I know that here are many experienced builders and players on this board, so I would like some input on the advantages of Piezo and Magnetic pickups. What is the major difference between the two in terms of playing?
I know my piezo installations make good sound but tend to pick up every sound on the guitar (palm touching the box, slide noise, etc). Would a magnetic pickup be less sensitive to non-string related sounds?
I haven't tried a magnetic pickup on a CBG, so I'm curious about what to expect.
Thanks for your insights and experience.
Replies
All I can add is this. I skipped lunch today to play a new build with a rod piezo under the bridge. I can tell you for a fact it picks up your stomach rumbling and amplifies it nicely whereas a mag p/u wouldn't do that!
My all time favorite pickup mod is the variable coil tap. Or 'Spin-O-Split. Using your tone knob you can go from straight humbucker all the way down to a single coil. What makes it better than a coil tap? You can bring it all the way down to a single coil. Then add a bit and have a beefy sounding single coil. Or you can drop it a bit and have a twangy humbucker.
http://www.jpbourgeois.org/guitar/microsbis.htm#twist
This does require a very good quality humbucker and pot. On the down side you do loose your tone control. Unless your making your own guitar. Then you can have as may knobs as you want.
Tom I responded early on and what I meant by good sounding is a mag will sound good with or without effects, you can get a good sound out of a piezo but it takes work and I'm sure someone mentioned that on stage around other instruments and mic they can be tough to control. Some effect just don't work through a disk at least that my thought. You need a preamp pedal or on board preamp to really control a disk. I'll put a simple preamp on a bread board tonight and post a picture. Undersaddle piezo do work and sound much better then disks. Good luck.
The magnetic pickup will sound much like one on any electric guitar. Less acoustic, if you know what I mean. It won't pick up the non string related sounds (something hard enough to transfer to the strings will be audible). I like both sounds, because sometimes you want the acoustic sound and sometimes you want a little dirt, which pretty much requires a magnetic pickup. I solved the problem by putting a magnetic pickup near the neck and used a piezo bridge. I made a "blend circuit" that helps even out the volume by preamp'ing the piezo to the level of the magnetic. I can then turn another pot to vary to pretty much any level in between full piezo to full magnetic.
For good dirt with a piezo I made an overdrive circuit.
Thanks. This is proving very educational. Although I am left wondering if I need a humbucker to avoid possible buzz, or do I need a single coil or do I need some kind of mag pickup and a piezo with a switch and/or blend option.
I love all this information and can see a lot more builds in the future.
Personally I like piezo's because they pick up other sounds. I like to use my cbg for percussion as well.
I have a set of P-bass pickups that only have coiling on 1/2 the polls. So each half pickup has two live polls and two dead ones. Can't get any more poorly made than that.
To be honest I've never bought low price humbuckers or single coil pickups. Because of my bad experience I'll stay cautious.
I like the idea of using both mags and piezos. Have a push pull volume pot that both turns this option on and controls the volume. Getting a good mix of the best of both.
I've had pretty good results with cheap rail pickups, which are $5.99 on eBay. They sound good enough for me and, being rails, there's no problem with pole alignment. I've also used cheap single coils, which cost even less. Again, with a chrome cover, there's no aesthetic alignment issues.
It's all down to individual choice and trial and error - just build what you like. Good luck.
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