Acoustic pickup on semi-hollow-body?
Rick Johnston
high-end response.) It's tiny and can mount just about anywhere. Under the
strings is a bad choice, because it will pick up the closer strings much
louder. Play with placement in the sound holes. It works beautifully on my
old Washburn Woodstock model (round hole). It's cable is taped in position
just inside the bottom of the hole and the mic is hanging there in the body
about a half-inch from the top. It blows away the tinny peizo bridge pickup.
I should say that I also use brass strings for the added warmth.
You will have to deal with acoustic feedback, though.
Credit where credit is due: I got turned on to this technique by the two
excellent guitarists in the original Judds touring band circa 1985. They
used Martins, as I recall, with Sony ECM-30's mounted the same way.
Regards,
Rick Johnston
Wabash Slim wrote in message <383427b5...@news.flash.net>...
>I have a Rickenbacker 330-12 and a just-purchased Danelectro 12-string (the
>purple metalflake, of course). Both these guitars have a nice 'zing' when
played
>unamplified and I would like to dial in some of this sound to the regular
>electric signal. Currently I'm using a Peavey Ecoustic amp with a POD for
my
>electrics, which leaves me with a free amp channel for an acoustic pickup
or
>mic. I've heard piezo pickups attached to semi-hollowbodies that sounded
lousy,
>so I'm probably looking for more of an internal miked sound. Anybody tried
this
>with decent results?
Roy M
with a piezo". I was wondering the same thing. I was initially thinking piezo
microphone but everyone refers to them as piezo pickups.
A common way to mount piezo microphones is on a big hard sheet of wood or
plexiglass...so the body of an semiacoustic should work fine. On the low end
of the scale are $10.00 (I think) Radio Shack piezo mics which can be easily
modified for a higher output. Fishman et al makes a number of instrument
"pickups" for guitar, violin, upright bass etc., and at the high end, Crown
makes a piezo "microphone" for about $700.00 (I think). My guess is that
they're not all created equal. Lavaliers are a whole 'nuther matter entirely.
My plan was to go try a piezoed 380, and then find out more about the
technical differences between this range of mics. I was also thinking that the
Radio Shack Special was worth trying out, just to get an idea of how it sounds
with my particular axe (360). I would imagine that it's a matter of matching
the right piezo to the instrument.
It sounds like what you're after is the sound you hear when you play it
acoustically, mixed in with the electric sound. A piezo is entirely different.
My problem with a piezo on an acoustic, for example, is that it's so "in yer
face" present when recorded, and I much prefer to mic it. I think a piezo
would lend itself well to the sound of an electric semiacoustic though, which
is an "in yer face" instrument anyway. You may be happier just miking the body
with a conventional mic, lavalier or even on a stand.
- Roy :o) -
Bill
>
> A common way to mount piezo microphones is on a big hard sheet of wood or
> plexiglass...so the body of an semiacoustic should work fine. On the low end
> of the scale are $10.00 (I think) Radio Shack piezo mics which can be easily
> modified for a higher output. Fishman et al makes a number of instrument
> "pickups" for guitar, violin, upright bass etc., and at the high end, Crown
> makes a piezo "microphone" for about $700.00 (I think). My guess is that
> they're not all created equal. Lavaliers are a whole 'nuther matter entirely.
You're mixing up two different concepts here -- "piezoelectric" is
generally used to refer to contact pickups that use piezoelectric
crystals. "PZM" stands for "pressure zone microphone", and refers to
the type of mic designed by Crown that is usually fixed to a sheet of
plexiglass or other flat surface.
Roy M
- Roy :o) -
Harry Frankenfeld
piezo/ribbon and a condenser mic. I've heard these on a thin-line acoustic--good
"jangle" factor.
Harry
Roy M wrote:
> I started a thread "Piezos on a RIC" and the only responses were "Go try a 380
> with a piezo". I was wondering the same thing. I was initially thinking piezo
> microphone but everyone refers to them as piezo pickups.
> Fishman et al makes a number of instrument
> "pickups" for guitar, violin, upright bass etc., and at the high end, Crown
> makes a piezo "microphone" for about $700.00 (I think). My guess is that
> they're not all created equal. Lavaliers are a whole 'nuther matter entirely.
>
Roy M
- Roy :o) -