Does anyone on here use one of these:
http://www.graphtech.com/products.html?CategoryID=2

It sure looks better than having the Roland wart on your stick, although more expensive.

My first question is if any of their saddles could be interchangeable with the stick saddles?
And is there room within the Stickup assembly (or other assemblies) for these little bits of hardware? Or perhaps in the wood near the pickup area?

Many thanks,
Dale

The saddles fit stock stratocaster bridges-I think they would have to make custom saddles to fit Emmett's hardware or he would have to re design his bridge assembly.
The Ghost is a very impressive system.
Mike

It would be really great.

They make saddles for a variety of guitars and basses: http://www.graphtech.com/products.html?SubCategoryID=19

From my limited perspective, it seems like some combination of these would work.

I talked to the people at Ghost (and RMC as well) several years ago about making saddles that could possibly be used with the Sticks string spacing and what I was told at that time was they could not make the elements/saddles thin enough. Of course several years have passed and manufacturing might be able to make the elements now.

I've sent a note to L. R. Baggs about their hex pickup system...in particular mechanical drwaings to see if their system could be adapted.

My Paduak Stick had a slot cut into my by the factory to put one of the SE midi pickups on it. However, the PASV4 pickup is in the way of mounting the pickup (I had one on another Stick I was going to move to this one) so I've been looking for alternatives including making my own GK pickup bar...still running into issues though. So, If I can get the L.R. Baggs Hex pickup to retro-fit into the existing bridge, I think I'll have solved my problem. I'll have to make new saddles - but it would be worth it to get a hex pickup (actually - I want to do a dual-hex pickup system) on the instrument...

Dave

The original stick you were checking on was a 12 string or 10 string?

I'm hoping your investigation was for a 12, since I'm planning on a 10, which has a little more space between strings.

With the LR Baggs approach, are you going to use the routed space, or to go in to the pickup assembly, or something else?

I've been looking to modify the 12string Sticks I have. I had a 10 with dual SE GK pickups...was quite fun to play!

Using the piezo style pickup would mean it would have to go on the bridge - the string must pass over the element so the vibrations get transferred to the piezo element. (you could theoretically put it anywhere on the bridge to pickup vibrations but your isolation would not be nearly good enough for driving a hex or double-hex system).

If I decide to go forward with this (piezo pickup) I will have to make custom saddles - perhaps even a bridge. Still waiting on word back from LR Baggs.

One question for DCBen & DaveS: What is the final result that you want to achieve with the piezos? Better midi tracking or piezo sound?
If it is better tracking I guess that a good pitch to midi convertor and a cleaner technique will have more impact than the pickup itself.
If what you are looking is to get that 'acoustic' tone of piezos maybe it can be done with some modeling (VG99).


Cheers, Daniel.

The final result I seek is a MIDI-fied stick that doesn't have the Roland wart. The "Ghost" approach keeps most everything inside, but it costs more.

I presume from the responses that no stickists on this forum are using the Ghost Hexpander MIDI Interface.

When I get closer to Order Day, I'll do some more research into saddle width on a 10-string and contact Graphtech to see what they have that's similar.

If you want to get rid of the 'wart' it will be easy to get unmount the hardware and put it in a small box attached to the back of your stick... Any good electronic technician can do it for you for a few $. If you get really serious about that you can even put in the box a nice high impedance pre-amp with a bypass, mono switch etc, etc. There is a enough space behind the bridge to mount a sturdy brushed aluminum box and you will not see or feel it when you play. Just my 2 cents.


Cheers, Daniel.