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To continue the debate, has anyone ever tried fitting a Piezo pickup directly to the body of a solid body electric guitar?
I see that on solid body guitar Piezo pickups are - probably for good reason - fitted in the bridge, where they pick up pressure variations directly from the strings. With an acoustic a Piezo pickup can be fitted directly under the soundboard, and this location is held to give the most natural and faithful reproduction of the sound of the instrument.
Now, if the resonance of a solid body guitar really contributes to the overall sound the body would have to resonate in a way that is broadly analogous to the way the soundboard of an acoustic guitar resonates. For example, having a consistent response to all notes. So, if this is in fact the case surely a piezo pickup that was attached to the body would pick up this resonance?
I see three possibilities. 1) This will work, which would to some degree support the tone wood argument. 2) It wouldn't work at all or the signal would be very weak, as the resonance of the body is of too small an amplitude to be picked up. This would suggest that any 'tone wood' effect has, at best, only a marginal significance. 3) There is some response but this unbalanced, with notes that cause the body to resonate at its natural resonant frequency being picked up more clearly than others. Again, this undermines the 'tone wood' argument as solid body guitars generally sound pretty balanced, even if the odd 'wolf tone' or dead spot can be apparent.
Has anyone done this and what was the result?
Thanks!
I used to miss DaLefty.
I see we're now moving over to the dark side....
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
But contact pickups are very touchy on acoustic instrument soundboards too. It is simply not the case that you can stick one anywhere on the soundboard and get something resembling the acoustic sound of the instrument. Unless you place it close to the bridge (they are commonly attached to the underside of the bridge plate on acoustic guitars), it takes a lot of experimentation to find a spot with a pleasant, balanced tone without excessive resonances at one frequency.
What about an electric guitar with sympathetic strings, i.e. an electric harp guitar. (Only ever seen pictures of one though.)
Or a double neck, playing on one neck but amplifying the pickups on the other.
But I'm not really sure what this will prove. That unplayed strings will sound as the body vibrates? That even happens on pianos...
Quality of wood don't mean a thing to me, how well it's used and how well guitar is built does.
Therefore the body, being not-entirely-rigid, will vibrate when the strings vibrate?
Therefore the pickups, being mounted to the vibrating body, will be moving relative to the ends of the strings, just as the middle of the strings moves relative to the ends of the strings?
Therefore the movement of the strings in the magnetic field around the pickups is comprised of both the motion of the strings relative to their endpoints and the motion of the pickups relative to the strings' endpoints?
You keep posting that you agree that the structure of the body will affect the sound, then claiming it won't.
Do try to reply without snipping out most of my post.
His view is unequivocably yes it does affect hugely.
*An Official Foo-Approved guitarist since Sept 2023.
Three of my strats have different fretboard and body woods and when played acoustically and when plugged in do sound different and tend towards the generalisations.
I'm reminded of the Birdfish with those swappable timber "tonebars" to "tweak" the sound. I wonder if they work?
http://www.teuffel.com/english/guitars/birdfish/tonebars.htm
No two pieces of wood sound the same, no guitar sounds the same, so where is your starting point?
To do this properly you need to take variables out of the equation, unfortunately you can't with a guitar as even the playing varies the tone. Also how you listen, do you mic it and record each change and listen back in blindfold test?
But each body and neck are they treated the same, with no finish, what if the strings you put on were a different gauge to what the replacement neck last had, how tight is truss rod to cope with strings? Stiffness will have a bearing on tone, stiffer the neck less likely to have dead spots and lack of sustain.
3 clips.
Asked me to choose my favourite, they were French Horn solo sections.
I picked my favourite much to his amusement.
2 were vintage (read 1800's classic French Horns, the equivalent of a '59 Burst or pre CBS Strat)
the 3rd was a length of hosepipe with a horn mouthpiece fitted.
Guess which I picked as having 'the fullest tone and resonance'