer ship to the UK because delivery takes too long. I have just bought another 3 sets from here http://cgi.ebay.com/Small-Tone-Volume-EQ-Kit-And-Pickup-Guitar-PS90... also for $6.99 each. I used these on my last build (8 string CBG) if you check out my page photos. You can either install it direct or again snip off the output socket and wire it as per any diagram you want.
Also there is a video I made ages ago to demonstrate the different sounds mag/piezo/preamp/ no preamp make to try and give an idea of the differences.http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/comparing-cbg-pickups on this one I wired it so both mag pups and piezo go via the preamp rather than have separate controls (for me I prefer separate now for the extra control)
Regards,
David
Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. I think I'll order a couple and build one with each. Building one with both did look a bit difficult for this beginner, but I'll check it out more!
I see there are some members making/selling magnetic s in the $25-40 range, and it makes me wonder. I'm a pretty firm believer that you get what you pay for. Hope the cheapies from China don't give me the wrong idea of whats possible.
CB Gitty has an excellent reputation and is USA based so you will get them quicker and hassle free. He has an advert to the right here and has some for $5.19 (not sure about shipping costs). https://www.cbgitty.com/cubecart/guitar-pickups/cat_33.html
John
David Lloyd gave a great post with links. I was thinking of building a CBG with a magnetic pickup and a piezo. I could always put two output jacks on the CBG and separate the piezo and the mag pickup wiring completely. I could also wire two piezo's and a mag pickup using a three way switch with volume and tone controls. Position one on the three way switch could be the mag pickup by itself, position two could be one piezo by itself and position three could be two piezo's wired together. You can wire a guitar any way you want to do it.
John Springstead said:
Thanks everyone for all the great feedback. I think I'll order a couple and build one with each. Building one with both did look a bit difficult for this beginner, but I'll check it out more!
I see there are some members making/selling magnetic s in the $25-40 range, and it makes me wonder. I'm a pretty firm believer that you get what you pay for. Hope the cheapies from China don't give me the wrong idea of whats possible.
Started by Nomad Jack in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by J. D. Woods yesterday. 7 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Moritz Voegeli in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray on Monday. 6 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Timothy Hunter in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Apr 10. 14 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Tom T in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 9. 9 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Apr 4. 7 Replies 1 Like
Started by Timothy Hunter in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 27. 1 Reply 2 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 10. 1 Reply 3 Likes
Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by BrianQ. Mar 9. 4 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Ghostbuttons in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Timothy Hunter Mar 9. 5 Replies 1 Like
Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 8. 6 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Ken I in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Brian partington Mar 8. 8 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box related. Last reply by Southern Ray Mar 6. 5 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Taffy Evans in Other stuff - off topic, fun stuff, whatever. Last reply by Taffy Evans Mar 5. 4 Replies 2 Likes
Started by Justin Stanchfield in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Carl Floyd Mar 1. 15 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Joe in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Carl Floyd Feb 29. 13 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Chance in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 22. 12 Replies 1 Like
Started by Cigar Box Nation in Feature Articles. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 21. 2 Replies 4 Likes
Started by Brad in Cool gear discussion - that's not cigar box related. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 19. 6 Replies 3 Likes
Started by Jacob Shook in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 16. 10 Replies 0 Likes
Started by Southern Ray in Performances, How to Play, Lessons, Concerts. Last reply by Southern Ray Feb 16. 2 Replies 0 Likes
Posted by Vlad on March 31, 2024 at 11:48pm 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Vlad on March 6, 2024 at 2:32am 5 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 28, 2024 at 2:09pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by billy jones bluez on February 17, 2024 at 11:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by Vlad on February 11, 2024 at 1:06am 1 Comment 1 Like
May 11, 2024 from 11am to 8pm – Speakeasy Grill
0 Comments 0 Likes© 2024 Created by Ben "C. B. Gitty" Baker. Powered by
Cigar Box Nation is presented by C. B. Gitty Crafter Supply, your one-stop-shop for Cigar Box Guitar parts and accessories!