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Permalink Reply by Jim Woods on June 11, 2013 at 8:19am

I don't think I have seen a builder using piezos in series.  They seem to all use them in parallel.  I am sure several will weigh in with much more experience than I have, but I would guess the impedance piezos acts as a resistor to each of the piezos causing a significantly lowered output level.  I will have to check it out when i get the current projects cleared from the workbenches.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 11, 2013 at 8:30am

Nope. Do a Search on piezos in series, and you will find several threads in Cigar Box Building 101 where several builders have done it - on purpose. You do, however, get a much warmer tone by wiring two or more in parallel. Depends what kinda tone yer looking for.

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on June 11, 2013 at 8:50am

I did more digging after posting this, really looking for specific sound bytes. It seems some get more amp feedback from wiring them in series. I am looking for loud angry tone.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on June 11, 2013 at 9:07am

Loud angry tone from a piezo?...that'll be yer amp then ;-) Or a mini-humbucker plus amp.

Do you want loud angry clean or loud angry dirty? Metal disto, or vintage crunch?

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on June 11, 2013 at 9:18am

lol, I know...I know.

I am not sure, I might just try each in 2 different guitars.

Kind of why I am asking for audio. [shrug]

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on June 12, 2013 at 7:08am

I've tried this, and from what I remember, it increases the impedance, so it sounds even shriller and thinner. Going in parallel reduces the impedance, so it sounds more acoustic-like. If you want to go with piezos, I think one piezo by itself would actually be more of what you're looking for.

Anyway, it's not that hard to get two piezos, hook them up temporarily with some alligator clip leads, and tape them onto a guitar to see how it sounds.

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Permalink Reply by colin mcgrath on June 12, 2013 at 9:32am

good information, thanks.

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