Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 21, 2011 at 3:03am

Derek,

 

Welcome! This question has been asked and answered over at the CBG Wiring and Electronics Group here at CBN, as wellas numerous times around the site.

 

A Search on CBN reveals 30 pages and multiple threads devoted to this issue. But a quick answer would be: Most solve the problem by encasing the piezos in wood or silicone. You can mount them directly in the neck of a neck-through, and cover them with silicone; you can sandwich them between thin slabs of various woods and mount that below the bridge or to the neck; you can wrap them in foil, and attache them with glue or silicone; you can smother them in silicone caulk. All of these will work to a greater or lesser extent.

 

Good luck with whichever solution seems best / cheapest to you (and send me some of that Million),

 

Oily

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on September 21, 2011 at 3:04am

Piezo positioning is key here. Try to get the piezo as close as possible to the actual bridge/saddle as you can and one trick I do is to embed it in a layer (top and bottom) of hot glue from a glue gun. This seems to help. When I make a bridge (plate the saddle or some other bar) sits, I will hollow out a cavity under and out a dime size glob of hot glue, press the piezo in and let cool. Then I will fill the cavity with glue. This works well to dampen the piezo's high frequency response.

 

I have seen those who glue it on the underside of the lid (I am one of those) as close as possible to the bridge BUT keep in mind that the lid acts like a big eardrum. It will pickup and by contact, will amplify most any noise.

 

One thing to keep in mind: piezos are very high impedance, thus they have a really hard time 'listening' as opposed to what they are designed to do which is why the lid aids in feedback. Some have used two piezos in parallel to get more signal, thus lowering the overall impedance. from that, you don't have to turn the volume all the way up.

 

One other thing to do is to place a capacitor between the red signal (+) wire and ground. Treble bleeds off BUT the results will vary depending on capacitor value.

 

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 21, 2011 at 3:08am

"When I can'd do that, I have another method (shhhh, its a secret)."

 

Yeah, its magp...mmmmfffffrrrrhhhhhmmmmffff...a secret!

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on September 21, 2011 at 3:51am

Here's another

-WY

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Wittmann on July 7, 2012 at 11:05am

I like that, when I plug mine into my amp it scream like crazy. I put two piezo in one on the through neck and the other right on the underside of the lid where the saddle sets. I think that maybe I will add some more cover over the piezo. I have a bunch of leather, would that help?

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on September 21, 2011 at 3:56am

Revised:

Resistor and cap values will determine the frequency cutoff.

-WY

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Permalink Reply by derek sturrock on September 21, 2011 at 5:38am

Oily "Strat-O'-Nine-Tales" Fool said:

Derek,

 

Welcome! This question has been asked and answered over at the CBG Wiring and Electronics Group here at CBN, as wellas numerous times around the site.

 

A Search on CBN reveals 30 pages and multiple threads devoted to this issue. But a quick answer would be: Most solve the problem by encasing the piezos in wood or silicone. You can mount them directly in the neck of a neck-through, and cover them with silicone; you can sandwich them between thin slabs of various woods and mount that below the bridge or to the neck; you can wrap them in foil, and attache them with glue or silicone; you can smother them in silicone caulk. All of these will work to a greater or lesser extent.

 

Good luck with whichever solution seems best / cheapest to you (and send me some of that Million),

 

Oily

 

 

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Permalink Reply by derek sturrock on September 21, 2011 at 5:49am

derek sturrock said:

Oily "Strat-O'-Nine-Tales" Fool said:

Derek,

 

Welcome! This question has been asked and answered over at the CBG Wiring and Electronics Group here at CBN, as wellas numerous times around the site.

 

A Search on CBN reveals 30 pages and multiple threads devoted to this issue. But a quick answer would be: Most solve the problem by encasing the piezos in wood or silicone. You can mount them directly in the neck of a neck-through, and cover them with silicone; you can sandwich them between thin slabs of various woods and mount that below the bridge or to the neck; you can wrap them in foil, and attache them with glue or silicone; you can smother them in silicone caulk. All of these will work to a greater or lesser extent.

 

Good luck with whichever solution seems best / cheapest to you (and send me some of that Million),

 

Oily

 

 Thanks guys, will modify my guitars as suggested. good day to everyone,thanks a million ,be back on  line later.

luv to you all.

derek 

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Permalink Reply by David Carmony on September 21, 2011 at 7:18am

I've found that covering the pickup with some felt type material and securing it with fabric glue has worked wonders.  I put humbuckers in everything now and there is zero issue with feedback.  With the piezo it's also a matter of getting the amp settings correct.  Up on the bass, down on the treble & mids.  Reverb adds to feedback issues as well. 

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Permalink Reply by turtlehead on September 21, 2011 at 1:44pm

Good advice in this thread.  I've been messing around with piezos lately and have had success with the wood sandwich/parallel piezo setup.  I still get feedback when I crank it up though.  I have mine mounted right under the bridge.  Still getting too much "box noise" for my liking.  Next step will be to do a bridge mount or go to the rod piezo. 

 

Thanks for the diagrams Wes.  I'll be testing out the capacitor/resistor combo for sure.  Great idea!

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on September 21, 2011 at 3:21pm

Don't overlook the obvious ... turn the gain down.

 

 

AFKAM

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Permalink Reply by derek sturrock on September 21, 2011 at 9:57pm

Hi Guys, Thanks to everyone for their input. Off to workshop to try rewiring. Wish me luck < i think I'll need it>.   Oh by the way I just ordered the roland micro cube amp £85.  Anybody use one? some tips well appreciated.

Catch you later.

Luv you all.

Derek

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