Help!... Acoustic-y, electric tech question
 

Here's a brain-teaser for all those luthiers and techies out there:

Alright, here it goes...

I have an older Fender Telecaster Acoustic-Electric. (Not the Telecoustic, mind you, this one was an anniversary edition). Its very similar to a Gibby Chet Atkins, with a solid body, one f-hole, and blendable pickups. It has one Fender Lace sensor-ish pickup at the neck, and an active piezo in the bridge.

My problem is this: I'm getting very noticeable distortion from the piezo, along with an occasional pulsing, evenly timed "click". These aural anamolies show up through the amp. Not a bit of buzzing when you strum it unplugged, but when running with any piezo in the blend, its almost as if there is a ghost of a distorted electric running behind the acoustic sound. Confused, confused, confused. I replace the battery in the piezo a while ago, and that's when these problems started, but I don't see how putting in a new battery could cause all this. Any suggestions? I'm stumped. Thanks ahead of time...

Danny

I'd start in or near the battery compartment.
Could you have possibly broken or partially broken a connection by pulling on wires to install the battery? Did the old battery leak? Is the new one the correct battery?

dead battery?
 

Assume you have the Nashville Power Tele (?) with the Fishman bridge.

+1 for Larry's advice. Sometimes even new batteries are bad. BTW, is the distortion on only one string? I've heard (on other forums) of problems with a single saddle wire breaking.

BTW, how do you like the Power Tele? I've never played one, although I did a bit of research into the similar Carvin AE185. I needed something versatile that I wouldn't need to lug two guitars to church. I ended up with a Hamer Duotone (Korean model), which has a mini-screwdriver adjustable 3 band eq (saddle is a UST type ribbon). It was all I could find out here.

Hi 4Gtrs,

I actually don't have the Power tele. This one is almost exactly like the Gibson Chet Atkins Ac/el. Three knobs, solid body with faux f-hole, acoustic bridge with UST. Only difference is that it has a Lace sensor at the neck. Its an amazing guitar, especially for my uses.

1) for electric, it sounds great, the acoustic strings and neck pickup give a thick distorted tone, and...

2) I make regular use of a Line6 DL-4 for looping, and I can get nice acoustic tone and sharp body-percussion from the piezo. Basically, I get some nice drumbeats going on the body, and I don't want to have to worry about beating on my 812C. Solid body = drum away...

I got new batteries today, gonna try a few different brands. I'll drop an update soon. Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions!

Danny

Danny,
Sounds interesting. Could you post pix?

I use this:

http://station-music.de/images/Gitar...m_aex500vs.jpg

The two knobs are Volume and the Blender which blends between the piezo and the mini-humbucker. The guitar has a nice acoustic sound and the neck is nice & slim (1 11/16" nut). There is a 3-band equalizer on the side.

Is it a telecaster thinline?

Sort of a tele thinline... No pickguard, f-hole in standard "tele location", ... I'll get some pictuers up as soon as I can figure out how...

The regular thinline is much different, bolt-on neck, solid body except for the routed chamber where the F hole is located. http://www.fender.com/products/searc...tno=0137402321
Normally with two humbucker pickups and no piezo, and no equalizer. The bridge is the standard tele type, not a trapeze. The Nashville power tele that I thought UNCTaylorPlayer had adds a middle pickup (I believe all single coils) and Fishman power bridge.

It might not be the battery at all. I am thinking its the 1/4" cable you have that has a bad connection(sauder), or that one of the wires inside of the cable is bad. If its not the battery, try a new cable. Hope this helps.