The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Hello

    I've got a US Telecaster with the Fishman AST Powerbridge and love that sound. (80% magnetic Neck PU and 20% Piezo)
    I own a Parker Fly from the 90s as well and that one even offers tone control with the Piezo Signal.
    That's the best you can get but a lot of / too much electronics necessary.

    Now I'm thinking of ordering an Archtop Guitar with built in Piezo.
    As far as I found out, Fishman seems to come closest to my aims.

    I want just 1 Jack (needs to work with mono & stereo cables)
    I need to blend both signals on-board in the same way as with my Tele mentioned above.
    I don't want external Mixers/Pedals...
    Internal Microphones are no option, since feedback problems come to fast already on lower volume.

    As far as I've seen, there are the necessary products on the market:

    1. Fishman Powerchip – Thomann UK
    2. Archtop Guitar Pickup | Fishman
    3. 3-way switch (magn./both/piezo)
    4. Built in Batterie Holder 9V
    5. 2x Volume Control (one for each / tone only for magnetic PU)

    In the end the most difficult thing might be to convince the Luthier to build it that way.

    I've read a lot on Archtops with Piezo, and this might be a good solution.

    But maybe you have a better idea?
    I would be very interested to hear.

    Thanx & Greez,
    Rainer

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  3. #2

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    The Fishman Piezo bridge pickup is so loud that you don‘t really need a preamp. I have it in combination with a Schaller floating pickup, but I‘ve never mixed the two.

    However, yesterday I stumbled upon this:

    NOLL MixPot 1 | Preamps, Tonmodule | Elektrik, Knopfe | Parts | Rockinger Guitars

    One pot to mix them all Archtop with additional, blendable Piezo (built in) & just 1 Jack

    I‘m seriously thinking of getting one to finally take advantage of both pickups on my archtops. Of course the question is always whether you can change the battery through the f-hole.


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  4. #3
    Thanx docsteve!

    Looks good, but it needs 2 Jack Inputs.

    The Fishman Powerchip is not a preamp.
    It enables blending both pickup systems.

    Regarding the battery I guess I'd need something like THIS



  5. #4

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    What has worked for me:

    - KA 12- adjustable pole piece floating humbucker
    - Barbera Soloist transducer



    You need a new bridge made to hold the Barbera Soloist transducer saddle. You also need a two channel amp, a two way speaker with a tweeter and a stereo cable from your guitar that plugs into each amp channel. I use an older AI Clarus 2R Series III head with an 8” Buscarino Chameleon Speaker and a Planet Waves stereo cable. I set the channel with the magnetic PU to be primary by volume and the piezo is set to a lower volume to provide ambience. I set the Chameleon to acoustic mode with the HF tweeter engaged. The sound is the magnetic sound with some added acoustic ambience from the Barbera. I have found more success controlling the transducer volume at the amp vs a pot on the guitar.

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rainer
    Thanx docsteve!

    Looks good, but it needs 2 Jack Inputs.

    The Fishman Powerchip is not a preamp.
    It enables blending both pickup systems.

    Regarding the battery I guess I'd need something like THIS


    You are right, I didn‘t read the description of the Fishman properly. But what makes you think the Rockinger needs two jack inputs - sure, it doesn‘t have a stereo jack, but two inputs?


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  7. #6

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    .........This thread makes me think even more about the new Fender Acoustasonics - particularly the Jazzmaster. I have to wonder how close to the op's mark these new JM's may be, and whether he may have tried one.

    I'm not knowledgeable enough to offer any help, sorry, but in any case good luck !

  8. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rainer
    I want just 1 Jack (needs to work with mono & stereo cables)
    There's your snag.

    A stereo plug has a hot tip, a second hot-spot on the barrel and a third ground contact on the barrel.
    A mono plug has a hot tip and a ground contact on the barrel. The place which would be the stereo hot-spot is instead grounded.

    What you're proposing would need one of two things:
    a) A manual switch that disables the stereo function and shoves that signal to the tip; or
    b) Some kind of sensor and digital switching system that would say, 'Aha! I sense ground at the stereo hot-spot so I am going to shove all signal to the mono tip!"

    EDITED FOR REDUCED FLATULENCE
    Last edited by Sam Sherry; 04-11-2021 at 11:15 AM.

  9. #8
    Thanx to all of you for your input.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
    What you're proposing would need one of two things:
    a) A manual switch that disables the stereo function and shoves that signal to the tip; or
    b) Some kind of sensor and digital switching system that would say, 'Aha! I sense ground at the stereo hot-spot so I am going to shove all signal to the mono tip!"

    This is what Fishman writes about the Powerchip Features:

    "Fishman-designed piezo volume control works in conjunction with an exclusive “Smart Switch” circuit, which automatically splits your piezo and magnetic outputs to stereo, or mixes them to mono."

    Sometimes I might get something wrong because of my limited english, but I hope not on this issue?

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sam Sherry
    There's your snag.

    A stereo plug has a hot tip, a second hot-spot on the barrel and a third ground contact on the barrel.
    A mono plug has a hot tip and a ground contact on the barrel. The place which would be the stereo hot-spot is instead grounded.

    What you're proposing would need one of two things:
    a) A manual switch that disables the stereo function and shoves that signal to the tip; or
    b) Some kind of sensor and digital switching system that would say, 'Aha! I sense ground at the stereo hot-spot so I am going to shove all signal to the mono tip!"

    I'm skeptical that you find either one (although I get surprised every day). It probably isn't too hard to wire in the manual switch yourself if you're handy.
    Hang on - I thought that stereo jacks had been around for ages doing exactly that. What did I miss?


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  11. #10
    Don't know, how long it's on the market, but seems to be perfect for the task.

  12. #11

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    The cheap way is to wire the guitar in stereo then for mono use a short cord you can loop on your strap with a stereo plug inserted that leads to a female plug end wired in mono for your standard cord. I have guitars and a cello wired this way and it works great. I also put in a blend pot instead of a 3 way magnetic/both/transducer switch that has the neat feature of changing the balance while keeping the volume level.

    Carrying a stereo cord is easy, I split it with a Y on the end to process the signals separately. With each instrument I decide which is the primary pickup and wire it to the tip part of the jack in case I ever get stuck with just a mono cord.

  13. #12

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    Yamaha AEX 1500 had both a piezo and mini-humbucker. They show up used not infrequently.

  14. #13

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    Hi Rainer,

    not sure if you finished your project, I found the post today, as i was installing a shadow archtop piezzo bridge.
    the guitar is a hollow body carved-top er-4 eastman(designed by Otto D'Ambrosio), it has pretty amazing acoustic sound, much better than most large archtops i know. so i though i try to get it into this hybrid stage: used wound strings, and added this piezzo. at least to my ears, it sounds exactly what I hoped for. the plug goes directly to my amp (its an acoustic amp anyhow) but the signal doesnt seem to be weaker than the humbucker on the eastman. also, at least with my skills, this setup became significantly slower to play for solos than my flatwound ibanez achtop, feels more like a very high end steel acoustic now...

    how it sounds:
    (mind you, im a student, not a pro )
    1st tests:



  15. #14
    Thank you Adam

    In the meantime that project is going to be finished soon.
    The guitar will be built by the german Archtop Luthier Stefan Sonntag.
    I decided to get the Archtop Piezo Bridge and Powerchip by Fishman.

    Can't wait... :-)

    Greez, Rainer

  16. #15

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    that is great to hear. could you please post some video/audio once you get it?

  17. #16

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    last night I added a fishman powerbridge, without the chip, to my ibanez pm archtop, and solodered the stereo plug that came with it. with a mono cable, its as it was, just the humbucker, with a stereo, i get both pickups. works great without preamp.

    this is how it sounds, straight into acoustic amp, comping is the piezo, melody is the humbucker. 11 flat strings.


    there is a little piezo feel the the acoustic tone, of course, but mixed with the magnetic pickup i quite like it.

  18. #17
    Nice playing!

    There are two reasons why the preamp or the additional electronics are important to me:
    1. I only need a mono cable and can use only one amp / one channel and have both signals.
    2. The mix of magn. PU (Tom Holmes PAF) & piezo happens "onboard" of the guitar in terms of mix-ratio and tone.

    It will now probably be ready in February.
    Can't wait.

  19. #18

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    thank you.
    and your are right, that will be a better setup.
    this was just easy to do at home

    there is some of the piezzo quack coming through that i dont like though...
    or how you can call it... i read here that a good preamp helps, so probably its another reason to use the powerchip as well

  20. #19
    The typical piezo sound is not optimal for me either.
    I therefore hope for the preamp effect as well.

    In the worst case I've had good experiences with this: Bodyrez

  21. #20
    Thought I still owe you a few pics of the result. Delivered in March 23 and really happy with "her" :-)

    Archtop with additional, blendable Piezo (built in) & just 1 Jack-00-jpgArchtop with additional, blendable Piezo (built in) & just 1 Jack-01b-jpgArchtop with additional, blendable Piezo (built in) & just 1 Jack-04b-jpgArchtop with additional, blendable Piezo (built in) & just 1 Jack-06b-jpg

  22. #21

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    Very Pretty. Belated Happy New Guitar Day!

    Don't suppose you have posted any audio clips demonstrating the pickups, have you? If not, that would be very welcomed here.

  23. #22

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    I have an H575 with 2 HRWs and LRBaggs piezos in a schaller bridge. The piezos are wired straight to a vol pot and then to one side of the stereo jack, no on board electronics. Ive been playing it through a Roland ac-60 with a powered 12" subwoofer on low vol. It has a piezo input that works very well with these LRs and a "mic" channel that works as guitar input. The guitar has 2 push pull vol and 1 tone for the HRs and 1 volume pot for the piezo. There is no switch for the Piezo,vol only. The piezo by itself dialed in at the amp is a very nice acoustic sound but I personally wouldnt use it for that very often if at all. I admit my bias here but for me a 575 with the neck HRW is everything I want in a "CES" style guitar and that is mainly how I play it. In the case of this setup dialing in a small amount of piezo is a really nice tonal addition, I never use effects more than subtle rev but this is almost like have an acoustic lightly strumming behind you on ballads, chord melody etc. Its a sound that sounds very natural and complimentary and has gotten compliments from listeners. I found using the ac pre that cutting the bass and low mid of the piezo gave a really nice "patina" to the blended sound without altering the great tone quality of the HRs. First time Ive seen this discussed just thought Id share.
    Great thread resurrection!

  24. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by jim232777
    Very Pretty. Belated Happy New Guitar Day!

    Don't suppose you have posted any audio clips demonstrating the pickups, have you? If not, that would be very welcomed here.
    I'm not much of a recording guy (for good reasons)... sorry.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rainer
    I'm not much of a recording guy (for good reasons)... sorry.
    LOL, no worries. You can share things that aren't "performances" if that's the issue. I've got a video I made to demonstrate pickups I posted (maybe to another forum, though) where I just strummed a few chords, the same way for each pickup.

    At any rate, enjoy, and be inspired!