piezo mod

[steve-bbb]

soooo

i was thinking of modding the fretless with a piezo and havent a clue what i need or where to put it

would one of the single strip under bridge varieties be ok? was thinking i would need to channel out a thin shallow strip under the bridge for this - would you seat it just with pressure against the base of the bridge plate or epoxy it to the base plate?

am presuming will need some sort of preamp tp bring the line level up to a usable level and either a switch between piezo and mags or another blend pot and mixer (is it do-able to blend passive mag pickups with the piezo?)

my only experience of piezos is having previously owned an early series one TRB6 which i used to play mainly on piezo (however i understand these were six separate saddle piece piezos all mixed into the active tone control with full blend) - will i see/hear anything closely resembling the sort of tonal timbre and quality from a single strip?

any mods suggestions recommendations appreciated (im not averse to attacking it with a chisel/router so any mods considered)

correction - would probably not consider full bridge replacemnt with individual saddle piezos as have already modded with a gotoh401 bridge which i have sunk into the bodywork to accomodate it's increased depth)

tia

[ikay]

What sort of sound are you trying to achieve with the piezo? If it's a full range 'acoustic' type sound then a Hipshot/Graphtec bridge with piezo saddles is a good option. Or you can buy Graphtec piezo saddles which should retrofit on your Gotoh bridge - [url="http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/pickups-c108/bass-guitar-pickups-c396/graph-tech-graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-p4228/s4270?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-pn-8304-00&utm_campaign=product%2Blisting%2Bads&gclid=CjwKEAjwsvmvBRCT5ozK-dmY7D4SJACyIoJmPcX07pbt8bdh6CMpdlWMcCdaryhqNsSxmfXG00omnRoCoo_w_wcB"]http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/pickups-c108/bass-guitar-pickups-c396/graph-tech-graph-tech-ghost-p-j-bass-style-pickups-4-string-p4228/s4270[/url].

An undersaddle style piezo strip really needs to be fitted under a floating acoustic type saddle to function properly. With either type you'll need a buffer amps of some sort to get the full range out of it (particularly the lows).

I have a Hipshot/Graphtec bridge with an East MPM-01 buffer in my ACG fretless 5. I tried the Graphtec Ghost preamp and a Shadow preamp before settling on the East which gave the best results. The Ghost preamp has a built-in eq scoop which lost all of the mid-range definition. The Shadow was better but introduced a little noise. The East just gives a perfectly clean and flat response.

The mag pickup on the ACG also goes into the MPM-01 buffer. Separate piezo and mag outputs from the buffer then go to a standard balance control and to an East SPM-02 3-band eq with a mid-freq sweep. The output from the buffer/balance could just as easily go to a standard passive tone control or direct to the output jack if you want a simpler set up.

I find the mid-freq sweep on the SPM-02 very useful though, a little boost at the right frequency can really bring the sound to life, particularly for fretless.

Edited September 20, 2015 by ikay

[steve-bbb]

thanks for the info - i like the look of the graphtech saddles - are they reversible? would need to spin two of them around as on the gotoh bridge the E and A have the long screw below the string rather than above

was alsp looking at the j-east circuit as apart from its tone it look snice and compact to fit in the cavity with too much faffing about

Edited September 20, 2015 by steve-bbb

[ikay]

Hmm, I'm not sure how reversible the individual barrel saddles are. I wouldn't think they are reversible but best thing is to ask the very nice chaps at Graphtec support. I've asked them loads of questions in the past and they were very helpful.

[tauzero]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1442773790' post='2869379']
thanks for the info - i like the look of the graphtech saddles - are they reversible? would need to spin two of them around as on the gotoh bridge the E and A have the long screw below the string rather than above
[/quote]

Do you mean reversible fore and aft or reversible top and bottom? I don't see why you shouldn't reverse them fore and aft, I'm sitting looking at a bridge with very similar Graphtech saddles on it that's waiting to go on a bass and I can't see any reason that they'd be bothered about which way the string was running over the saddle.