The Cheap Bastard $7.75 Faux K&K install

[jeffhigh]

Got more instruments needing pickups than money so
Strap button output jack $5, 3 by 20mm prewired piezos at 75c each.
Recyled hookup wire from an audio cable.
Done
Seems to have the same output as a K&K and a pretty natural sound.

[Allen]

Quite impressed with that Jeff. Would be even cheaper for a uke only needing 2 piezos.

You get them from some eBay source?

[J.F. Custom]

Brilliant Jeff!

What's your brand name now and how much are you marking them up ?

Seriously though, where did you pick up the pre-wired piezo discs? This could be interesting to create some custom pickups for odd instruments I sometimes work on such as Cymbaloms etc.

Jeremy.

[jeffhigh]

C. B. Gitty Crafter supplies
http://www.cbgitty.com/index.php
They have an ebay presence but are cheaper direct and good shipping rates.
Great for pre-bent fretwire too.

[Puff]

Ya bloods worth bottling - cheers

[Allen]

So, are those the flash ones, or the economy ones?

Are you using CA to glue them to the soundboard?

[MattW]

Some pretty cool stuff on that website.

How are the piezios wired?

[jeffhigh]

The flash prewired ones, they are cheap enough.
Thick CA to glue them to the bridgeplate under the saddle location
I did them like the K&Ks with a cardboard template with dowels through the pin holes and the piezos held on with bluetac
I did the three at once rather than one at a time.
I just wired them in parallel so all the red leads together and to the core wire, and all the blacks to the ground shield and hence to the appropriate terminal on the end jack.

[Tod Gilding]

A little more piezo information is available here http://www.cresttech.com.au/pdf/PiezoOperation.pdf for those thinking of making their own, combined with the info on this site http://www.peterman.com.au/music/ note that Peter Sesselmann attaches the element centrally.

[Kim]

Well done Jeff

Just a headsup for anyone considering trying this out for themselves. If you have not fitted a set of K&K's before, make sure you follow their tutorial for fitting them as Jeff has suggests.

I tried this same thing years ago and wrote the idea off as a waste of time. This is because the guitar I fitted them to ended up sounding all trebles, average mids, and piss poor bass. At the time I put it down to the cheapy peizo disk having limited response to low Hz....This experience put me off even considering trying out K&K's for a long time. But with all the good press from so many people I weakened and bought a set of pure and westerns. When I fitted them, it was a revelation...not just the 'sound' but the method and the understanding of 'why' it was so crucial to fit these things properly.

I'm now very confident that the only problem with my first home made attempt had been how I had fitted them .

These things really do need to be precisely placed so they sit 'directly' below the saddle slot, with each one positioned on an imaginary line that would split each pair of bridge pins E+B, G+D, A+E...take your time to do this properly and the result is a very even and natural sound that is very hard to beat IMO.

Cheers

Kim

[jeffhigh]

Definitely no problems with lows and mids on this install Kim
And it is on my Baritone tuned to drop A so issues with lows would be apparent.

[DarwinStrings]

Sounds good at that price Jeff, do you have any cheap preamp designs to go with it, something on board with volume and tone perhaps?

Jim

[jeffhigh]

I am no electronics expert Jim, so no designs for preamps from me.
The output is fine passive, just a little less than an electric guitar, but plenty to drive your average amp.
I have used the K&K's through existing onboard fishman preamps (or chinese fishman knockoffs) on client's guitars and that works fine.
As far as volume, I personally run through a pedalboard with volume pedal so onboard volume is not a necessity for me

[Puff]

Mottola and Tilman have piezo preamp schematics and cyberferal.com has tone and volume schematic. Mix and match and play around with resistors and capacitors for whatever.

[joolstacho]

Those Piezos are available at Jaycar stores - couplabucks, -you just need to remove them from their plastic casing. Easy, just grind around the edges.

[Puff]

Just a thought here people. Playing with this stuff for your own builds is fantastic - sort of amateur R&D - but on a punter's instrument having receipts from let's say K and K and Fishman could save a heap of grief down the road. Do not not do it but please cover your arse by telling the punter what you are doing and having them sign it off as done with good intent.

[jeffhigh]

I agree Puff, the punters can pay for K&K, I just happen to have about 8 personal instruments that I want pickups in so thought I would try this.

[moobox]

So looking at this I'm thinking I can slap something together for a cheap spider bridge I have had at my place for a while. Maybe a couple of the piezo disks at the base of the cone.

[Puff]

http://schattendesign.com/PDF/RG-03.pdf for a start point maybe.

[moobox]

Hello everyone
Sorry to bring this old thread to life. So you got three piezo disks wired in parallel to an output jack and you have something like the K&K Pure Western Mini. What I was thinking is to add a microphone into the scheme pretty much like the K&K Trinity Mini. I'm just wondering what microphone and wiring would be required. I'm thinking just a little electret microphone wired exactly as the piezo disks in parallel and then off to the jack or prefereably a preamp.

Any ideas?

Cheers - Ed

[Tod Gilding]

Hi Ed, it seems that we up to the same thing, I just havn't had time to do to much research,but I have got myself one of these mic's to experiment with http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/SONY-ECM-DS7 ... 3f0d2cf931, my Idea for my next build is have a fishman pre amp with UST but also 3 piezo elements in a K & K type configuration and the mic both running through pots hidden inside the soundhole,so that I can cut one or both or sort of blend with the normal UST output, I still have an OM to get off the bench before I can start experimenting with this setup.

Cheers Tod