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- Mar 22, 2007
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Hi guys,
As some of you may know, Ive been making octave guitars for a few years. But now, Id like to do an octave guitar thats a bit different and more versatile, than what Ive been doing all along.
As such, Im working on a semi-hollowbody design, with a mahogany body and neck, and a flat maple cap. Scale length is 15.5. And, instead of the one neck humbucker (my Standard octave), or the one P-90 (as in my Junior octave), I want to do something a little different, as I mentioned previously.
So, Im thinking of doing one version of the guitar with a piezo ABR style bridge, so that its more of an acoustic-electric octave, and another version that has both a piezo bridge and a P-90 or mini-hum in the neck position. With the latter, Id want to be able to switch from one pickup to the other (the piezo and the magnetic pickup), or use both simultaneously.
Ive never, ever worked with a piezo bridge before, but Im assuming that the acoustic version of my guitar would probably be relatively easy and straightforward. Except theres the whole active versus passive piezo thing, which Im kinda confused by.
But once we get into the piezo/P-90/mini-hum version, it gets a lot more complicated, I would imagine. Plus, because these are little guitars (about the size of a mandolin or tenor ukulele), Im somewhat limited in the number of knobs/switches I can aesthetically and functionally fit onto the guitar. Im thinking that the most Id want to squeeze onto the guitar would be three knobs and one switch. But Im not exactly sure what the functions of each would be...perhaps a volume control for each pickup, and a single, shared tone control; and also a three-way toggle switch to use for pickup selection.
So, Im wondering what makes sense here for controls; and then also, how I would go about wiring the whole thing. And again, the whole active versus passive thing is very confusing to me. Plus, I understand that some people might opt to install a separate output jack for the piezo. Or could you just accomplish the same thing with a stereo jack?
Oh, and what are the advantages/disadvantages of the Fishman piezo tune-o-matic style bridge versus the LRBaggs (or any others?)? I believe the Fishman only has one wire coming from it versus the six that the LRBaggs has. And then theres the cost difference. Is one considered preferable over the other?
Anyway, for someone who is just used to building and working on guitars with pretty straightforward single and double pickup configurations, this is all a bit new and confusing to me.
So, if anyone whos worked with these types of piezo bridges can offer any help or suggestions on which of the two noted above would better serve my purposes, and if you could recommend a configuration that would work for me, Id be very grateful.
Thanks!
Frank
As some of you may know, Ive been making octave guitars for a few years. But now, Id like to do an octave guitar thats a bit different and more versatile, than what Ive been doing all along.
As such, Im working on a semi-hollowbody design, with a mahogany body and neck, and a flat maple cap. Scale length is 15.5. And, instead of the one neck humbucker (my Standard octave), or the one P-90 (as in my Junior octave), I want to do something a little different, as I mentioned previously.
So, Im thinking of doing one version of the guitar with a piezo ABR style bridge, so that its more of an acoustic-electric octave, and another version that has both a piezo bridge and a P-90 or mini-hum in the neck position. With the latter, Id want to be able to switch from one pickup to the other (the piezo and the magnetic pickup), or use both simultaneously.
Ive never, ever worked with a piezo bridge before, but Im assuming that the acoustic version of my guitar would probably be relatively easy and straightforward. Except theres the whole active versus passive piezo thing, which Im kinda confused by.
But once we get into the piezo/P-90/mini-hum version, it gets a lot more complicated, I would imagine. Plus, because these are little guitars (about the size of a mandolin or tenor ukulele), Im somewhat limited in the number of knobs/switches I can aesthetically and functionally fit onto the guitar. Im thinking that the most Id want to squeeze onto the guitar would be three knobs and one switch. But Im not exactly sure what the functions of each would be...perhaps a volume control for each pickup, and a single, shared tone control; and also a three-way toggle switch to use for pickup selection.
So, Im wondering what makes sense here for controls; and then also, how I would go about wiring the whole thing. And again, the whole active versus passive thing is very confusing to me. Plus, I understand that some people might opt to install a separate output jack for the piezo. Or could you just accomplish the same thing with a stereo jack?
Oh, and what are the advantages/disadvantages of the Fishman piezo tune-o-matic style bridge versus the LRBaggs (or any others?)? I believe the Fishman only has one wire coming from it versus the six that the LRBaggs has. And then theres the cost difference. Is one considered preferable over the other?
Anyway, for someone who is just used to building and working on guitars with pretty straightforward single and double pickup configurations, this is all a bit new and confusing to me.
So, if anyone whos worked with these types of piezo bridges can offer any help or suggestions on which of the two noted above would better serve my purposes, and if you could recommend a configuration that would work for me, Id be very grateful.
Thanks!
Frank
