quick piezo pickup question

Hey all;

I have a piezo bridge/pickup for my electric guitar. I plan to wire it to a stereo jack, with one of the contacts for the magnetic pickups already in the guitar, and the other for the piezo. If I am not using a stereo cord, however, the piezo will just be grounded, since the ring connection will be in contact with the sleeve of the cord. Will this damage the pickup in any way (i.e, having the hot and ground connections shorted)? I don't see any reason why it would, but I thought I should check before I destroy a $200 pickup.

Thanks

Reply to
tempus fugit
Loading thread data ...

Since the pickup is a high impedance source and is a low voltage device, and it is connected to the input of the amplifier, there is no way you can damage it, unless you accidentally put a voltage source to it.

For mono on a 1/4 plug or jack, the tip and sleeve are used. For stereo, the tip is left, the ring is right, and the sleeve is ground. For a plug that is going to the input side, you can join the ring and tip to have mono to both channels.

When making parallel connections, make sure that the source impedance is high before directly making parallel connections as described here.

--
JANA
_____
 Click to see the full signature
Reply to
JANA

"tempus fugit"

** You have nothing to worry about - piezos are not so easily damaged.

BTW

Consider having a basic FET pre-amp inside the guitar for the piezo - or at least INSIDE the jack plug that goes to the guitar.

Can supply you a very simple schem on ABSE for the latter if you want.

........ Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

to

in

cord,

any

any

$200

Sure Phil, thanks that would be great. You gave me some advice on SED as well concerning an opamp pre for this same application. I actually have the pickup now and I think I'll have a little more room in the guitar than I thought, so I may be able to get a preamp in there. This will actually be plugging into my homemade FX pedalboard switching unit, so it would be no big deal just to mount it there also. There would definitely be an advantage to having the pre on the guitar though, but I'd like to set things up so that the V+ was coming from the pedalboard so I didn't have to be bothered with batteries.

THanks

Reply to
tempus fugit

and

the

is

both

K thanks for the info JANA.

Reply to
tempus fugit

"tempus fugit"

** This " electric guitar " of yours - solid body or not ?

........ Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

Yes, it's a solid body.

Reply to
tempus fugit

ElectronDepot website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.