Piezo to jack-plug in soldering issue

[Evert 228]

Dear fanatics and guitar lovers,

I want to install a shadow sh 097 piezo into my classical guitar. Now I have soldered the single cable that comes from the piezo to a switchcraft jack plugin. I have done it in this way. ( see image) but no sound is coming through the amplifier when I hit the strings. But when I hold the cable between the piezo en the plugin I can hear vibration coming through. So that makes me wonder where my problem could be. Does anybody have an idea about what vould have gond wrong? Also I ask myself why there is only a single cable going from the piezo and not two. Please if you have any help to offer that would be mostly welcome since the internet doesn’t reveal much about my particular problem.

Kind regards
Evert Debusschere
From Belgium

[John Arnold]

Can't see the photo, but piezo pickups are two-conductor. The ground consists of a shield of braided or stranded wire, and the insulated positive wire is in the middle. Ground wire is soldered to the outside connector of the 1/4" jack.

[murrmac123]

[Evert 228]

Hi thank you for your reply. As you can see an other user managed to open the picture and post it in reply. I soldered the wire from the piezo to one of the two metals. Should I solder the one piece to the other? My understanding of electronics is unfortunatly very low.

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

If that is the correct photo, you did not solder the ground connection. This is a pretty fundamental error and maybe you should bring the guitar to a tech to complete the job.

[mirwa]

Originally Posted by Evert 228

Hi thank you for your reply. As you can see an other user managed to open the picture and post it in reply. I soldered the wire from the piezo to one of the two metals. Should I solder the one piece to the other? My understanding of electronics is unfortunatly very low.

The outside of the wire also needs to be soldered to the other connection on the jack, as mentioned above, this is the earth component of the wire

Steve

[Evert 228]

Thank you guys for your quick answer. So how do I solder the wire to both of the connections? There is only one wire coming from the piezo.

[mirwa]

Mmmm, you are not reading the response correctly.

The outside of the wire coming from the piezo, the silver bit is in fact another wire, it is the earth wire, it is wrapped around the central wire to prevent interference.

Solder the outside silver section to the other terminal on the jack.

Steve

[John Arnold]

You will need to make a pigtail from the braided sheath, which means cutting the wire off the jack and starting over. Unbraid the end of the sheath for about 1/2" from the end, then twist it into a separate wire that can be soldered. Of course, the sheath and the center wire must not touch each other.
The center wire should be connected to the part of the jack that contacts the tip end of the plug.
The sheath encapsulates the center wire so that radio waves cannot be picked up through the pickup when it is plugged in. This is called a shielded wire, or coaxial.
One piece of advice about soldering.....keep it clean. Scrape or sand the surface to reveal bright metal, then don't touch it. The oil from your fingers can prevent the solder from sticking.
No time like the present to learn all this.

[Evert 228]

Thanks everybody ! The amplification works now due to your help.
Kind regards, Evert