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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on February 27, 2013 at 11:16am

A rod piezo has to have pressure on it... string pressure. That is what they are specifically designed for. The original intent was for them to be placed directly under the bridge saddle of an acoustic guitar. It is being squeezed down hard that makes them work. Get rid of the tube.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on February 27, 2013 at 11:24am

The rods work best with direct string pressure on them, typically with a saddle transmitting the downward force of the strings across the saddle to the piezo rod. Sounds like you may not have enough string pressure transmitted to the rod. This could be caused by too low of a bridge or too low of a saddle, or not enough string break angle ( the direct result of the first two). Randy Bretz ( and a lot of commercial git builders) puts the piezo rod in a routed channel in a wood bridge, then places a bone (in Randy's case), Tusq, or even plastic, saddle that sits directly atop the piezo rod, into that slot. Your piezo rod inside a hollow steel rod isn't getting enough downward force transmitted to it from the strings. Try using a slotted wood biscuit bridge, with the piezo inside the slot, and a saddle atop that, and I bet your problem will be solved.

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Permalink Reply by Harold Grissom on February 27, 2013 at 4:13pm

Wow, great to get such a speedy and thorough response.  Thank y'all.    I'll have it fixed soon.

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