What size piezo disc is best?

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Permalink Reply by L.J. on March 6, 2010 at 3:12pm

Ive only used about 4 piezos now.And I just dont like them. I wish I could have the kind of luck with them the rest of you do. I find that if I attach them to my soundboard they kill my volume(acoustically). And if I put them anywhere else the arent loud enough to do anything. Then there is that tinny screeching feedback and high frequency quack. I know that I had a piezo on an alverez acoustic years ago and it was long and thin. Fit under the bridge inside the rosewood bridgeplate. It sounded ok but it did require batteries. maybe if I could find a way to make my piezos active I could have a lil piece with them.Are any of you doing that.

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Permalink Reply by Iggy on March 6, 2010 at 6:01pm

I will consider myself admonished.

jim said:

WOW, This thread is out of control. Their has been 3 bits of advice given here that needs to be corrected. First: When using a piezo pickup, the strings do NOT have to be grounded. 2nd: Wiring does NOT have to be shielded if its shorter than 8". 3rd: It does NOT matter witch side is wired to the ground. OK, 1 more : The type if wire used has nothing to do with feedback.I think you may be thinking about humm. Sorry if this sounds harsh but these are facts, I would hate to see misleading information regurgitated. No one benefits false information.

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Permalink Reply by Phil Delpierre on March 6, 2010 at 8:56pm

Jim's right. A Piezo does not need to be grounded, as it works off of vibration. A Mag pup however does. For the Mag pups, ground them at the bridge or tail.

Phil

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on March 7, 2010 at 7:44am

Iggy,

Don't take it baddly.... somethings I thought I knew when I first started, I learned "twern't really so"... thru experience and some wise advice. Piezos are amazingly useful within a limited range, if you install them properly... You can eliminate almost all the feeback, and most the quack... What you cannot do is drive them hard with gain, unless you're willing to go with a preamp, and even then you just have to accept that they are not a wound pup. If you want to be a rock star, then get some wound pups and turn up the gain.

I was stunned about a year and 1/2 ago with Doctor Oakroot came to Wichita to play. If you shut your eyes, one of his CBGs sounded just like a 335.... really, very silky and smooth in a jazzy sort of way....

I'm still building about 1/2 of my stuff with piezo's for cost considerations... They don't quack or feedback... unless you abuse them...

the best,

Wichita Sam

Iggy said:

I will consider myself admonished.

jim said:

WOW, This thread is out of control. Their has been 3 bits of advice given here that needs to be corrected. First: When using a piezo pickup, the strings do NOT have to be grounded. 2nd: Wiring does NOT have to be shielded if its shorter than 8". 3rd: It does NOT matter witch side is wired to the ground. OK, 1 more : The type if wire used has nothing to do with feedback.I think you may be thinking about humm. Sorry if this sounds harsh but these are facts, I would hate to see misleading information regurgitated. No one benefits false information.

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Permalink Reply by Clare on March 7, 2010 at 11:16am

WS: what do you build the other half with? I'm still trying to figure out what to use. Maybe I'll get a prewired one (costs a bit more, but educational) from


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160394171443...

to learn the details and at least one that is done right before trying to solder my own. Coming from a purely acoustic background, I've never messed with electronics, so this is all new to me.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Winkelmann on March 13, 2010 at 8:35am

Clare, I guess the issue is deciding how messy you want to get.
You could hot glue a 1/4 wood block to the back of your Piezo, put a few layers of electrical or duct tape topped with aluminum tape (for shielding) over the thing, or imbed the piezo in resin epoxy.

Soldering is simple you need a 15-25 watt iron, non-flux solder*, two clean (free of oxide, oils, dirt) pre-tinned parts and a place to start. There should be some great "how to solder" tutorials on Youtube.

*I have used Kester #66/44, but I prefer Qualitek RA Core Solder 60/40 (especially for circuit boards).

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on March 14, 2010 at 6:03am

I have been geting my peizo's from the dollar tree in the window and door alarms for only 99 cents....I need to pick some up this week....be aware, sometimes they just don't have them in stock....they run out, they might be out for a while, but will be back on the shelf soon.....they did tell me at the store that you can order them from their website and I think have them delivered to the store. At one time I was wanting to by at least a box of them...20 bucks for 20 peizo's is not bad.

Now...I must say...I abuse my peizo's a bit too much. It's hard for someone who has played a wound pup for 30 or so years and get used to the sound of a peizo....they are two way different creatures....they are starting to grow on me. Now...as that is said...I do not do anything fancy to my peizo's I tape the heck out of them and kinda keep them free floating in the box....wrapping them with a hanky or a old rag helps calm them down...or stuff some news paper in the box, or last time I stuck in a old dryer sheet just for poop's a gigles...hey it was laying around....again though, I just need to cut out the gain and learn to live with the smooth swampy sounds of a peizo.

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Permalink Reply by Dart on July 21, 2010 at 2:50pm

I just finished my first CBG build this past week - everything is fine ... the piezo seems to be working fine. No feedback issues, no screeching etc. However, there is an annoying tell tale 'knocking' sound from the slide as it passes over the frets. At first I ignored it. Now it's bothering me. I used both a glass and a metal slide and the knocking is present with both. The piezo is encased under the bridge in thin wood. Aside from the knocking, the sound is better than expected. Am I the only one experiencing this - if not, is there a solution ?

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Permalink Reply by Don Thompson on July 21, 2010 at 4:21pm

You need to raise your strings higher. The slide is hitting the frets...............

Dart said:

I just finished my first CBG build this past week - everything is fine ... the piezo seems to be working fine. No feedback issues, no screeching etc. However, there is an annoying tell tale 'knocking' sound from the slide as it passes over the frets. At first I ignored it. Now it's bothering me. I used both a glass and a metal slide and the knocking is present with both. The piezo is encased under the bridge in thin wood. Aside from the knocking, the sound is better than expected. Am I the only one experiencing this - if not, is there a solution ?

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on July 21, 2010 at 5:04pm

yep, Don's right... you're action's too low, or... your touch is too heavy.... either way raise the action and you'll do fine...

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Dart on July 21, 2010 at 6:07pm

oooh, yeah didn't think of that - I did keep the action low purposely - that's probably it then - well back to more adjustments - Thanks Don and Witchita !

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