DIY Piezos

[FunkMetalBass]

Anybody ever done it per string?

[luzceloffan]

subbed ... I want to know about this.

[Diogenes]

Yes... using piezo coax set in individual saddles.

I bought some about 8 years ago... I think it was from someone on eBay but here are a couple of other sources: (I have not ordered from any of them)

http://www.imagesco.com/catalog/sensors/piezocoax.html
http://www.meas-spec.com/product/t_product.aspx?id=2476

[FunkMetalBass]

I was considering using either that piezo coax cable and drilling a hole into the saddle, then epoxying it in, or laying a piezo film tab under the saddle.

How well did it work for you? Also, how much of the wire did you have to strip away? My mind tells me that taking it down only to the copper wire is what I want to do.

[Diogenes]

I really didn't like the tone of piezos in a solid bridge or saddle. The reason I experimented with them is to get a nice amplified URB tone but when encased in epoxy or sandwiched between a hard bridge/saddle and body, EVERY little nuance was amplified... even just the sound of running fingers along flatwound strings.

But then I was inspired by Liutaio Mottola's project EUB project. I essentially routed a shallow (1/8") cavity where I would place a simple block bridge, overfilled it with silicone, let it cure and then straddled the bridge over the cavity which applied a large amount of force on the silicone bed and coax without crushing it. The pressure on the piezo coax was enough to amplify string vibrations yet finger noise would get muffled by the silicone.

[FunkMetalBass]

Ah, ok. I remember having piezos back in the day, but I was young and, in hindsight, had terrible tone and little knowledge. I'd like to get back into exploring and playing around with them, but I agree that there's way too much in the 5kHz + range for me to work with. I had planned on looking for a means of using various capacitors to roll off frequencies for each string, but a mechanical solution may be better than an electronic.