HELP: Placement of rod piezo pickup.

Hi All. I’m building my first CBG and need to know the best location and attachment method for my rod piezo. I have no experience with rod piezos and have no idea how they react to different mounting options.

Shane shows it hot glued in a groove in the neck and bearing on the underside of the lid, just below the bridge. Although fairly easy to do, my concern is that it doesn’t allow the full lid to resonate. Doesn’t this wedged installation reduce the sound volume when playing without amplification??

An alternative might be to glue the rod to the inside of the lid, below the bridge, and not allow it to touch the neck. This would allow the entire lid to resonate. Is this a better idea?

What about if I just glue the rod to the side of the bridge? Yes, it would be ugly, but how would it sound??

Thanks very much in advance to anyone who responds. Regards, Steve

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on August 1, 2019 at 10:19pm

I'm not an expert by no means, but with that being said. A rod Piezo (the tooth pick looking one) needs pressure to work properly. The best placement is in a slot under the bridge between the bridge and lid or better still a slot in the top of the bridge sandwiched with a bone saddle so when the strings are installed they are working at their best!

As far as Shane goes, if he says it works, it works. If you don't want to go the route of using a rod, use a disk type glued on the underside of the lid. Be forewarned it will pickup every little noise(it's basically a mic) you might want to consider a ribbon style(bow tie, violin) goes under bridge they are a pressure type. I don't have any experience with them yet, but I understand they are better then the rod type. Welcome to CBN!

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Permalink Reply by Steve Harbour on August 2, 2019 at 9:01am

Thanks, Will

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Permalink Reply by KOOL DOG HOOCH on August 2, 2019 at 10:44am

My pleasure!

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Permalink Reply by Road Rash Roy on August 2, 2019 at 1:28am

Hello and welcome Steve.

The rod piezo will not work on the side of the bridge. As Will described, it is meant to have direct pressure from the strings to work properly and should be placed between the saddle and the top of the guitar.

I also trust any advice or tip that Shane Spiel gives out, but any other method for placing the rod piezo is probably a creative work-around for something.

What are you using for your bridge/saddle? Can you cut a small groove on the bottom of it for the piezo rod?

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Permalink Reply by Steve Harbour on August 2, 2019 at 9:07am

Flying Kay style bridge, made out of Padauk. Obviously no way to mount the rod in the bridge, so it’s going to have to be installed between the neck and the lid, directly beneath the bridge. I’ll be sure the rod is under pressure so it doesn’t buzz. Thanks for your help.