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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on October 2, 2016 at 5:12am

Piezos work differently than magnetic pickups. Magnetic pickups sense the vibrations in steel strings as they move through the magnetic field of the pickup. 

Piezos sense the vibration of everything they're attached to. Therefore if you attach the piezo to the box, it will pick up the vibrations (noises) of the box as well as the sound of the strings going through the box. 

The way to fix this is to attach the piezo to the strings, but not the box (as much as possible). 

So the answer is to mount the piezo directly under the bridge (on top of the box) and then put some cork or another damping type material under the piezo. This way, the most vibrations will be coming from the strings, while the box noises with be mostly dampened out. 

This will also help the piezo be louder as it has the physical pressure of the bridge and strings pressing on it. 

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Permalink Reply by Chance on October 2, 2016 at 5:45am

Sorry, I'm not exactly clear on your suggestions.  I'm very new to building cbg's.

Do I mount the pickup in the neck bottom just above the box (countersunk, of course)? 

Or, on top of the neck countersunk?

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Permalink Reply by Fomhorach on October 2, 2016 at 10:57pm

If it's twin pickups, check they are not wired in series. I think they should be wired in parallel.

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Permalink Reply by Chance on October 2, 2016 at 11:40pm

Much obliged for the suggestions.

Thanks,

cmw

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