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Sounds thin and tinny when plugged in...

I've put piezos in several of my builds, all with good results. I decided to add a volume knob on my last one and the guitar sounds really bad when plugged in. Thin and high, grainy. I think I messed up using old electrical wire I had lying around.. does the quality of the wire make a difference on sound? Just want some advice before digging back into it.

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Permalink Reply by Mitch Barhorst on May 31, 2011 at 5:09am

Paul, what is the CBG tuning? GDgB?

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Permalink Reply by BLY on May 31, 2011 at 7:38am

You are most likely dealing with an impedance mismatch issue due to the value of pot you are using. It should be a very high resistance in the mega ohm range.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Rose on May 31, 2011 at 11:46am

That looks awesome. I'll have to see if I can find some of those nails. I've been using toothpicks, also for folksy reasons, but nails sound like they'd work better.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Nelson on June 1, 2011 at 1:51am

Hi Mitch, dgbe is what I usually use for this one. Hey... Minster Ohio - I work in Fort Loramie. Small world!

Mitch Barhorst said:

Paul, what is the CBG tuning? GDgB?

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Permalink Reply by swampapple slim on June 1, 2011 at 9:26am

did you install tone cap on tone pot? without pup is at like full volune a tone pot with rite cap could clean it up and dial in your tone how you like it on magnetic pups a 22 uf orange drop is very popular as on most strats Slim

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Permalink Reply by Tim Agapie on June 27, 2011 at 7:10am

I have the same problem, very thin and tinny sound. If you lean slightly on the box it get the sweet full bodied sound. I think it has to do with the Vol pot. Going to bypass it... it is nice to have, but not actually needed.

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Permalink Reply by Andy Eight Spades CBG on June 27, 2011 at 7:17am

Looks great! If you don't mind me asking, what type of glue do you use to keep the nail frets in place?

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Permalink Reply by Tim Agapie on June 27, 2011 at 7:53am

I have tried toothpicks and more recently tried wire hangers... they work pretty good.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Nelson on June 27, 2011 at 11:52am

Just regular super glue, seems to work pretty well. They occasionally pop out, but its easy to fix them. When I cut the slot, I make it just deep enough for the nail to sit inside but still touch the valley of the slot, so that the glue has maximum surface to grab the nail.

A Russell said:

Looks great! If you don't mind me asking, what type of glue do you use to keep the nail frets in place?

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Permalink Reply by Andy Eight Spades CBG on June 27, 2011 at 12:13pm

Thanks for that! I will have to try that sometime. I think using things you have or can find really adds to building and makes it fun.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Izzo on June 28, 2011 at 5:42am

I'm having trouble with frets that installed - they were fine for a while, but now they're trouble. I was considering pulling them all and using nails and this is the first build I've seen with them. How are they to play? What kind of nails did you use?

Paul Nelson said:

Thanks guys! Rand, I'm using oak for everything. I was concerned about the nail points too, but I dull them down just slightly before putting them on and it works just fine! I really like the way it looks, I probably get more complements on the frets than anything else! I'm considering going to fret wire, but I hate to give up the folksy appeal of the nails...