Tame a piezo without a capacitor. A cigar box guitar tutorial.
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- In this scintillating episode I demonstrate the use of a volume control to reduce the treble in a piezo equiped cigar box guitar. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Done forget to join our Facebook group and subscribe to the channel.
A potentiometer is both a variable resistor and rheostat, not a capacitor. The instant you put a 250K pot in between the piezo and the jack, you instantly send any freq above 250K (or whatever value your pot actually has, few are exactly 250K) straight to ground - but that's not all. Take a pot and turn it all the way one direction, then check it with a meter. You'll get the full value reading on one side, and you'll also get a small reading on the other. That small reading is an additional amount that you're also sending straight to ground. I've never seen a guitar pot that read 0 on the opposing side. So, the roll-off doesn't start when you turn the knob just a little, it is already happening on two levels. Piezos need a decent preamp and EQ to have any chance at really sounding good. One thing I've noticed since I got interested in cigar box guitars is that a large number of those immersed into the scene (not all) do not seem to expect them to ever have the sound quality of a standard production guitar. I find it astounding so see so many players perfectly happy with (especially magnetic) pickups that are completely unable to produce a good clear/clean sound. It's as if they believe that CBG's are just not capable of rising to the level of good sound quality. I'm a firm believer that a pickup should produce a strong, clean and clear signal. An amp (and especially effects) needs a clear signal to work with, and without it the sound quality quickly goes downhill. You may not hear it so much if the only effect you're interested in is distortion, but what about all of the other effects that are available? A pickup that sounds like it has its own distortion box built in is a one trick pony, and it doesn't even do that trick very well. I purchased a "somewhat well known" Chinese made humbucker that I've seen on countless CBG's, and I put it on a 6 string guitar I have. After playing the guitar a few times, I noticed that the sustain of the plucked notes was abnormally short - literally about 3.5 seconds until a string went completely silent. I started looking for a reason, and I eventually found it. The amount of (almost 600 gauss) magnetism measured on the surface of the metal cover is about 4-5 times higher than normal, and all of that magnetism is stopping the string from vibrating. In this instance, being cheap certainly did not make it a good deal. I totally get the desire to keep CBG's cheap and fun, but just because it is a cigar box guitar doesn't mean that it has to sound as crude as it might look. There are some seriously good players in the community - it would be nice to hear more of those great guitar licks that are getting lost in the signal path. JMHO
I use a disc on my simple builds. And I also don't care for a tone control. If I buy a pre wired harness I will remove the tone control.
Great video.
I noticed no ground? What's your view on grounds?
Hmmmmm don’t need a ground with a disc piezo, but you need a pre amp with the rod
I embed the disc into the top of the neck and will give the bottom mount a try
It’s not necessarily to ground the strings due to the lack of any magnetic field. It’s a physical thing more than magnetic. However, grounding never hurts.
I certainly ground the strings on electric pickup guitars.