cheap piezo pickup

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by Nubus

Neat link. Have you made one of these yet smopo?

yes, but before i saw the link. it did work, but has had a few major setbacks that i'm trying to remedy; though mostly the problem stems from the element not being nearly as rigid as i feel it needs to be. i tried cutting out a notch in the plastic backing (the one with the radioshack sticker), let the wires through, and glued it to the piezo to make it more stable, but it only helped slightly. someone told me to mount this in or on a mylar casing; but i don't know how that would affect the sound, or if that is the best soloution. but besides this problem, the wires are flimsy, and de-soldering them is not an option. cutting them back as close to the element as possible and re-tinning is ok; but i don't like attaching wire to wire (espically when i don't have the luxury of a heat gun, yet). oh, and strain relieve the pickup! the person who created that site is absoloutely right about it coming right off (though i used some wax on the bottom of it that stuck pretty well)the heavy-duty female 1/4" input definately contributed to it's demise. multiple uses can only lead me to believe that it's main use is as a disposable mic; because without some serious work, this won't last more than one or two performances. any suggestions to improve on this would be much appreciated.

[Nubus]

I guess what we did was tape the connector to the violin as well. You may be able to use a clothes pin or something if you don't want tape on your instrument. Maybe mount the connector to the strap if it's a guitar.

[smopo24]

Originally Posted by Nubus

I guess what we did was tape the connector to the violin as well. You may be able to use a clothes pin or something if you don't want tape on your instrument. Maybe mount the connector to the strap if it's a guitar.

some kinds of tape may leave some resadue on the instrument or ruin the finish, so taping (or pinning) onto the strap is definately an option; or tie wrapping it isn't bad either....though you will have to cut it after you want to remove the strap. maybe painter's tape or gaffer tape would work and not leave any marks or mar the finish? anyone have any experience with that?

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by smopo24

some kinds of tape may leave some resadue on the instrument or ruin the finish, so taping (or pinning) onto the strap is definately an option; or tie wrapping it isn't bad either....though you will have to cut it after you want to remove the strap. maybe painter's tape or gaffer tape would work and not leave any marks or mar the finish? anyone have any experience with that?

Permacell or Shurtape is the good stuff.