Report: Teddy Randazzo Concert and Dazzo Install

[Vancebo]

Originally Posted by Thomas Rein

I have worked with Teddy on trying to find an alternative to epoxy for mounting the pickups. Epoxy inside the guitar on the bridge plate is a deal breaker for me. Teddy recommends using brake cleaner to remove the leftover epoxy once the pickups are pried off. Brake cleaner is extremely toxic stuff (just check any MSDS). I have no way of determining whether brake cleaner might possibly attack any of the adhesives used in assembling a guitar. It is not a risk I am willing to take.
I did find an adhesive that worked well and I reported my results to Teddy. Beacon Adhesives 527 is a cellulose nitrate adhesive that is widely available in craft stores. I tried it for a Dazzo install and it seemed to stick adequately. It became necessary to re-position the pickups so I had a chance to test removal. The pickups came off with very little prying from a dull palette knife and a tiny bit of acetone on a cloth removed the leftover 527 adhesive. The amplified results were less than I had hoped for, however. The second string had a very strange out-of-phase warble that I couldn't get past. I have no way of knowing whether the adhesive was the culprit or the position on the bridge plate was the problem. I decided to pull the plug on the endeavor for the time being. I hope that an easily reversible mounting method might some day come to light as there seems to be an awful lot to like about the Dazzos, including the original Dazzo, namely Teddy Randazzo.

Good info Thomas. I might try that adhesive someday if needed.

I had a prominent buzzing sound when playing my open D string through my amp. I thought what was going on? I eventually muted the amp and discovered the buzz was on the guitar itself. And further investigation revealed that it was a loose screw on the truss rod cover that was causing it to buzz. That buzz was being perfectly amplified through the amp. Now, That was an easy fix but that proved to show that the Dazzos did a great job at being a microphone.

[throbert]

Originally Posted by ChakA

Teddy just left my house not too long ago. What a nice guy. He spent 2 hours working on my Goodall which I bought used. Incidentally, it came with a mis-matched pair of Dazzo pickups that Teddy installed about 6-7 years for the original owner of my Goodall - talk about coming full circle.

He put a pair of 70s in tonight and we're both happy with the results. We learnt a few things tonight:
1. The Dazzos sound REALLY great with the Red-Eye preamp
2. They sound just as great with a Radial Engineering ToneBone PZ-pre
3. They don't sound as good with a DTAR Solstice or Baggs PADI.

All the above tested with flat EQ through a Yamaha powered speaker. With slight EQ tweaks, I bet it would work well with the Solstice and PADI too.

I see a powered speaker in my future.

Which model Goodall do you have? I've spent countless hours trying to get a good result with my Goodall. Disappointing because my other cheaper Yamaha is acceptable. I use that in conjunction with a Baggs Parametric EQ.

[rb1591]

Is there a good recording of the concert, one that shows off the Dazzo … or any good demo in general? Lots of talk on youtube, but not much music that really shows the virtues of the pickup.

rb

[Vancebo]

There was a video of the concert. The camera mic was placed right in front of the Fishman SA220. However, that video is not in my possession. I will try and ask to get that to YouTube ASAP.

[ChakA]

Originally Posted by throbert

Which model Goodall do you have? I've spent countless hours trying to get a good result with my Goodall. Disappointing because my other cheaper Yamaha is acceptable. I use that in conjunction with a Baggs Parametric EQ.

Mine is a Goodall Aloha Mahogany GC. Teddy said that Goodalls have been problematic for him. Unfortunately I don't recall exactly why he said that - I think something about the excessive resonance?

The problem I was having with my Goodall was unbalanced string volume: either the treble strings (particularly the 2nd) were too soft or too hot. Ultimately, Teddy solved that by switching out the old pickups in it with a pair of 70s and re-positioning the treble pickup a bit. The treble strings are still *slightly* hotter but its something I can live with. I left myself an option in the install to add a 2nd pickup to the ring terminal of my endpin jack; maybe an internal mic (for lower volume applications) to really fine tune the balance.