Piezo Battery Life

[Perry Combover]

So, my next build is beginning to take shape and the question of electronics is currently rattling my brain cells.  It is definitely a Jazzmaster body (top route) so there is plenty of cavity space for what I am thinking about doing (graph tech ghosts and p-rails).  So for those of you with graph tech experience, how about 9V battery life?  Is it similar to active pickups?  Now I know that it is going to depend on how much I play, but the questions is this: Do I route for a battery box in the back or will I be changing the battery infrequently enough that I could get away with stowing it under the pickguard?

 

[line6man]

That's a good question, because I can't seem to find any specifications on current draw for the Graphtech systems.

If you know the current, you can figure it into a standard battery capacity of around 500mAh. In general, discrete FET-based things draw a couple of milliamps, while opamp-based things can draw as little as 85uA, or so. If there are many transistors/opamps, however, current draw will be higher. You should be good for at least a few hundred hours, even if the current is high.

 

[swarfrat]

Acoustphonic draws very very little current. Hexpander probably draws a bit more. I've replace batteries in my strat w EMg's since, and havent had to change the battery in my graphtech setup yet.

 

[Re-Pete]

I might be able to offer you a  bit of advice learnt from experience.

If you are going to have active electronics inside a Jazzmaster type body & need to have a battery install within the guitar, by all means, get a battery rout done. I'd recommend it. Try to get it placed away from the existing cavities that are underneath the pickguard. You never know when you might be installing a buffer preamp or some other circuitry and if the battery is housed within the existing cavity space, you are losing valuable stowage area.

Take a look at how many screws hold the usual Jazzmaster pickguard in place, there's something 12 of them! If you are working on the electronics a lot, there will be wear & tear on those screws every time you take the pickguard off. Also, ensuire the screw holes are squarely placed to the pickguard, with the size of the pickguard you have a greater chance of it bubbling and warping if the screws are misplaced/ at angles to the body.

If you go for a Warmoth neck, most of their styles of necks have 22 frets - with the top fret overhanging the pickguard.

The original vintage Jazzmaster had only 21 frets and it made removing the pickguard just that little bit easier.

With a Warmoth 22 fret neck, there's the extra effort to slide the pickguard out from under the overhang & with pickups installed - that gets a bit finicky.

I've learnt this stuff from trial & error (didn't get a battery box installed & also had to have the 22nd fret cut off so I could remove the pickguard easier & frequently), so I'm hoping to save you some grief.

 

[swarfrat]

What he said. Just in the process of fiddling and tweaking I've jad the neck off more than I care to. Tweak the trimpot on the acoustiphonic, reassemble, restring. Ahhh drat, neck has to come off just to tweak a trimpot#@!$%???

I'm installing threaded inserts before the neck goes back on, and moving my electronics to the trem cavity (which is now mostly empty). I absolutely LOATHE this obsession with 1 - 3 frets you can't really reach well on a strat, gets in the way of proper pickup placement, and makes removing a decorative piece of plastic into an operation that potentially degrades the instrument, not to mention is a pain in the butt. That and the tremolo obsession.

 

[Perry Combover]

Acoustphonic draws very very little current. Hexpander probably draws a bit more. I've replace batteries in my strat w EMg's since, and havent had to change the battery in my graphtech setup yet.

What was your timeframe swarfrat?

 

[line6man]

Ahhh drat, neck has to come off just to tweak a trimpot#@!$%???

What you do is drill a hole in the pickguard, and mount the trimmer underneath it. That way you can adjust it without removing the pickguard.

 

[TBurst Std]

I have the Baggs system in a Godin Flat Five X. When I was playing that guitar daily, I was getting 3 months out of a battery.

 

[Perry Combover]

Well it looks pretty clear now that a battery route is the way to go.