Piezo pickup used onstage

[Brian "Pork Pie" Anderson]

Hello Nation,

 

     There is a band that wants to use one of my guitars onstage, it has a piezo sandwiched in the biscuit and its wired directly to the jack. They are of course getting too much feedback when using it on stage. Is there something I can do like add volume, tone or gain or is there some way they can change set their amp/PA to stop this? Anyone who plays this type of pickup onstage that can help I really appreciate it. Thanks

[Brian "Pork Pie" Anderson]

True and I think mic'ing it you really lose the slide sound from the piezo. I made a sewing machine bobbin pickup last night so I will see how it sounds this weekend.

Don Thompson said:

A magnetic pickup will only sense the movement of the strings. There will very little if any reso sound.

Don

[Mark Bliss]

Micing an acoustic has its own challenges with setup, preventing feedback and so forth. Thats why this has become an interesting discussion to me.

I kind of see this discussion as becoming general advise on amping difficult instruments Brian, not just about your particular situation, but perhaps help for anyone in a similar situation.

There are obviously some guys who have figured out how to make the piezos work pretty well when amped and played loud. The Pinecone Fletcher "king of the blues" contest video for example. While its not a reso, those guys have obviously figured something out. That thing wails! Others have done it too. Shane recently raved about the change to a piezo rod, but I think he does some mag pup stuff too.

So what about it guys? I simply cant accept the "cant be done" answers. This heres a challenge!

[Bluesheart]

Magnetic pick up will not sound like a resonator anymore. I agree with others here that plugging those holes will fix most of it, and the preamp should put the icing on the cake.