Shouldn't this pickup work?

[tpprynn]

Pardon me for lowering the tone bringing pickups and a £99 guitar into this...

I very recently bought a Lag nylon string with a Shadow preamp and pickup fitted. The undersaddle pickup itself was dead very soon, after I took a bit of height off the saddle. I'm assuming it was fragile enough to be doomed anyway as I've successfully managed to do this right before. The undersaddle pickup was the floppy sort of cable type, not rubber-covered or hard metal.

I have this pickup from a previous guitar:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Tec...item25886878c3

I kept the cap and attached lead and phono-type plug. On the previous guitar it served I could just plug the jack it came with into the laptop and record and it was a decent enough sound with a bit of reverb and EQ. Not too quiet.

I thought if I got an adapter - RCA to 2.5mm - I could just mount the cap and plug it in and the Rathbone's preamp would do the rest. I get no sound though. If I tap the cap it makes a small thunk, but with the cap touching the bridge on the outside as a test nothing musical is transmitted - no guitar sound.

Is it just because it's nylon strings, or is it something to do with my RCA-2.5mm adapter or what?

Having failed also to get the right length undersaddle pickup in the UK I have two arriving from China to try next if there's no solution ot what i ask here about the 'Guitar Tech' pickup. I have still spent less than if I'd traveled back to the shop to see if they were willing to hunt the right pickup down and fit it.

Unless recording from the electric sound sounds good I'll probably sell it on anyway but not without sorting the electrics first.

Thanks.

[Garthman]

Well, the problem is certainly not because of the nylon strings. A piezo pick-up works by converting the vibrational energy to a small electric current which can then be amplified - these PUs work with any type of string.

So, the problem must be due to either poor contact between the transducer cap and the guitar or a poor electrical connection (loose wire etc) or a dud component. It sounds as if the transducer cap is OK since you get a sound when you tap it so try fixing the transducer to the top of the guitar just behind the bridge (not on the bridge) with a piece of double sided tape or something - if you still get no sound it's probably a poor electrical connection.

Probably the best idea is wait until the new cable piezos arrive and just replace the broken one. LAG guitars are generally pretty good quality instruments so I would certainly recommend trying to fix it.

[Howard Emerson]

Originally Posted by tpprynn

Pardon me for lowering the tone bringing pickups and a £99 guitar into this...

I very recently bought a Lag nylon string with a Shadow preamp and pickup fitted. The undersaddle portion was dead very soon, after I took a bit of height off the saddle. I'm assuming it was fragile enough to be doomed anyway as I've successfully managed to do this right before. The undersaddle pickup was the floppy sort of cable type, not rubber-covered or hard metal.

I have this pickup from a previous guitar:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Tec...item25886878c3

I kept the cap and attached lead and phono-type plug. On the previous guitar it served I could just plug the jack it came with into the laptop and record and it was a decent enough sound with a bit of reverb and EQ. Not too quiet.

I thought if I got an adapter - RCA to 2.5mm - I could just mount the cap and plug it in and the Rathbone's preamp would do the rest. I get no sound though. If I tap the cap it makes a small thunk, but with the cap touching the bridge on the outside as a test nothing musical is transmitted - no guitar sound.

Is it just because it's nylon strings, or is it something to do with my RCA-2.5mm adapter or what?

Having failed also to get the right length undersaddle pickup in the UK I have two arriving from China to try next if there's no solution ot what i ask here about the 'Guitar Tech' pickup. I have still spent less than if I'd traveled back to the shop to see if they were willing to hunt the right pickup down and fit it.

Unless recording from the electric sound sounds good I'll probably sell it on anyway but not without sorting the electrics first.

Thanks.

Have you tested the battery in your preamp?

HE

[tpprynn]

Thanks, yes I bought spare batteries straight away just in case the originals were dying.

I also plugged an mp3 player into the pre-amp to test that, using a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter, and it was fine. Strange eh. But yes, though China's post is a bit slow apparently I expect it's the most realistic bet to wait on the undersaddle pickup.

This Lag is earlier than the nicer Tramontane guitars and does sound not too lively acoustically so it's use to me rests on the recorded/amplified electric sound.