Hollow body piezo

[Infsub]

My lovely wife has got me the hollow body Prs style kit for Xmas. I have been looking at the genuine article for ideas on finishing and noticed some come with a piezo pick ups on a separate circuit and thought it might be worth trying.

Any one included a piezo to a hollow or semi hollow? What sort of results did you get?
Would the bridge piezo or the 3 round string style be a better option?

[Fretworn]

I haven't gone it personally, but a there have been a couple of builds that have had piezos added. There was definitely a ES-3 build about a year ago, and there have been others.

[Infsub]

Thanks for the tip. Found the build. Unfortunately the poster has been inactive since May. Would love to know if he had stereo jacks or blended with neck pickup. Surprised at how good the disc sounds in that guitar as opposed to having to install a piezo bridge. Craving to get my hands on this build but the Mrs won't let me until Xmas.
Oh well I got a mm bass, cigar box and 2 pedal builds on the go at the moment, so probably just as well.

Still if anyone has any recommendations on how best to do this, I would be most grateful

[DarkMark]

I too am interested in a hollow body with a piezo. I’m thinking nylon string, bridge piezo and no pickup holes on an ES-3. I’m very ignorant on the subject at the moment...would this need a pre amp? Does this sound like something which would work/fail?

[Simon Barden]

For a flat response, a piezo pickup needs a pre-amp with a 10meg ohm input impedance. Straight into a guitar amp (even an acoustic one) it will be very muddy sounding without.

So the answer is yes, but you can have an external pre-amp (or an acoustic guitar pedal for EQ and FX with a piezo input) if you don't want to fit one into the guitar and worry about battery compartments etc.

[DarkMark]

Thanks Simon. I guess installing a pre amp might be the path I’d choose.

[dave.king1]

A local luthier near me Fican Guitars make a hybrid like this called a Tornado, sounds quite incredible although looks could be polarizing

http://www.mixdownmag.com.au/fican-guitars-tornado-0

[DarkMark]

The price tag might be polarising also. I’m really after the nylon string sound. Thanks for sharing though.

[dave.king1]

The price tag might be polarising also.

Absolutely no doubt about that, and therein lies the problem with handmade low volumes instruments or anything for that matter.

[wazkelly]

Almost belongs in the Ugly Guitar thread.

Great concept and sure somebody could make theirs do similar things for way less than $3.9k