• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

For your amusement...

#21
I wonder if I could do the same with an undersaddle bridge? Instead of drilling a round depression in the body, drill a trench. This guy on eBay is selling brand new thinline pickups for $12, but in the description, he mentions that they're for 6-string acoustics. Then again, I believe Fishman's Acoustic Matrix pickup is also for 6-string acoustics and Rob Allen appears to have no problem using them in his basses.

Also, there's a bass in Warmoth's gallery that has no controls and "dual piezo transducer under the bridge." It has a metal bridge too, which leads me to wonder what kind of piezo he used (thinline or whatever other flavor piezo pickups come in). Unfortunately, the owner didn't give his e-mail address.
 
#24
FWIW:

Read this radio shack piezo thread months ago but no motivation to pull up a bridge. But recently picked up another Schaller roller replacement so picked up the RS piezo's and just cracked one open for starters yesterday evening. In fact, I'd just finished reading through the litany of that thread in preparation for the upcoming events.


http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131882&page=5&pp=20&highlight=piezo


And now I venture this way and see this going on. I don't know why all the concern for the rise of China cause the Chinese may be building all this stuff but the ingenuity will still come from America. From the Pocket Gut Bass beyond..........

But, yes you can mount those peizo's below the bridge, run the wires through the bridge ground hole, and torque that puppy down.

Now I've got to check out that sound clip.

Must have been a feminine file cause I could't get a response.
 
#25
I still haven't put the o-rings on (haven't had time). However, I noticed that the "twang," or my favorite, the "blart" from plucking the string comes from the rubberbands flat shape. So I twisted the rubber band until I could twist no longer and it really smoothed out the tone. Unfortunately, the rubberband isn't perfectly round - more of a spiral.

Updates on this thing are slow coming. If you haven't read, I'm working on a jazz bass, which is getting my full attention while I still have the money. However, I did buy a suitable piece of poplar at Home Depot yesterday. I read that Ashborys are made from a single piece of maple, but I don't have local access to that, so poplar it was. Besides, with the super low tension this bass will have, I don't think it will be a problem.
 
#26
FWIW:

Stuck the peizos in and wired them parallel don't get squat with them ran straight to the jack. I assumed the crystal would face up under bridge but really figured it wouldn't matter. Anybody know?

By the way, in pages of that previous thread I don't anybody describe a good way to remove the RS peizo from the case so here's how I did it and it worked quite well with no damage.

I just used an exacto knife, pair of channel-locks, and small standard screwdriver.

On the back of the piezo, I stuck the exacto knife point down into the notch in line with the screw slot with the blade edge facing the screw slot. Got a bite in the notch and pride down to pop the lid up enough to get the screwdriver under and popped the lid off. If you stick the exacto knife in with the blade running parallel to the back of the peizo, you'll probably snap the tip off the blade.

I took the channels-locks and snapped the rim off all the way around flush with the peizo but trying to get it to break off below the peizo if possible to allow for bite under the peizo if needed.

Then I took the channel-locks and gripped the sides of the casing below the level of the piezo and walked around the perimeter gently squeezing the casing as I went in order to break the glue loose from the perimeter of the peizo. On one I got the peizo to pop right out, the other took a little more finess and work - but neither ended up with a scratch on them or any deformity.

On one there was some glue residue left around the perimeter of the peizo and I just used the tip of the exacto knife to pop it loose so the peizo would be flat as possible.
 
#27
I tried the same thing and got the same results. I find that I get the most optput if the bottom of the piezo is the side in contact with the bass in general, whether the contact point be the bridge, body, neck, etc. If you look in the first set of pictures, you can see the piezo pickup (with shell). Just pop the element out and mount it the same way as in the picture (only without the shell, if you prefer).

To get the element out of the black shell, I flip the unit over to the side without the hole (the bottom) and just stuck a knife in the little slot where the wires come out and finaggled with it a bit. Then on the second piezo, I used nail clippers to clip away at the edge of the shell. This was a bit more time consuming, but runs less risk of damaging the piezo. I also had the residue problem, so I just pinched the edge of the disc and rubbed the glue off.
 
#28
teej said:
I tried the same thing and got the same results. I find that I get the most optput if the bottom of the piezo is the side in contact with the bass in general, whether the contact point be the bridge, body, neck, etc. If you look in the first set of pictures, you can see the piezo pickup (with shell). Just pop the element out and mount it the same way as in the picture (only without the shell, if you prefer).

To get the element out of the black shell, I flip the unit over to the side without the hole (the bottom) and just stuck a knife in the little slot where the wires come out and finaggled with it a bit. Then on the second piezo, I used nail clippers to clip away at the edge of the shell. This was a bit more time consuming, but runs less risk of damaging the piezo. I also had the residue problem, so I just pinched the edge of the disc and rubbed the glue off.
Click to expand...

Hmm, seemed logical you'd want the crystal facing the most vibration (like it would be if mounted as designed). My situation is a little different and another reason I put the crystal face up to the bridge is because the wires are on that side and I could lay the bridge flatter - I have the peizo essentially slid under the bridge up to the solder contacts of the peizo (so actually maybe 5% of the crystal isn't under the bridge). It was just the most efficient way to do it. Several guys (must have been the other thread) did stick them under a solid body bridge and got good results.

I expected some noise maybe but not zip. I'll flip them over and see if it makes any difference. But that's probably going to bend the crystal cause the solder terminals are the thickest point.
 
#29
I wedged my RS piezos (wired in parallel straight to the jack) under the wings of my DB bridge with cork pieces sliced from a wine bottle's cork. I'm building a second set to put under the bridge feet and a mixer/eq circuit to blend the two and knock off some highs. I know this probably won't help with an electric, but now you've helped me add something to my list of Things To Do To An Essex when I get around to ordering one. I pointed mine with the crystal outward, away from the bass.

Personally, I just grabbed the case of the piezo with my wire strippers and started cracking, grabbing, and twisting until the plastic tore apart and eventually exploded. Somehow the piezos remained undamaged. I just don't have enough patience to be delicate :) .
 
#30
teej said:
I tried the same thing and got the same results. QUOTE]

FWIW:

well I think I've found my problem - and maybe yours too. I was staring off into space in the direction of my bass (what a temptation to keep the rhyme going) when I noticed the solder point of the hot lead of the peizo was up against the bridge. Hmm? Apparently I was staring off into space when I rigged the piezo's up. So I got the meter and checked - direct short. In fact, you couldn't slip the piezo under the bridge face up without it shorting unless the connection was insulated because the solder point is the thickest point of the piezo.

Haven't messed with it since to verify making the change will produce results but it should. I know the piezo's work cause I hooked a meter to them and got fluctuation when I squeezed on them.
Click to expand...
 
#31
FWIW:

got back to dinking with the piezo's. Loosened up the bridge and pulled the piezo hot leads away from the bridge. Out of curiosity, before buttoning the bridge back down, I put a meter to it. Oddly enough the ground showed no continuity to the bridge but the hot lead did. So I checked to make sure I hadn't crossed the leads in the control bay. They were good. Hmm?

So I thought what if I insulated the top of the peizo's - plus that would permit sticking the solder point right up to the bridge and getting more of the piezo under it. So I took some electrical tape and covered the top of the piezo. Plugged up and tapped on the bridge before tighting the bridge down and got response.

Tuned up and works fine. Lower side of average output, not bad. Doesn't sound anything like an upright to me but in a hollow body, like a beatle bass, may be very interesting. No complaints for $5. I'll rewire them in series and see what it does.
 
#32
I've thought a lot about finding a hollow body such as a Beatle/violin bass, or preferably a 335-style bass (i.e. Jack Cassidy, Gibson EB-2 -- I just love that shape! :grin:) at a pawn shop or something and trying that out. With one of those piezos in the F-hole, I bet it would sound a lot like an acoustic.

Yeah, I think I spent 1.79 for the piezo, 8-something for a big spool of shielded, 2-conductor wire, and another 2 for two enclosed jacks. Not bad... not bad at all. :smug:
 
#33
teej said:
I've thought a lot about finding a hollow body such as a Beatle/violin bass, or preferably a 335-style bass (i.e. Jack Cassidy, Gibson EB-2 -- I just love that shape! :grin:) at a pawn shop or something and trying that out. With one of those piezos in the F-hole, I bet it would sound a lot like an acoustic.

Yeah, I think I spent 1.79 for the piezo, 8-something for a big spool of shielded, 2-conductor wire, and another 2 for two enclosed jacks. Not bad... not bad at all. :smug:
Click to expand...

Yep,

had a Rogue Beatle Bass and it was good for what it did - old Beatle stuff. Definetly don't need a Hofner to get the tone. Fun to play. The neck dive sucked but on something weighing 5 pounds, no real issue. Just too limiting. But the tone was definetly acoustic in nature and had plenty of bass so a piezo may be a useful touch.

Bass was mint with a hardshell case and I had $200 in it, which is what I sold it for. So it was kind of a Radio Shack deal. No complaints.
 
#35
teej said:
I've been eyeing a Rogue Beatle bass. At one time Musician's Friend had them down to $199 with free shipping. I should have snagged one.
Click to expand...

There are several good cheap copies. The epi's and dillion are good too but they're usually more expensive than the Rogues. Seems there are a few others as well but it's been a while and I don't remember. Epi's and Rogues are the main copies and lot's of them, Dillion's fairly uncommon. I did quite a bit of research and found that a lot of Hofner guys use the copies for gigs becuase of potential theft and damage. One such guy bought a Rogue, had an extra set of Hofner pups, was going to drop them in it, but after hearing the Rogue left the originals in. Good enough for me.

Beatle basses are pretty fragile so a case is a definite for playing out cause it's only a matter of time in a gig bag before one gets flattened. A number of owners also reported feedback problems with the f-hole units so I steered clear of that - although I like the looks. Don't know if there's anything to it or not.

The tone, appearance, craftsmanship, and playbility of the later day copies is quite worthy. I stayed away from the older Tokai and Ibanez copies as they're usually more expensive and who knows what they've been subjected to.
 
#36
teej said:
I've been eyeing a Rogue Beatle bass. At one time Musician's Friend had them down to $199 with free shipping. I should have snagged one.
Click to expand...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=174753

here's a link for the sales forum that got bumped so I'm guessing he'd take less. Jay Turser - which was very comparable to Rogues.

Personally, I'd hold out for one with the case included if you plan on taking it out. The cases run about $75, are hard to come by at times used, and I got $50 for mine mint condition second hand. It was a Rogue case, decent enough to transport a Hofner incognito - which is a good thing to do for car transport.
 
#37
teej said:
on a p-bass, where should I put the piezo for maximum upright-like tone? Also, if I took off the black plastic shell and stuck the actual piezo under the bridge without doing any body modification, would the bridge damage the piezo (i.e. crush it)?
Click to expand...

How about putting it ON the bridge but UNDER the saddles? I'm thinking you could slip a shim of wood, say 1/2" X 1/16", under the bridge saddle screws, put the piezo under the wood, and adjust your action accordingly. That way you'd get maximum pressure on the piezo and hopefully get fairly even string balance. Better still, make 4 piezos and put one under each saddle.

btw, for upright tone on a P-bass, start by doing what Leo did when he designed it - use flatwounds, and damp the strings with a lump of foam near the bridge.
 
#39
"Just stick t under the strings, near the bridge?"

Yup. The original Fenders had a bridge cover with a lump of pretty dense rubber glued on, sitting on top of the strings.
Back when I learnt to play, the damped sound was still fashionable and I'd put a 1" square block of soft foam under the strings against the saddles. Ricks and the original Musicman had adjustable dampers in the bridge.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back