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Fishman or Other Piezo Bridges for Electric Guitars

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(@rparker)
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Here's and example: http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fishman-VT-Powerbridge?sku=303126

Does anyone have any experience using one of these types of saddle/bridge pickups? I see a few manufactures make them, and covering Strat, Tele and LP/SG type saddles or saddle/bridge assemblies. I've been thinking about these for a while now, but to be honest, I have not relished the idea of drilling & routing anything free-style. (or, without a drill-press)

Kind of looks at least interesting to me. I was fond of the tone I've heard from other styles of acoustic-like tones from higher dollar guitars.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Roy, I think we had a thread about this - or at least, related to this - a while back, when we were talking about the Pete Townshend Signature Strat. I'd dig it out, but I wouldn't know what keywords to use for the header....

But basically, the gist of it was, Townshend uses a Fishman Piezo bridge on his Strats for the songs where he wants an acoustic tone - think Pinball Wizard. I don't think I've ever seen a clip anywhere of him playing PW live and actually using an acoustic guitar.

If you open the Wikipedia article on Pete T - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Townshend - you'll see a picture of him playing the red strat...I think the original question was about the extra tone/vol pot BEHIND the bridge, ie what the heck is it for?

Scroll down to the "musical equipment" section of the article, and you'll find this.... "Since the late-1980s, Townshend has used the Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster, with Lace Sensor pick-ups, both in the studio and on tour. Some of his Stratocaster guitars feature a Fishman PowerBridge piezo pick-up system to simulate acoustic guitar tones. This piezo system is controlled by an extra volume control behind the guitar's bridge."

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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 Nuno
(@nuno)
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As I said in the other post, a friend has a Parker with a piezo and two humbuckers. You can select any combination between the piezo and pickups (even as single-coils) in that guitar. I played that guitar and it sounds very good, but it is high end guitar (> $3000). Parker are different to the other guitars I have played.

I don't know the brand but I think he doesn't change the piezo. The Parker site says it is a Fishman.


   
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(@rparker)
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Looks mighty interesting. I'll have to toutube the Parker guitar with the piezo system and hear some samples. I looked a few months ago and found very few, but I didn't know to look for one in a Parker. I imagine the one that I will do it to will be the Epi LP Standard. I just need to figure out the wiring, switches, etc. also different brands.

Vic, I saw some Tele's that had the Fishman system in it straight from fender. I drooled quite a bit and shorted out my keyboard.

Back to the LP, though, IIRC, plenty of extra wires to do various other things too, like with push/pull knobs, etc. That would end up being quite flexible. The one I am really interested in, though, is that SD pickup that had the mini rail HB and the P-90s in one pickup design. On top of that, you can also wire it up in such a way to get some of that out of phase tones. I think it's called the Peter Green mod and maybe another called the Jimi Page mod. tons of wiring diagrams on the Seymour duncan site, too. Might have to get a 5-way circular switch instead of the toggle. It might take me another 6 months to wrap my head around this one. :roll:

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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 Nuno
(@nuno)
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My friend's guitar is a Fly, I don't remember the exact model (it is one of those made with graphite). Now he is on vacation but I can ask him when he gets back.

And now I also remember that Godin has one of those hybrid guitars, the Montreal. I was looking for that guitar some time ago but I didn't find in a store here. Godin uses LR Baggs.

Try to find some sound examples with Les Paul because as the Parker as the Godin are very different guitars that also acts over the final tone.


   
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(@rparker)
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I've just looked at a few youtube videos. Pretty impressive. I saw several makes with the fishman set up on there. All high dollar so far, but still neat to look into doing myself.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@vic-lewis-vl)
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Roy, you could always treat yourself to a Cube amp - when I put the p/u selector on the Tele to the middle position, and put the cube on the Acoustic setting with a bit of chorus, I get a really good acoustic guitar tone. And with all the different amp models, I'll never need any pedals unless I start playing live.

:D :D :D

Vic

"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)


   
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(@rparker)
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I had one a while back before I lent it out to a friend. It wasn't too shabby at several things. I've never felt the love from any of the acoustic sims on anything I've had. Having said that, I almost have to admit the very real possibility that operator error is present.

I've made several patches on my m-fx unit in the past. Never liked them all that much. I started a new one from scratch this afternoon. I'm getting tone burn-out now, so I'll leave it be for a few hours and then come back and listen to what I recorded. I think it's a fuller tone than I've been able to come up with before.

As far as the piezo pickup goes, I think I am leaning heavily towards the fishman powerbridge (saddle) with a powerchip. It will let me do piezo/mag/mix. No need to stereo jacks and cable. It carries a $160 + $80 price tag, which is much cheaper than buying a high dollar guitar. Still going to wait a while, though. I keep telling myself that epiphone will combine a Prophecy GX and a Ultra II into one, nice super guitar of my dreams. Hey, everyone's got a right to dream. :)

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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(@hyperborea)
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I've got an older Godin with the acoustic bridge pickup - an LGX3 (an LP like Strat). The acoustic bridge is really quite good and under a clean amp setting it sounds very close to an amplified acoustic. It is far better than the acoustic sim on the Roland Cube (I've got the older Cube 30). Godin has a couple of current models with acoustic bridges ( http://www.godinguitars.com/godinproductlistingp.htm ). Any model with with the 4 or 5 slider switches on the upper bout has acoustic amplification.

Probably the closest to what you are thinking about is the current LGX-SA or LGX-T or the older LGX (the SA and T mean that it's got Synth Access or a Tremelo). Godin uses RMC bridge pickups and pre-amps - http://www.rmcpickup.com/

Pop music is about stealing pocket money from children. - Ian Anderson


   
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(@rparker)
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Wow, 'Hyper. More and more players in that game. Thanks for that. godin, I think, had an entry at $700 if I wanted to go total guitar route, and so to does Ibanez IIRC. As far as components, the second link is priced in line with the others. (Fishman, etc)

Something just rang a bell. the Roland Cube and Boss are the same company, right? Perhaps I have tried the Roland more recently than I thought. I have a guitar sim and an acoustic processor in my GT-10. I wonder if one of them is borrowed from "Roland" and the other from the Boss AC-3?

Either way, I've toiled with them some more. I'm getting some good tones worthy of keeping and they stand on their own, but I am not getting great acoustic. I'm getting in the neighborhood of a Piezo, but no where near a mic'd acoustic. Seriously doubt I ever will with simple gear.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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 Nuno
(@nuno)
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I am not sure if they have always the same effects. I think so when the effects use COSM (same or equivalent hardware with same or equivalent software). Roland Cubes use it and it seems also the AC-3 also does it.


   
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(@rparker)
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I am not sure if they have always the same effects. I think so when the effects use COSM (same or equivalent hardware with same or equivalent software). Roland Cubes use it and it seems also the AC-3 also does it.

The only difference I might have is versioning.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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