A pal on another forum is trying to come up with solutions for having to play both electric and acoustic in a set.
I know it's not a perfect solution, but Townshend uses one of those piezo transducer--when he's not playing a Gibson jumbo.
Have any of you used one, and what do you think about it?
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
No experience with a Strat with a piezo transducer but I had a Carvin AE-185 with one and its plugged in acoustic sound sounded great! It could even cop a convincing Strat tone with the humbuckers split.
No experience with a piezo on a Strat, but I have a Godin Flat Five X with a piezo. One of the nice things is it has a seperate EQ for the piezo vs the magnetics. If I was to put one into a Strat, I think I would try to get a seperate EQ for the piezo as well (even it if was a fixed EQ)
Mark
It's good to hear that those work well. Of course he can't expect it to sound exactly like an acoustic, but it's close enough for jazz, as they say.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
BTW, when I said the Carvin's "plugged in acoustic sound sounded great", I meant to say that it sounded like any other acoustic guitar with an under saddle piezo transducer- not necessarily great, but what an audience expects a plugged in acoustic to sound like. It was very convincing.
James Young of Styx often played a Strat in concert, configured with a piezo pickup mounted between the normal bridge pickup and the bridge plate. The lead-in wires were external, routed to a point near the lower strap button. Volume and EQ settings were apparently adjusted by the engineer running the sound board.
"When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."
There's a few old studio tricks.
Oldest trick in the book - Get one of those suction cup telephone mics from the day, give it a lick and stick it to your Strat.
Another oldie -- Go direct into the board, pop in some reverb and you're pretty close.
Here's a secret tip I invented... put an acoustic guitar microphone pickup in the spring cavity. I should patent this. Sounds like a Martin. Try this, Put your ear next to the cavity and pluck the strings. Pretty cool eh?
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
No sure I understand. A piezo would need to be under the saddles. Perhaps it was a ROLAND synth pickup? That sounds like what you're describing.Originally Posted by phantomman
"No harmonic knowledge, no sense of time, a ghastly tone, unskilled vibrato, and so on. Chuck is one of the worst guitar players I know" -Gravity Jim
Could very well be. I only found a couple of lo-res pics showing the installation.
"When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."
Offshore.
I love your suggestions. They remind me of solutions my Dad would come up with--free and workable. The man once used an old radiator hose to fix the plumbing under our sink. Sometimes, these damned things just work.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
about 15 years ago, when I worked at a major music instrument retailer that shall remain nameless...
we set up a demo Strat with a Ghost peizo set. Did not require any irreversible mods to the guitar, and sounded really good through an acoustic amp or preamp / pa rig. Not so goot straight through an electric amp, though.
I know since then the technology had grown by leaps and bounds, so that may be an option. PRS, Gibson, Fender and others have had production models with peizos, as have (of course) Parker guitars. Those, IMO were probably the most successful at combining the two.
If your friend's budget allows, a NiteFly or P-series can be had fairly inexpensively these days.
********************************
"Do you call sleeping with a guitar in your hands practicing?"
"It is if you don't drop it."
- Trent Lane, Daria, Episode 1-2.
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