Hi all:


I'm new here and just got bit by the bug to want to build a CBG recently.  I picked up a little old Rock Amp Petros 1 amp last weekend via ebay, and have a beat up strat clone for parts.  I'm planning to reuse the neck w/tuners, bridge with 3 or 4 strings, and will go with a pieco pickup using the old jack.

 

A couple of questions if I might ...

1. With the piezo for a pickup, can I put a volume control on it, or no?  Can I reuse the one from my donor strat even if I don't use the rest of the electronics?

2. I'm planning on having the strat neck recess partially into the body, then use other wood to join it securely with the box/body.  My question is, should I make that structural supporting piece all across the top of the box, the bottom only, or mix it up?  Does the top need to vibrate like an acoustic, or is a solid mass like a Les Paul what I'm looking to recreate?

3. And lastly (for now) should the piezo be mounted directly under the strings on the underside of the top?

 

Thanks for looking', the site looks great!

Dan

----------------------------------------------------------------

My little amp find:

http://kruitzkraft.com/amp/

 

Progress photo #1....

 

 

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yes you can attach a volume pot to a piezo the wiring and electronics forum is a good place to look for info.

there are very good photos of people who have attached a premade neck to wood strip that runs through the body. You might have to scroll through. It seems that the strip running along the bottom would make sense...but I am not certain.

The last question might vary. Depends on the piezo element you have. Some build it into the bridge/saddle. Some right under the lid under the bass side of the strings.

I would not depend on the box for any suppport, the stronger you build the inner support the better off you'll be for strength and substain. I would run from front to back of the box with wood and have wood at the front of the box also. Think battleship. Less feedback with under the bridge mounted piezos. Any value pot will work as a volume, it's only when a tone pot is added that the two interact. I'm curious, looking at the photo I calculate the bridge will set close to the back of the box. Correct?
I was thinking on that as well, the bridge placement that is. Did you, Dan, calculate the scale length? I have read from guys who need a certain length of box when reusing a electric git neck. And Don, are there bad zones to attach an p.element?
Don Thompson said:
I would not depend on the box for any suppport, the stronger you build the inner support the better off you'll be for strength and substain. I would run from front to back of the box with wood and have wood at the front of the box also. Think battleship. Less feedback with under the bridge mounted piezos. Any value pot will work as a volume, it's only when a tone pot is added that the two interact. I'm curious, looking at the photo I calculate the bridge will set close to the back of the box. Correct?

I found out about a little thing called scale length last night - about an hour after I finshed this first cutout.....
I ran back into the garage, and fortunately, I'll have no problem getting the original 25 inches to the bridge (strat style clone).  Disaster averted.  Complete newbie here, last instrument I owned was air drums....  :-o

Dan


Don Thompson said:

I would not depend on the box for any suppport, the stronger you build the inner support the better off you'll be for strength and substain. I would run from front to back of the box with wood and have wood at the front of the box also. Think battleship. Less feedback with under the bridge mounted piezos. Any value pot will work as a volume, it's only when a tone pot is added that the two interact. I'm curious, looking at the photo I calculate the bridge will set close to the back of the box. Correct?
8D cool beans. My first 2 builds I had no idea about scale length. I just put a 3 foot piece of wood through a box and tuned it, man oh man...

Dan Kruitz said:

I found out about a little thing called scale length last night - about an hour after I finshed this first cutout.....
I ran back into the garage, and fortunately, I'll have no problem getting the original 25 inches to the bridge (strat style clone).  Disaster averted.  Complete newbie here, last instrument I owned was air drums....  :-o

Dan


Don Thompson said:

I would not depend on the box for any suppport, the stronger you build the inner support the better off you'll be for strength and substain. I would run from front to back of the box with wood and have wood at the front of the box also. Think battleship. Less feedback with under the bridge mounted piezos. Any value pot will work as a volume, it's only when a tone pot is added that the two interact. I'm curious, looking at the photo I calculate the bridge will set close to the back of the box. Correct?
I would echo what Don say, reinforce the crap out of the box. Those boxes were never really designed for this type of thing, so make sure it is beefy enough to avoid a SPROING! and a catastrophic collapse.

Hi Colin, You made a good point and I should have worded my response in a different  way. I guess I tend to think of any under the bridge mounting whether under the saddle or under the lid to be more or less the same location, it then becames a matter of application, under the lid would seem to me to be easier to execute, nothing to have to hide and more possiblities for a thin tall bridge. But whether on the top or the bottom I have found it less prone to feedback than say a soundboard mounting, and I hear less picking hand noise than soundboard location.

What they said! plus, You dont need a tone pot with a piezo.... Dont press that blue tape hard with your finger,and take it off as soon as posible. Sometimes it will take the paper with it....
Dan, The Fender scale length is 25.5" Measure from the front of the nut to the middle of the 12th. fret. It should be 12.75". From the 12th. to the saddle will be the same, actually a little longer for compensation.
Oh yea, One more thing. I'm fairly certain your bottom board you attach the neck to will have to stick out of the front of the box to be able to pick up the forward two screw holes. I would make my cut out all the way to the bottom then. It needs to be thick enough so that the fingerboard stands up from the top of the box the thickness of the fingerboard.

OK, I've dug a little more around on the board, and I think I'm going to try the following.  I've got some scrap 1x2 poplar - I've just laminated three pieces together and it will be the continuation of the neck through the body.  This poplar block will be solid along the bottom of the box the whole length.  On top of the poplar block I'm going to cut away a 1/4" or 1/2" depression under the lid so the lid can resonate.  The bridge will be mounted to this making the neck assembly (in effect ) all one piece with the box hanging on it.

 

Sound reasonable? 

yep, understand though because your bridge will be so close to the back edge acoustically it won't excite the whole soundboard. It won't be very loud unplugged and lack bass.

Dan Kruitz said:

OK, I've dug a little more around on the board, and I think I'm going to try the following.  I've got some scrap 1x2 poplar - I've just laminated three pieces together and it will be the continuation of the neck through the body.  This poplar block will be solid along the bottom of the box the whole length.  On top of the poplar block I'm going to cut away a 1/4" or 1/2" depression under the lid so the lid can resonate.  The bridge will be mounted to this making the neck assembly (in effect ) all one piece with the box hanging on it.

 

Sound reasonable? 

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