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Piezo pick up placement

Thought I would share with y'all something that I think works pretty well with the piezo disk pick up from C.B. Gitty. I've always thought that even with the disks buried in leather/foam/etc. was still a bit too "boomy" for my tastes so I started experimenting and came up with this.

Since most of my builds are through body, solid neck I thought why not put that sucker in close where the vibrations are coming into the body? Kind of like putting a bar piezo under the bridge, but with a twist. So the first three pics show the start of that process.

1. Mark where the bridge will be based on the scale length you've chosen.

2. Scribble a circle on it so you can aim your drill bit.

3. Drill a hole about 1/4" to 3/8" deep.

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 7:22am

Next, cut a slot for the wires to exit the neck.

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 7:24am

Then you can add your nicely soldered pick up with wires

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 7:26am

Squirt some hot glue in the hole and get ready to stick it all together

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 7:28am

Try to fill up the hole so it will be even with the top of the neck surface. Get a piece of clear mylar plastic and lay over the still warm hot glue. Try to get it as flat as possible with the neck. Let the excess squeeze out of the hole the wire exits.

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 7:31am

After the hot glue cools you can peel off the mylar (nothing sticks to mylar) and it should be a nice smooth surface that won't give you any problems when you put the glue down and stick the neck to the top of your box. Buries it quite nicely and makes a pretty mellow sound when strung.

I almost always use two pick ups now. One buried like this, and I suspend one in high density foam just under the neck at the fret end of the neck inside the box. With the C.B. Gitty gold three way switch, you can have the best of both worlds! The jangly acoustic pickup, the more mellow buried pickup or both!

Gene

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Permalink Reply by Bill Powell on February 24, 2013 at 8:40am

Gene, thank you for the photos. I didn't realize that the piezo can be coated with glue and still function. Yeah, I know, new guy ...

;-)

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 8:48am

Shoot, Bill..... I consider myself to be pretty dang new to this too! But these guys keep saying the same thing over and over. "There are no rules, just try it!"

I think one of the plans I saw, or maybe it was here where they recommended getting a bottle cap and filling that with glue and embedding the piezo in that - then gluing that to the inside of the box. I just decided to make my own hole instead of adding something else!

Gene

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Permalink Reply by Bill Powell on February 24, 2013 at 8:52am

Gene, makes sense. I used the Radio Shack piezo transducer and just screwed the plastic case to the bottom of the neck under the bridge. I have David Sutton's book, and he said the take the piezo out of the plastic, so I might be in error. I know the thing sure creates feedback!

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Permalink Reply by Richard G Caudill on February 24, 2013 at 12:37pm

Gene,, this is just a super cool idea .. Never woulda thought of this ,, but u can betcha i"m a gonna use it !!!

always did not like the cut out in the neck to make the piezo fit .. tks man !!

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Permalink Reply by Randy S. Bretz on February 24, 2013 at 12:45pm

Thats been done years ago here

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Permalink Reply by Gene Robinson on February 24, 2013 at 1:31pm

What's old is new......

That's the problem when these forums get really big. These little tidbits get lost. I did a search on piezo placement and got 8,562 hits..... well, maybe not that many, but it was more than I wanted to sift through :)

Gene