samsunight
Rookie Solder Flinger
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Post by samsunight on Jan 10, 2013 22:01:16 GMT -5
Hello,
I have a question. I have a single pickup Harmony Stratotone, to which I was thinking of adding a piezo pickup in the body, being that it's hollow. My supplier sent me three of them. What would happen if I wired up all three? Would it be louder than one? What if I wired them up to a three-way switch? Would I get significant tonal variations? I'm planning to install an end pin preamp. I wasn't going to worry about volume and tone, as I want to keep it simple. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Sam
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Post by newey on Jan 10, 2013 22:59:07 GMT -5
ssn-
I don't have any experience with multiple piezos in a guitar, but I did experiment with using two identical piezo elements in a wooden foot-stomp box I made a while back. It's designed to allow one to keep a beat with a foot on the box for accompaniment to guitar and vocals.
There's a thread on this project somewhere with all the gory details. Suffice it to say, after several rounds of experiments with two piezo elements, in both series and parallel configurations, I eventually just went with one element. Whether in series or parallel, I didn't notice any great difference from just the single element. Feedback issues were worse and the wooden box was more noisy and touch-sensitive with two elements, but the "tone" (such as it was for stomping) didn't change with two vs. one.
While a guitar is of course a much different application than what I was doing, 4real has used a piezo element in the neck pocket and noted that it worked OK but that the guitar was very touch-sensitive. You may find the same. Most piezos are bridge-mounted so as to avoid, to some extent, making the entire guitar "piezo-energized".
JohnH has reported that these elements work better when solidly affixed between two pieces of wood or metal, and I found the same with my "stomp-box". You may find that a "sandwich" construction works better than just affixing it to the inside of the body.
Keep in mind that a piezo element works in a different manner than a magnetic pickup. Certainly you should experiment if you wish, I'm not trying to discourage it, and you may find useful variations with dual elements. But simpler was better in my experience.
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samsunight
Rookie Solder Flinger
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
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Post by samsunight on Jan 11, 2013 6:04:19 GMT -5
I had a sneaking suspicion that was the case. Thanks!
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Post by newey on Jan 11, 2013 6:14:36 GMT -5
More to the point, are you sure you want to modify a Stratotone? That's the one Harmony model that collectors want . . .
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Post by 4real on Jan 11, 2013 6:25:18 GMT -5
You can wire more than 1 and the impedance is so high, the it does not matter that much, any requrie preamping. There can be a significant difference not so much in the number but the placement of the things so you can experiement to get the best kind of sound by moving them around. That the body is hollow does not necessarliy help. These things can tend to pick up all kinds of body sounds and noises from just playing, even teh guitars body against yours, so beware. And, if it is a valuable guitar, that too should be considered, as mentioned!
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