Best piezo on an electric

hotroad · #1 06-03-2021, 12:29 PM

Looking for a good piezo tone built into a guitar used in conjunction with electric sounds via humbucker or single coil pickup(s). An example is Godin XTSA.

martinedwards · #2 06-03-2021, 12:34 PM

piezo is a piezo.

I've tried a load of options, including LR Baggs strat bridge, cheap ebay Tunomatic and under saddle acoustic piezo inder a bone saddle on a strat (really!)

a preamp has more impact than the brand on the piezo.

lkingston · #3 06-06-2021, 03:02 PM

I just got a Godin Multiac Steel and it is the best sounding acoustic/electric hybrid I have ever heard, especially tweaked throu a Helix Stomp.

A couple of points that make this guitar so awesome:

1) It has an LR Baggs Element transducer plus a Lyric mic in the larger chamber. You wouldn't think a chambered mic would add so much, but it does! The amplified acoustic sound is actually better than most acoustics.

2) The lipstick magnetic pickup is supported by an inside bracket rather than being attached to the top, thus it doesn't interfere with the top vibration.

3) The separate electric and acoustic outputs work wonderfully well with the dual inputs on the HX Stomp and thus the selection of input (separate or combined and processable separately) can be built into the patches.

4) The guitar is beautifully built, looks great, and plays superbly, even with 12s on it!

blue · #4 06-06-2021, 04:20 PM

Well it's a hard question to answer. I haven't really heard anything better than the "acoustic" tone of my 23 year old Parker Fly deluxe. Probably due to the 4 lb super resonant composite reinforced body/neck. The Highlander system built into my National Resolectric Revolver sounds ridiculously good as well, but it relies on a superb built in preamp that costs hundreds of bucks when sold as a separate pedal.

Which brings me to the main point of my post. What really matters most is what you plug it into. The right preamp and amp make all the difference in the world. You can certainly play direct into the clean channel of a decent amp and please the audience. But that little extra step might be required to please your ear.

The good news about that is you don't have to go with multiac type "solidbody acoustic simulator" guitar. A quality Piezo is available in straight up kick-bottom electric guitars. Here's a great example.

Edited to add it's hard to get away from the issue of light strings. If you're playing 9s, you'll likely never be a 100% pleased.