Piezo saddles

Kris

Kris

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Hey all!

I've just strung my $$ with GHS black nylon strings and can only get sound from the E-string through the piezo pickup. This is a problem I've generally had with all strings that was easily solved with a bit of adjustment of the saddles. This time however, there seems to solution: I've tried several different positions without luck. So, is there a special angle the string should hit the piezo at?

Thanks in advance,
Kris
 
Hi Kris,

This is weird, any strings should sound... Maybe there is a defect... If you tap on the saddles, do you have any sound?
 
Yep, there's sound when I tap or even just place a fingertip on the saddle; it's pretty weird!
 
I don't get it... And it is working with other strings?
 
It works perfectly on the E. The A and D are very choppy and the G gets no output
 
That sounds to me like the electrical connection to the piezo pieces is broken completely, and when you play the string the vibration breaks the contact. What happens if you tap the saddle (with a screwdriver, say) at the same time as plucking the string?
 
I can get sound out of all the strings, it just requires placing my fingertips on the saddle. I doubt there is anything broken, as it worked perfectly with the roundwounds I took off it yesterday...
 
Kris said:
I can get sound out of all the strings, it just requires placing my fingertips on the saddle. I doubt there is anything broken, as it worked perfectly with the roundwounds I took off it yesterday...
Click to expand...

Can you put the roundwounds back on? If they work then I will be amazed. (If I were Greg I'd probably offer to eat my left testicle and wear a dress, but I'm not, so I won't ;))
 
Of course, it could be that the different strings had different tensions, and pushed the piezo saddle down hard enough to make a contact that was otherwise loose. (And that is why the saddles work when you push down on them). In my experience of piezos it isn't hard to knock the electrical contact off the crystal and thus break the circuit.

This really has to be an electrical problem - your new strings vibrate just as much as the old ones, so the only way the sound could fail to get through is by an electrical break.

Unfortunately I think this is going to mean taking your bass to a luthier with some experience of piezo bridges, or sending it back to Warwick. Is it still under guarantee?
 
I'll try the roundwounds again tomorrow and get back to you!
How long is the warranty? The bass is from 2006.
 
Warranty is 2 years, for the original owner from the date he bought it, not from the production date.
 
But if Kris was the original owner and it's a CS bass, then he must have bought it in 2006 ;)

But the piezo saddles should still be ok a few years later, so I'd suggest emailing Warwick and seeing what they say.
 
I am the original owner and it is from 2006, so clearly no warranty :P

I've just restrung the bass with roundwounds and the piezo works fine on all strings. Should the piezo be able to handle nylon strings?
 
Kris said:
I am the original owner and it is from 2006, so clearly no warranty :P

I've just restrung the bass with roundwounds and the piezo works fine on all strings. Should the piezo be able to handle nylon strings?
Click to expand...

Ahh, nylon strings? Sorry, I hadn't really noticed that you'd been switching to nylons. That means it probably is a tension issue! The nylon strings will be much lower tension than metal strings so probably aren't pushing the piezos hard enough. Maybe you can adjust your bass to cope with nylon strings. The preamp has trim pots to adjust the volume for each saddle - maybe if you turn those up then it will make it sensitive enough to "hear" the nylon strings.
 
Unless I am missing something, but isnt a pickups magnetic/electrical and a nylon string not metallic/electrical. Wouldnt that alone make it not work?
 
Piezo pickups they "feel" mechanical vibration, like a turntable needle.
Perhaps it is not enough tension... just saying... And maybe as mart said, with more tension, a certain weak contact stays in place... It is hard to speculate here.
 
It probably is a question of tension then. How would you adjust the bass to compensate?
 
Raising the saddles should make the string press down more, which should get more signal through the piezo. But the trim pots inside the control cavity are probably the best way to get more signal out. I'm not sure if they'll have enough range to help - I've never actually had a piezo Warwick.

Perhaps we could persuade Florin to put nylon strings on his bass and experiment :d
 
I can give you my address to ship me the nylon strings :-) I cannot find them in Romania...
 
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