cheap piezo pickup

[dagosto]

I played in a show with a string section recently. The sound guy made these pckups for the strings out of really cheap parts from radio shack and they sounded better than the ones that cost hundreds of dollars that some of the players had. All he did was carefully break open these puppies:

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-piezo-e...i-2062402.html

and solder quarter inch connectors to them. you could use double sided tape to mount them on any acoustic instrument but he used post-it putty because it helped attenuate some of the harsh frequencies these can produce.

Over-all they worked really well and would work on any acoustic instrument.

Time to get crackin'

[lukedavo]

I think I made a fake cricket with one of the kits in Electronics class, and that part looks very familiar. I imagine taking a little bit of time and effort would probably produce better results than, "yeah I'll take that one", not knowing who made it, where it came from, and what the components are made out of. Just my $0.02

[Nubus]

I think a guy I know uses these as home made triggers duct taped onto the drums.

[mikegee]

Originally Posted by dagosto

I played in a show with a string section recently. The sound guy made these pckups for the strings out of really cheap parts from radio shack and they sounded better than the ones that cost hundreds of dollars that some of the players had. All he did was carefully break open these puppies:

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-piezo-e...i-2062402.html

and solder quarter inch connectors to them. you could use double sided tape to mount them on any acoustic instrument but he used post-it putty because it helped attenuate some of the harsh frequencies these can produce.

Over-all they worked really well and would work on any acoustic instrument.

Time to get crackin'

yea, i have seen these super inexpensive peizo pickups on numerous websites as well... generally speaking, for what applications would you use these pickups? for example; what instruments? are they usually used in specific instruments? are these the same type of piezos pickups you see in guitars? or can they be used in a lot of different applications? just curious...

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by mikegee

yea, i have seen these super inexpensive peizo pickups on numerous websites as well... generally speaking, for what applications would you use these pickups? for example; what instruments? are they usually used in specific instruments? are these the same type of piezos pickups you see in guitars? or can they be used in a lot of different applications? just curious...

The guy who turned me onto these was using them on a string section. The would work on any acoustic intrument. They are a bit resonant in the upper midrange but for the price and effort I am willing to eq at the board.

These use the same principle as guitars that come wih piezo's but my guess is that the one in guitars are tuned a little better and have an eq attached.

[smopo24]

you can mount them on plexi glass and use them as a stereo mic; they can work as drum triggers; but my favorite application was hearing that they can be used in making a cheap plate reverb.

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by dagosto

I played in a show with a string section recently. The sound guy made these pckups for the strings out of really cheap parts from radio shack and they sounded better than the ones that cost hundreds of dollars that some of the players had. All he did was carefully break open these puppies:

http://www.radioshack.com/sm-piezo-e...i-2062402.html

and solder quarter inch connectors to them. you could use double sided tape to mount them on any acoustic instrument but he used post-it putty because it helped attenuate some of the harsh frequencies these can produce.

Over-all they worked really well and would work on any acoustic instrument.

Time to get crackin'

I did this last week for my friend's violin. It was suprisingly good. I busted it open and soldered it to the connector and handed it over. Next I had to explain a little bit, because his first attempt at placement failed. He'd taken the masking tape and made a little loop, and put the tape in between the violin and the pickup. Had to give him a little piezo lesson after that, since obviously it wasn't working.
edit to this post: I just read the original post again (duh) and see that you recommend double sided tape. Doesn't the piezo have to be touching the body? Was my piezo lesson a SHAM??

[dagosto]

Originally Posted by Nubus

I did this last week for my friend's violin. It was suprisingly good. I busted it open and soldered it to the connector and handed it over. Next I had to explain a little bit, because his first attempt at placement failed. He'd taken the masking tape and made a little loop, and put the tape in between the violin and the pickup. Had to give him a little piezo lesson after that, since obviously it wasn't working.
edit to this post: I just read the original post again (duh) and see that you recommend double sided tape. Doesn't the piezo have to be touching the body? Was my piezo lesson a SHAM??

Whatever vibrates through double sided tape will be picked up. It will change the sound a bit but it vibrates with the instrument. The little loop of tape didn't work because it was effectively decoupling the pickup from the instrument.

[smopo24]

here is a link that tells you how to do the whole thing:

http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html

[Nubus]

Originally Posted by smopo24

here is a link that tells you how to do the whole thing:

http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html

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