Help with adding a piezo to my Les Paul

boltrecords

boltrecords

Fractal Fanatic
I really want to install a piezo on my les Paul traditional pro. Can anyone recommend a good bridge piezo that I can install.
This guitar also has two coil taps on the volume knobs so is there a way I can add a push pull to the tone knob that would activate the piezo and act as a volume for the piezo?

Also, I use an akg wireless unit, how will this work with a piezo? Don't I need a stereo guitar connection? Would I have to use an active piezo or is there a way to buy a stereo cable from the wireless pack to the guitar so I can use the passive piezos.
Also what would have to be modified on the face of the guitar? I'd like to minimize drilling new holes on the guitar if possible, besides the hole below the bridge for the wiring

Any guidance with this project would be helpful
 
I cant help with your wireless issue, but just make sure that before you buy, you know what its gonna take to put that bridge and electronics in.

For me, I wanted a piezo bridge on my les paul studio. I bought a fishman to suit "gibson LP" guitars, but the pot and preamp would not fit into the guitar cavity (the studio is slighly thinner than a LP standard). So I ended up putting this on my LP standard (which I wasn't too happy about). Then came the news that the existing bridge polepieces were too close together and they had to be taken out, the holes filled in and new polepieces drilled and installed to suit the fishman.

This was a really hard decision to make, but in the end I decided to go with it as my guitar is just an Epiphone. Man, what a mistake. I love that guitar, it had a great feel and sustain and I have a long history with it. I preferred it over the real gibson LP studio. After that operation, it just wasn't quite the same anymore.

Not sure about the push-pull. Its not a standard feature on fishman. Maybe another brand?
 
Yeah that's exactly the problems I was expecting to come across.
I guess I'll have to consult with someone who can or has installed these before.

If anyone has any experience this and is willing to chime in please do.

I have no Idea how to figure out the wireless issue either.
 
I installed the Ghost System on a LP for a customer. The only difficult part was that I had to drill a hole to pass the piezo wires from the bridge to the guitar cavity, and the new groundwire to the tailpiece.

With the ghost system, if you use a mono cable, you have the piezo and magnetic signal running through the output. I generally install the Quickswitch, which allows 3 modes: Piezo only, Piezo + magnetic, Magnetic only. As for wireless, if you need to split the signal, the most common solution is to have two transmitters, ala Alex Lifeson. If the quick switch solution works, then it's a very easy install.

I installed the same system on a strat, and one of the tone knobs now controls the volume of the piezo, but wired the pot in reverse so I could use one finger to go from piezo to magnetic in one movement.
 
Is the ghost system an active or passive system?
Id like to be able to use the one wireless system with one transmitter and mono cable. Is this possible?
I guess I wouldn't mind running the quickswitch if I had too. What is the benefit of running the switch?

Would either the fishman or lr baggs bridge piezo work? Does anyone know if the bridge and pole pieces are going to work on my traditional pro?
 
Ghost is an active system with a preamp. The first system where I don't hear that "quack" from the strings. The switch is sort of like a mixer. You switch between 3 positions on the switch: magnetics, magnetics + piezo, Piezo only. You can still control individual volumes of the two if you have it setup that way.

Also, with the ghost, you can easily add a midi capable setup by plugging in the midi preamp board and adding a 13 pin jack. You can also power active guitar pickups with the Ghost so you only have to use one battery.

I believe the ghost system has more configurations for bridges, even down to just the saddles and you can retrofit your existing bridge by changing the saddles only.
 
one more thing to be wary of, if you are thinking of fishman (which at this oint you are probably not). I have heard of these failing due to moisture entering the pickups in the bridge and wicking up the wiring. Be careful playing live if you tend to sweat all over your guitar. Keep the guitar in the case with a bag of dessicant. Not sure if this is an issue for other piezo systems.
 
try to send PM to Shotgunn, he did some piezo mod himself some while back, not a LP but im sure there is some knowledge there for sure
 
Awesome. Thanks for the info.
My main goal is to be able to have the piezo system work from one mono guitar connection. I'm not sure if this is even possible. I keep seeing most systems using either a stereo guitar jack and I also see some guitars with two separate guitar jacks installed.

I just want to plug on the guitar To my wireless and be able to flip the switch or Preferrably pull out a pot and have the piezo activated.

I would be willing to add a switch to the body if that does mean the ability to blend. I think that would be a cool feature.
 
boltrecords said:
Awesome. Thanks for the info.
My main goal is to be able to have the piezo system work from one mono guitar connection. I'm not sure if this is even possible. I keep seeing most systems using either a stereo guitar jack and I also see some guitars with two separate guitar jacks installed.

I just want to plug on the guitar To my wireless and be able to flip the switch or Preferrably pull out a pot and have the piezo activated.

I would be willing to add a switch to the body if that does mean the ability to blend. I think that would be a cool feature.
Click to expand...

This is possible with the quickswitch. I can't say if it works with the fishman or LR Baggs stuff, but my strat can use either a stereo cable OR a mono cable. With a mono cable I can blend both signals, or just have one or the other.
 
I have just finished doing a lot of research on piezo systems and decided to go with the Graph Tech Acousti-Phonic & Ghost Saddles on a Strat.

The reason why you would need 2 transmitters for your wireless (or 2 jacks on the guitar) is if you are using a separate acoustic amp for the piezo pickups or if you have a 2 Guitars 1 Axe-FX II type patch.
 
I was looking into the Lashbrook for my LP as it fits the tune-o-matic bridges. Check out the video where they put one of these on a concrete block... kind of impressive. The only thing that keeps me from getting it is, at some point I'd like to experiment with one pickup per string type of piezo system so I'm still shopping.

Naturacoustic
 
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Longhair said:
I have just finished doing a lot of research on piezo systems and decided to go with the Graph Tech Acousti-Phonic & Ghost Saddles on a Strat.

The reason why you would need 2 transmitters for your wireless (or 2 jacks on the guitar) is if you are using a separate acoustic amp for the piezo pickups or if you have a 2 Guitars 1 Axe-FX II type patch.
Click to expand...

So I would only need one transmitter and one mono jack if I want to be able to switch the guitar switch and switch to another axefx preset? Correct?

Wouldn't I still need two jacks on the guitar if I wanted to blend two different amps within the axefx? One for acoustic and one for magnetic pickups?
With a mono jack, if I wanted to blend the two pickups with one mono jack, I would then have to have either the acoustic presets going or the regular guitar amp going. So one way or another it would sound either bad with the magnetic or bad with the acoustic when attempting to blend the two. Is this correct?

So without a dual connection, I can't plug into the axe and have the magnetics going to a lead preset and the piezo going to the acoustic amp within the same preset and have both going at the same time? Am I getting this right?
 
The graphtech looks pretty cool.
I looked into this one a bit. Would I need the NV bridge, the acousti phonic wiring kit and the quick switch?
 
boltrecords said:
So I would only need one transmitter and one mono jack if I want to be able to switch the guitar switch and switch to another axefx preset? Correct?

Wouldn't I still need two jacks on the guitar if I wanted to blend two different amps within the axefx? One for acoustic and one for magnetic pickups?
With a mono jack, if I wanted to blend the two pickups with one mono jack, I would then have to have either the acoustic presets going or the regular guitar amp going. So one way or another it would sound either bad with the magnetic or bad with the acoustic when attempting to blend the two. Is this correct?

So without a dual connection, I can't plug into the axe and have the magnetics going to a lead preset and the piezo going to the acoustic amp within the same preset and have both going at the same time? Am I getting this right?
Click to expand...

Correct - 1 transmitter / mono cable if you use a switch & different patch for the piezo.

The Graph Tech optional switch has 3 positions: magnetic only, piezo only and both. You could blend between both if you had the switch in the proper position.

I haven't begun to dig into the Axe FX 2 and I'm using the stock presets, so I'm exactly sure what you mean by blending two amps. I will explain it in non-Axe FX terms.

Normally when someone has piezo pickups in an electric guitar, they will want to have 2 amps - an electric and acoustic because the electric amp will color the sound. This is also why acoustic effect pedals don't sound great next to an acoustic.

What you should do before spending money on a second wireless transmitter is get a Y-cable (stereo to 2x mono) and experiment back and forth between 1 & 2 inputs on the Axe-FX.
 
boltrecords said:
The graphtech looks pretty cool.
I looked into this one a bit. Would I need the NV bridge, the acousti phonic wiring kit and the quick switch?
Click to expand...

When I get to my computer later, on tablet right now, I'll put together a list of everything you would need.
 
boltrecords said:
I really want to install a piezo on my les Paul traditional pro. Can anyone recommend a good bridge piezo that I can install.
This guitar also has two coil taps on the volume knobs so is there a way I can add a push pull to the tone knob that would activate the piezo and act as a volume for the piezo?

Also, I use an akg wireless unit, how will this work with a piezo? Don't I need a stereo guitar connection? Would I have to use an active piezo or is there a way to buy a stereo cable from the wireless pack to the guitar so I can use the passive piezos.
Also what would have to be modified on the face of the guitar? I'd like to minimize drilling new holes on the guitar if possible, besides the hole below the bridge for the wiring

Any guidance with this project would be helpful
Click to expand...

Yes. You could easily add a push-pull pot to the tone control for selecting between mag or piezo. You would have no mix option though. Just so you know. You could also omit one magnetic tone control and go with a master tone control and use one tone location for a piezo volume.

While you do not 'have to' use a preamp I totally recommend it. Piezos are VERY low output and VERY high impedance. A preamp not only amplifies the signal, but buffers it to eliminate loading. A stereo cable for a belt pack wireless transmitter is not an option. With the GraphTech AcoustiPhonic preamp it can sense a mono or stereo cable and route the signal accordingly. I use these almost exclusively in my mods.

As for drilling and modifying the body... I can come up with a wiring scheme that will not require any drilling. So long as the long shaft LP style push-pull pots will fit nicely. The battery should also fit nicely in the LP control cavity.

I would go with the GraphTech AcoustiPhonic preamp and the LP style tune-o-matic bridge that fits your axe.

I'll send this also to your Inbox. I'm a dealer for all companies mentioned here so let me know if you'd like to (help out the little guy) order from me.
 
boltrecords said:
So I would only need one transmitter and one mono jack if I want to be able to switch the guitar switch and switch to another axefx preset? Correct?...So without a dual connection, I can't plug into the axe and have the magnetics going to a lead preset and the piezo going to the acoustic amp within the same preset and have both going at the same time? Am I getting this right?
Click to expand...
Right as rain. If you want to process your magnetic and piezo signals differently and at the same time, you need to keep them separate. That means either two jacks or a TRS jack.
 
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