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Permalink Reply by Jkevn on November 19, 2009 at 4:23am

Depends on what you're trying to tame...isolating the piezo a bit when affixing it to the sound board will take care of a little of the "microphonic" stuff. I mount mine in a layer of silicone or rubberized caulk and cover with a layer of the same.
Takes a little of the handling noise and the tendency to squeal down a notch or two.

Try searching "mounting piezo" or "isolating piezo" everyone here has a super-duper-top secret method.

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on November 19, 2009 at 6:16am

Well,,,,,,,,,,,I have good news....I swaped out the bigger peizo that was giving me trouble with a smaller one.....it sounds 100% better than the first one I had. I have it tamed almost perfect now and it is handeling descent distortian with out squaling like crazy. I am running it through my zoom II pedal and it sounds way better. By the way, I have it glued between two peices of a mouse pad...that seems to be working good and it just duck taped on in the box on the bottom.

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Permalink Reply by Jkevn on November 19, 2009 at 6:34am

Good to hear. Using "found" stuff makes the challenge different every time...

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Permalink Reply by David L. on November 19, 2009 at 10:15am

Hi,
I tend to wire 2 or 3 together in parallel (all lives wired as one and all earths wired as one to the output socket) and fix them around the bridge. This tends to give a better sound (to my tone deaf ears).

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on November 19, 2009 at 10:31am

I avoid all that trouble by buying from digikey.com ... The sell piezo's wired for about $ 1 each... consistant thru out..

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hutchins on November 19, 2009 at 10:51pm

Digikey looks like a toy shop :)
what spec piezeo do u find works best? model # ??

Wichita Sam said:

I avoid all that trouble by buying from digikey.com ... The sell piezo's wired for about $ 1 each... consistant thru out..

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by David L. on November 19, 2009 at 10:56pm

Sorry - I forgot to add where I get mine from - basically ebay UK (if you do an ebay search for piezo disc or piezo sounder or piezo transducer or piezo element) you can get the piezo disc on its own so you don't have to break open any housings and you can get them prewired.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Piezo-Ceramic-Elements-Lot-ot-3_W0QQitemZ3801...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-35mm-Piezo-Elements-Sounder-Sensor-Trigger-...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-20mm-Piezo-Elements-Sounder-Sensor-Trigger-...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-27mm-Piezo-Elements-Sounder-Sensor-Trigger-... These are based in the UK but do ship overseas although you wil probably get a better price locally once you take shipping into account. These I just glue into place as they are - it is best if you also glue the wires partly down to the box before you start moving them too much or they tend to come off the disc where they are soldered. Regards, David
David Lloyd said:

Hi,

I tend to wire 2 or 3 together in parallel (all lives wired as one and all earths wired as one to the output socket) and fix them around the bridge. This tends to give a better sound (to my tone deaf ears).

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on November 20, 2009 at 1:55am

part number 102-1126-ND description Buzzer Piezo Element 6.5 KHZ 20MM

Michael Hutchins said:

Digikey looks like a toy shop :)
what spec piezeo do u find works best? model # ??

Wichita Sam said:

I avoid all that trouble by buying from digikey.com ... The sell piezo's wired for about $ 1 each... consistant thru out..

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Travis "SlackJack" Woodall on November 21, 2009 at 3:07am

It was suggested to me a few weeks back that putting a piece of balled up newspaper in the box will help ease feedback. I also recommend encasing the piezo in very thin squares of wood. That worked great on my current build.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Thorley on November 21, 2009 at 12:23pm

It depends a lot on how you mount the piezo and where. The softer the adhesive when dry, the less treble/neck noise you get.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Becker on November 21, 2009 at 5:15pm

As far as locations to get the piezos, Dollar Tree stores have them. It's a small door-mounted alarm. Only a buck each, plus you get 3 LR44 button batteries (they work in some common laser pointers, flashlights, etc.)

I mount mine in between two thin (1/8") pieces of hardwood, then hot-glue the edges. I use foam mounting tape to affix it to the under side of the lid. They seem to work out just fine. Hope this helps.

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