Neck Block Piezo pickup (new Ibanez Fingerstyle Collection)

[Schertler]

Hi there,

Just saw the new acoustic guitar models by Ibanez, these are called Fingerstyle Collection. Ibanez seems to be moving into decent quality acoustics with wider variety and higher quality/specs instruments.
My interests in the piezo transducers are at a zero point, however I have never seen/experimented with piezo-elements mounted on to the Neck Block as Ibanez is equipping its new Fingerstyle Collection guitars.

Does anyone have experimented with piezo pickups this way??
It is really interesting how does the piezo work/behave at such a low-vibration spot, is there any significant difference/improvement ??

[jricc]

Looks interesting. The neck block pickup is in addition to an undersaddle pickup. It looks like both pickups have individual volume controls and individual outputs so you can blend them.
here's a link to a grand concert styled body https://www.ibanez.com/eu/products/d...0ce_1x_02.html

[shufflebeat]

I experimented with this years ago. The best spot was the headstock but wiring and a low noise/high gain preamp wasn't available to me.

The main plus is tthat it's a great way to isolate and pick out the top end and initial transient without overloading the piezo with bass/mid. Better than a cheap electret element and now that cheap low noise preamps are everywhere it's a deffo viable option.

It even made mag pickups workable.

[Schertler]

I do find the piezo transducers to be the simplest and cheapest, and the worst pickup systems for steel-string acoustics.....
Typically, UST and SBT piezo elements do offer a very high output signals from 50mV up to 1V, these signals are full of a lot of dirty sounds, and the sound of steel strings are transformed into a very unpleasant voice... :-(

Perhaps, there are forum members who did experiment with piezo placing onto such an interesting locations, either heard from others of such experiments....
I suppose that the output volume and tone might be a bit different in such application.
I have the idea of placing 9mm piezo-discs (similar to K&K pickup) onto the fretboard's end near the sound-hole......

Thanks for sharing!

[Cuki79]

Looks like they aim at the "percussive" players who build drum loops by tapping the box

[Rudy4]

My guess from the looks of the "block contact" pickup is that the actual element is mounted with a mass attached to it internally so the element functions in deflection mode.

A piezo plate transducer pretty much requires being in bending or strain mode to produce an output, so simply sticking it on the rigid neck block would not be a good choice. Their engineering department is definitely more knowledgeable than that.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Schertler

I do find the piezo transducers to be the simplest and cheapest, and the worst pickup systems for steel-string acoustics.....
Typically, UST and SBT piezo elements do offer a very high output signals from 50mV up to 1V, these signals are full of a lot of dirty sounds, and the sound of steel strings are transformed into a very unpleasant voice... :-(

Perhaps, there are forum members who did experiment with piezo placing onto such an interesting locations, either heard from others of such experiments....
I suppose that the output volume and tone might be a bit different in such application.
I have the idea of placing 9mm piezo-discs (similar to K&K pickup) onto the fretboard's end near the sound-hole......

Thanks for sharing!

I find them to be the simplest, cheapest, and best transducer for acoustic guitar. I only use K&K Pure Minis, though.

[Schertler]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

My guess from the looks of the "block contact" pickup is that the actual element is mounted with a mass attached to it internally so the element functions in deflection mode.

The housing/head on the piezo-element definitely has a function, should be tried..... it does not seem to be hi-tech.... :-)

Actually, I would like to build 3 pieces of 9mm piezo-discs into the neck itself, similar to K&K mini SBT set but built in the neck......

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Schertler

The housing/head on the piezo-element definitely has a function, should be tried..... it does not seem to be hi-tech.... :-)

Actually, I would like to build 3 pieces of 9mm piezo-discs into the neck itself, similar to K&K mini SBT set but built in the neck......

Burying within a neck would have the same effect as the disappointing results that K&K Pure Mini users have when used on an instrument with an excessively thick or high mass bridge plate.

"If it don't bend it ain't gonna produce much signal."

[Schertler]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Burying within a neck would have the same effect as the disappointing results that K&K Pure Mini users have when used on an instrument with an excessively thick or high mass bridge plate.

"If it don't bend it ain't gonna produce much signal."

This is what I am looking for! I am interested to hear low-volume output signal as well as another tone, not UST-SBT.