Piezo Wiring Help!

joshbert

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Hey!

I'm planning my first Warmoth build and I'm needing some help on the wiring.

It'll be a 3 pickup 7-way tele (which I can find diagrams for) - but I'm wanting to add the Graphtek Ghost Piezo system as well.

Is it possible to have a single knob control both the piezo and magnetic pickups that isn't a stacked pot? My ideal setup would be a push/pull pot that would function as magnetic/piezo volume independently, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

I think I may have to go the stacked pot route, but I had different knobs in mind for the build so I'm hoping to avoid that if possible.

Thanks for any help you guys can give!

Josh
 
I would suggest contacting Graphtech for advise.

They do have a product code PE-0400-00 which is passive which I think may be usable for the purpose but then it recommends an external preamp for the acoustic sounds. Obviously this would not work if you plan on using an onboard Graphtech preamp.
 
Passive will require separate volumes because the piezo impedance is so high. I think you can probably do what you want with the acoustiphonic preamp. Check out their diragrams
 
You will definitely need special/different electronics to handle the Piezo as the impedance of 'regular' guitar electronics is much too low.  If you really want to do it with a single volume knob with the Piezo switched in like a regular pickup, it may be possible but you must put an active preamp between the Peizo and the switch.  Get a good one.
 
joshbert said:
Is it possible to have a single knob control both the piezo and magnetic pickups that isn't a stacked pot? My ideal setup would be a push/pull pot that would function as magnetic/piezo volume independently, but I'm not sure if that's possible.

On paper, yes, this will work, but ONLY if you use the GHOST internal active preamp.

  • Graphtech ships the active preamp kit with a 250K pot, but says you could use a 250K or 500K pot. Personally, I find this curious because the ideal pot for an active, buffered signal is usually in the range of 25K-100K...but I have not tested the GHOST system and they built it.
  • If you do NOT use the preamp, then the piezo signal is soooooo weak and it requires a 5M Volume pot and you still have to have a dedicated external preamp or acoustic amp. A passive piezo CANNOT drive the input of an electric amp.

But, I think you are shortchanging yourself with a binary system. The real versatility in piezo bridge on an electric is being able to mix the piezo and magnetic pickups to taste with a balance control and/or being able to send them to different sources. Though it greatly complicates the control wiring and layout, I couldn't imagine not having both a mono mix and a stereo split output option.
 
Or ... you could save yourself a lot of headaches and get a Boss AC3 to keep stuff really simple.

ac_3_top_main.jpg


Connect your Tele (wired as a normal Tele) to the Boss pedal and - presto - you've got a sound that mimicks that of an acoustic.
Just like the piezo pickups mimicks the sound of an acoustic. :icon_jokercolor:

[youtube]https://youtu.be/qnGF8qbrIhs[/youtube]
 
Here is a bit more about what I mentioned earlier.

Passive Volume Kit
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2372/8913/files/passive-volume-kit_1.pdf

This is how you install the Passive Volume Kit (PE-0400-00) when only using a set of ghost loaded saddles or a ghost loaded bridge without a preamp.

Reference: https://graphtech.com/pages/ghost-wiring-diagrams?_pos=3&_sid=54cecbf9c&_ss=r

 
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