more from Graph Tech:



Today I received the piezo pickup samples from windworld.com (mentioned earlier). The piezo cable is almost the same diameter as the saddle setscrew, so it doesn't look like it's possible to bore a hole into it and have enough room for the cable. The piezo film is a 1" tab of piezo electric material, which has some ability to be cut down into a smaller size, but even then I'm not currently seeing where or how it could be used. Further experimentation is needed.

Also, sent off a few saddle setscrews and slide blocks to Mr. Dunn at Shotgunnmods (also mentioned earlier). Hopefully he'll get them in a few days and be able to do some experimenting with the LB63 inserts.

Another thing to consider with regards to the converter is what notes or octaves does it support.

For example the Roland GI-20's have a "guitar/bass" setting on the back. If the switch is set to guitar then any notes lower than "low D" don't register. Likewise the bass setting only goes so high but I have had a problem on the bass side. So I have to make sure the GI20 set to "guitar" is connected to the melody side GK and "bass" to the bass side. To make sure I have the right GK cable going to the right GI, I marked them "black" melody, "red" bass. One nice thing about the GKs is the 1/4" sends through the 13 pin cable. Here's a pic to show the 2 GKs and stereo 1/4" going to each.

From Graph Tech:


I'm going to get a couple of the LB63 inserts to experiment with, first, just to make sure I can get some piezo saddles that will fit.

I'm still waiting to hear back from Mr. Dunn at shotgunnmods.

And, I think I'm going to go with the Bass acoustiphonic with all the strings summed in to it, and one hexpander for just the melody strings.

I've already procured a used Blue Chip Axon AX100 via craigslist.

For those who might be following this and possibly doing some experimenting on their own...

Some Midnight measurements - after all, what else would I be doing late night saturday night?

I haven't ordered any of the LB63 inserts from Graphtech, yet. But, going by their measurements, here's what I'm thinking...



I'm assuming that the piezo transducer is 4mm wide and dead center. That leaves no more than 2mm on either side of it for filing. The width of the slide block is 7.16mm, and the internal diameter of the saddle setscrew hole in the slide block is 4.4mm. Therefore, 1mm to 1.3mm will need to be filed off of the sides for it to fit, and hopefully won't expose or damage the piezo transducer in the process.

Next, what about height adjustment?

The height of the LB63 insert, to the string slot, is 6.4mm. The height of the stock saddle setscrew, to the string slot, is about 10.6mm. On my Stick, the height to string from the bottom of the slide block: of the thinnest string (1st string, highest melody) is ~9mm, and to the thickest string (6th string, lowest bass) is ~12mm, with the slide block itself being 7.9mm of the overall height.

For adjusting the height, the idea I currently have is to cut down the current saddle setscrews to about 1/3 of their height, to ~3mm or so. Then, cut a notch into the top, just wide enough for a small screw driver to fit in, then screw it down into the hole in the slide block so it is recessed, with the LB63 insert placed on top.

But then, there's the issue of where the pickup wire is coming from, and is going to. I think it comes directly out of the bottom of the saddle... So, maybe a notch cut into the side of the slide block, to route the pickup wire?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Do you see any holes in this plan?

Do you see plans within plans...?

Don't mean to hijack...but that Dune reference was hilarious. Especially since Emmet is recorded playing in the movie for Gurney Halleck's baliset!

I love Stick players.

(digging through box of VHS)

Michael

It's been a while since I've posted anything about this project.

I recently mentioned in another thread that it's kind of stalled for the moment. I have the Hexpander interface kit, and 6 of the BN-0080 Floyd Rose piezo saddle inserts that I was experimenting with.

First, I did install the full GHOST system on one of my guitars, and it is amazing. So, I feel bad that I haven't gotten very far with the Stick implementation.

I was able to very carefully file away a very small amount of the piezo saddle so that it would potentially fit into a Stick slide block. That also requires slight modification of the slide block to accommodate the saddle insert (replacing the saddle screw). The one major thing missing is height adjustment, as this particular saddle pickup doesn't have any height adjust screws. Graph Tech makes another one with screws for height adjustment, but that is slightly larger.

In talking with Mr. Dunn of Shotgunn Mods, he said he might be able to fabricate a new bridge setup to accommodate a GT saddle pickup, if he had a bridge base plate to work with.

I think the major issue is with string height adjustment. Second to that would be how to route the pickup wires.

That's where it stands right now. I really would like to see this happen, but I'm starting to lean towards the standard GK pickup.

~T

This thread makes me so happy. I'd love to see a finished product.

I was thinking about the implications of all of this, the peizo and all... It seems like it'd be easy to make a box the size of a stickup or a ACTV and run all the wiring to that. Yeah, you'd loose the magnetic pickups, but the independence you'd gain insofar as reduction of crosstalk, routing options, etc., IMO would be worth it. And since the stickup does sound very acoustic as it is, it seems like it'd be a great replacement. I realize not everyone's as gungho as I am about a peizo'd stick, but it'd be a great option if you didnt want a stick-wart roland pickup on the side, or a similar sized peizo control box.