Tacoma Electronics Distortion

[Dan1099]

The Tacoma Thunderchief I have is buzzing/distorting when I play with anything but an ultra-light touch. It does not do this unplugged, it only comes through the amp. The sound reminded me of a dying battery at first, but I have replaced that, to no avail. It seems to have started recently. I recently filed the bridge saddle down a little, could that have something to do with it? Maybe it's not sitting on the piezo correctly? Any ideas?

[4Mal]

I don't think that would do it. Sounds to me more like you are overdriving somehting in your signal chain.

The Piezo's have a really different output (gain & impedance) from a typical mag pickup. My Fishman'ed CB-10 did not play nice with everything. I ended up taking it through a DI and the on to the amp or board most days.

You could also have swapped in another dead battery. Mine ate batteries when it was in use and got gnarly sounding on low power.

[Hollow Man]

If it's buzzing in the sense that the string sounds like it's rubbing on something, it could very well be the saddle. If it's an electronic distortion, it's something in your preamp or signal chain. I'd try another battery, and if that fails, take a very close look at your saddle.