Piezo cake they say ...

[kodiakblair]

Who are 'They' ? 

 

Can they be trusted and what the hang was I doing listening to them ?

 

I've had these 3 roughed out for a while.

 

 

Plan was left would get 2 51 single coils at 60's spacing. Centre would be an Italia copy, 4 lipsticks running parallel to the strings. Right, possibly a 51 'Ray' slab 🙂

 

Turned out the Italia idea involved a fair bit of work. No problem converting 2 lipsticks to RWRP, it was the accordian/leatherette wrap scared the pants off me 😆 

Far easier to scrap that one for something simple, piezo bridge/wax finish 👍

 

I had hoped to be on the ball regards progress photos but things ain't too great health-wise so when energy levels allowed I was more focused on the task at hand. The body had a couple of serious knots, spraying finish isn't an option; Wood Veneer Hub came to the rescue. Not my best veneer job, after 3 attempts at a perfect join the towel was chucked in the ring 🤬 Photo is before the overhang was trimmed away, 0.6mm veneer; roll of 180 grit seen below the neck took care of it.

 

 

Neck and bridge were positioned and fitted this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2024 by kodiakblair
too many photos

[kodiakblair]

Wax finish will liven it up somewhat but it needs a bit more.

 

Not too struck on the Cabronita look.

 

 

Hand cut this pearloid scratchplate a few years back. Did a quick trim to suit the rounded heel, I think it holds promise 🙂

 

[snorkie635]

Very impressive work from my perspective. Hope they end up being as good as they look K.

 

Best wishes

 

Snorkie

[kodiakblair]

Thanks @snorkie635

 

The other two should be a breeze, the veneer for those is over 400 wide so no joints to contend with 🙂

[biro]

Looking good! May I ask you where you sourced the piezo bridge? Thanks!

[Rodders]

Been on the look out for a piezo bridge too, so it would be handy to know, cheers!

[lemmywinks]

4 hours ago, Rodders said:

Been on the look out for a piezo bridge too, so it would be handy to know, cheers!

 

I have one of the Powerbridge ones knocking around I don't use any more, basically the Fishman ones but without the branding. Have a 4 string in black and possibly a 5 string in silver as well.

 

Also have a Bartolini buffer pre, think it's the 2 channel one.

Edited March 25, 2024 by lemmywinks

[kodiakblair]

@biro and @Rodders

 

That one I've had in the spares for ages, think it came from somebody on here.

 

Have an Artec piezo element and a couple of rosewood bridge bases if anyone fancies the 'acoustic' look. 

[alittlebitrobot]

Watching with interest. I've a new build planned and I want to do the piezo thing but I've never worked with them before

[kodiakblair]

Pearloid won out in the end  🙂

 

On first plugging in all I seemed to get was a horrible nasally tone, switched to tapes hoping it would help; it didn't 🤬 

 

If I had hair it would have been in my hands, luckily tugging on the beard is painful so I looked at settings instead 😄 First thing was set the Bass/Treble on the Artec preamp to detent and turn the gain trimpot down; this improved things. At the amp I went with a fair bit of bass boost highs and mids were also boosted but to a lesser degree. A wee sweeten with the Artec pre and all was well 👍

 

Here it is next to this afternoon's creation, the red Telecaster jazz bass 😎

 

 

Sharp eyes will spot a different neck. The 51 shaped one was a much better fit on the red body so the piezo got a spare PB-50 neck, a reshape is on the cards soon 👍