Humbucking Piezo?

[Tom Agg]

I just finished my 3rd build and Im really chuffed with the way it sounds, its fitted with two piezos one under the bridge for clarity and one a bit further along the lid/soundboard for a bit of 'air', this got me thinking, is it possible to use two piezos as a humbucker if they were wired in any particular way ie in series/paralel/in or out of phase or whatever?

[Mark Bliss]

Simply put, no.

Humbucker theory only works with mag-pups, piezos function more as microphones.

[JUJU]

 As Mark said - No you Cant Make a Humbucker from Piezo's - a magnetic Humbucker is made up of two wire coils ones wound clockwise the others wound anti- Clockwise and the magnets in one are north pole up and the other south pole up when these coils are wired together they are out of Phase from each other and this is what produces the Humbucker effect

juju :)

[Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates]

However wire them in parallel not serial. Not that you _can't_ wire them in serial, just that parallel adds the signal whereas serial divides the signal.

 

-WY

[Mark]

The point of humbuckers is that they solve a problem suffered by single coil magnetic magnetic pickups - ie. they cancel (or "buck") hum. Piezos don't really suffer that problem so the idea of a humbucking piezo is a bit like waterproofing something that's already waterproof. 

If you mean you want something that sounds like (or has the frequency characteristics of) a humbucking pickup then that's a slightly different matter. But piezos are not the way to do that.

Putting two piezos together can give different characteristics from a single piezo, but it's not a "humbucker" effect. As Wes says, the best way to wire two piezos is probably in parallel.

[Wyndham Dennison]

Not trying to hijack the thread but this is the only one dealing with 2 piezo pups

If i might ask another thought about piezos but in context of a dulcimer. Would there be an advantage or disadvantage if someone were to put two rod piezo's into a fingerboard for a dulcimer where you drill 2 parallel holes side by side lengthwise from the bridge end in. Since most dulcimers are 4 strings(2 strings for melody) and the other 2 drone or chording, could this help give a more complete sound. The bridge would still rest on the fretboard in the regular way.

Wyndham

 

PS Wes, Tim says his folks are from the Eldorado , Montgomery county area

[Mark Bliss]

Hmmm, two rods?

I am not sure about your description as far as application...... or how it would work. I think you might be talking about something I have seen, effectively two rods in a split bridge?

Otherwise the only reason I could think of to do something like that would be to have a dual output, with different processing and or amps. A lot of trouble considering the limitations of piezos, but its been done.

[Skeesix]

2 piezos - wiring in parallel will cut the impedance in half, getting it closer to an impedance that the amp likes, thus making it sound better.

A rod piezo should be long enough to cover 6 strings if you put it under the bridge, but it sounds like you're talking about mounting it lengthwise instead of widthwise? Then each rod would cover two strings?If there's no buffer circuit, you would wire it in parallel for the best sound.

I'm not sure what the advantage of this system would be. I think you would get a lot of extraneous box noise.

[Don Thompson]

The idea of fingerboard mounted piezos have been discussed and I for one am totally and completly against the idea. Tried it once and just hated it. A properly built bridge with piezos will give you much better sonics without the very annoying finger noise. IMO fretboard mounted is just the wrong way to use piezos.
Don
Wyndham Dennison said:

Not trying to hijack the thread but this is the only one dealing with 2 piezo pups

If i might ask another thought about piezos but in context of a dulcimer. Would there be an advantage or disadvantage if someone were to put two rod piezo's into a fingerboard for a dulcimer where you drill 2 parallel holes side by side lengthwise from the bridge end in. Since most dulcimers are 4 strings(2 strings for melody) and the other 2 drone or chording, could this help give a more complete sound. The bridge would still rest on the fretboard in the regular way.

Wyndham

 

PS Wes, Tim says his folks are from the Eldorado , Montgomery county area

[Tom Agg]

Thanks guys!

[Tom Agg]

Finally uploaded some pics of the build in discussion if anyone fancies a peek