![]() ![]() ![]() I didn't play around with placement, just sort of stuck it on somewhere near where I've seen piezos attached to acoustic in some pics. Next I'll put this weird looking little contraption on my acoustic violin and well see what it sounds like.Ĭouldn't find any poster putty, so I ended up just sticking it on with a little piece of beewax. Well, actually, we are done! If you do all these steps you are now the proud owner (and maker) of a piezo pickup! I also hot-glued the ends of the wires we aren't using, just to make sure they didn't touch stuff and make noise or anything. Then use a little tape or something to make sure the bare metal on the wires doesn't touch the bare metal on the other wires. and the other wire from the disk to the red wire on the cord and plug. Then you take your piezo element (the disk with the two wires) and twist one of the wires on the disk to the bare looking wire on the cord and plug. The other wires can just be trimmed off short so they don't get in the way. Then either scrape the burnt bit gently with a knife or with a little sandpaper so you can see bare copper near the ends when you look close. The easiest way to do that is to just burn it off the very ends of the wires ( a few mm) with a lighter or match. They have a sort of vinyl or whatever coating we have to take off little of though. The only ones you actually need in this case are the red one and the one that looks like bare copper. If not, then explain or post a pic of what you do have and we'll see if we can help you figure it out. If you have the same sort of earpiece as I had, then I'll tell you exactly which wires you need to use. Just relax and take a deep breath, though. 4 wires of different colors and you don't know what any of them do. Ok, at this point panic might set in for some people. Try not to go deep enough to cut into the metal wires inside. Yours might be a bit tougher, in which case you can carefully use a knife to cut the coating just a *little* to let you pull it off. The covering/coating on mine was wimpy enough that I just dug a thumbnail into it and pulled of a bit. Now you need to strip off the black rubber/vinyl from about an inch of the end you just cut. That's to give as much cord as possible later when you actually go to use the pickup. But it is easier to do than it is to write or read about.įirst thing you need to do is take the computer earpiece/microphone thing, and cut the wire as close to the earpiece/mic part as you can. Ok, this next part is where some folks will get worried, because it deals a bit with wires and such. Those usually will work too, and if you happen to have one lying around, it can bring the price of this project down to even less than 2$! All we need to do now is provide a way to hook it up to your computer (or other sound device like a guitar amp or whatever).īy the way, you may have seen something that looks just like that in some other place, like a musical greeting card or a small toy that has sound effects built into it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the piezo element. When you have that out, you can carefully scrape off any excess glue around the outer edge with a knife. It isn't *super* fragile, but try to avoid bending it too much or denting the crap out of it. Ok, now it is time to get destructive! LOL Use a pair of pliers and carefully break away the plastic until the metal disk comes loose. Cut the wires on it off, leaving them as long as you can. If you lift up the circuit board, you'll see a sort of metal disk thing. Sometimes there's a little screw, but this particular type is just snapped together and you can carefully pry the back off it with a screwdriver. ![]() Take it out of the package (might want to save the batteries, if you have anything like a laser pointer or something they'd fit) and take it apart. Both were bought at a dollar store and yup, cost 1$ each. One is a little mic and earphone for use with computer to do things like online audio chats, the other is a little door/window alarm. If you go to your local dollar store (or similar cheap place) you can probably find the items pictured. It isn't hard, and there's really only 2 pairs of wires to hook together.īut first off you need the parts. I usually have made my own any time I needed one.Īs stated in the topic, you can make your own for about 2$ (or maybe even less). ![]() My electric violin has one, of course, but that is the only one that I actually ever bought. But I think that we can beat the lowest price anyone is likely to find by making one. Piezo pickups for violin are fairly popular and they can be bought in many places. Hopefully that keeps everyone happy who has an interest in this topic. Ok, since some folks here occasionally comment on how long my posts are when talking about a technical matter, I am going to break this down into shorter posts to explain the steps. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |