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Newest info on piezo pickups

Mickey666

Mickey666

Apr 22, 2020
723
1,056
Oklahoma city
#1
I'm looking for info on the latest in piezos.
Been working on this for almost 10 years at this point, and last I checked it seemed like they were very difficult to install/make work.
Just wanted to know if things had gotten easier to work with, or is it time to blow the whole idea off and go in a different direction.

Any info would be greatly appreciated
 
#2
Are you talking about running only piezo, or combining it with magnetic pickups?

In either case, check out the Ghost system. My weird short-scale Stambaugh has two standard (Aero) pickups and a Pope 4-band preamp. It also has a Ghost bridge with a buffer and Bartolini preamp to balance it properly with the other electronics. As a result, I have a 3-way toggle for magnetic pups, all, or solo piezo. The Ghost setup has it's own volume knob as well so it's easy to blend everything together, or to adjust the solo piezo volume without tweaking the other "side" of the controls.
 
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#4
There was a recent TB discussion at the end of the thread of the Wilson K4 piezo pickup.
There’s also a K1.

DoubleMIDI

Double Bass Post in thread 'Wilson K4'

I doubt that grounding the strings to the shield would help with a piezo.

I rather think that one pickup element is not connected to shield or not connected well enough (perhaps not to the case of the piezo element).
Try a connection from the jack case (shield) to the pickup element case.
Best without touching anything (use clamps).

If you Google Wilson K4 pickup, there’s a lot of info and videos. This is rather expensive. On the other side of the expense curve is Vic’s, which gets great reviews on TB.
 

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#7
Mickey666 said:
I'm looking for info on the latest in piezos.
Been working on this for almost 10 years at this point, and last I checked it seemed like they were very difficult to install/make work.
Just wanted to know if things had gotten easier to work with, or is it time to blow the whole idea off and go in a different direction.

Any info would be greatly appreciated
Click to expand...
The piezo pickup system in the Godin A4 sounds great to me. I believe they make a fretted and fretless bass.

 

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#9
Mickey666 said:
Just in case it wasn't too clear... I'm doing a solid body electric, fretless.

I would prefer if the whole system could be pretty much invisible... no controls, just the floating bridge probly a tail piece and the strings.
Click to expand...
Are you planning on having an onboard preamp or active buffer? An unbuffered piezo is going to be persnickity depending on what's downstream from it.
 
#11
ardgedee said:
Are you planning on having an onboard preamp or active buffer? An unbuffered piezo is going to be persnickity depending on what's downstream from it.
Click to expand...
It seems like a preamp/buffer will definitely be needed, it will have to be one that's basically set and forget... as I will have to remove the cover to do any adjustment, it will not be accessible on the fly...
I haven't started researching those yet.
 
#12
I have Graphtech Piezos on 5 fretless basses , solid/reliable , relatively easy to install ( if you are a bit manual )
An absolute must in a fretless and gives and wide tonal option on any bass

Electronics will have a hugh impact on the final tone
Like everything , you get what you pay for ( Mostly )
 
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