'58 Danelectro U1 becomes '58 MANelectro U1.5...

[Michael Ambrose]

Just a quick mock-up of a rebuilt 1958 Danelectro U-1... I'm calling this a U-1.5... its essentially a U-1 wrapped in "westen" brown paisley tolex with a piezo added (piezo adds the ".5" haha). The tolex still needs to dry, and I'm waiting on cream body binding tape. What you see sticking out of the sides are upholstery tacks... I'm going to make a border with them on the binding tape. Controls, I think, will include a pickup selector switch and two concentric stacked volume and tone controls.



Here's a before shot.



(Cool as it looks in this shot, the art was a big mess in person... lots of white out and sharpie. I actually tried playing it in rehearsal before demoing it, and most of the media ran all over my arms and shirt when I got sweaty.)

[cheepaxes]

How do you wire the piezo in with the lipstick pup? I tried adding a piezo element to one of my guitars and didn't have much luck wiring it in with the mag pups.

[Michael Ambrose]

[cheepaxes]

[johnnyb]

is it an acoustic stick piezo or the cheap radio-shack transducer type, and where would you mount it? ive used the radio-shack ones on a few of my cheap basses and wedge them under the bridge. id adjust the tension of the mounting screws as to not over-squish the elements. they do wire up just fine with other pickups and add a great punch to a bad bass. just wondering your method on that tailpiece.

[Michael Ambrose]

Its a transducer element... but not from Radio Shack (though I've experimented with those as well). I found this one on Ebay a loooooong time ago and never used it for anything... and its a nice midpoint between a stick element and a cheapo radio shack piece. Pretty decent, actually!

With no bridge pickup, blend a little bit of this into the mix and it adds a nice little twang to the tone.

I can't wait for my binding tape to come in!

(I'm also thinking of adding an Artec QTP EQ pot... but I'm hesitant because its not a true-bypass circuit...)

[johnnyb]

where ya puttin' it?

[Michael Ambrose]

Whoops!

I'm electrical-taping it beneath the bridge, maybe wedging it between the bridge and the body with a tiny sliver of foam?

[johnnyb]

double sided carpet tape might work well. or even some epoxy. just an idea. let us know how it works. those transducers can be touchy.

[cheepaxes]

When I did my piezo experiment I used two of the RS elements, shoved under a wooden tailpiece I fabricated for a Harmony H-802.

www.scottmcknight.com/PIEZO802.JPG

When I tried wiring it in with the other pickups I didn't seem to get anything out of it. Ultimately (as seen in the pic) I gave it its own output.

I got the idea for this from a bass player friend who has had good results putting piezos in basses before, as described above in this thread.

-Scott

[johnnyb]

scott,

the piezo needs to be under the bridge to pickup the vibrations of the strings. there isnt much going on under the tailpiece. if you have a space under the bridge, wedge it under there with a shim of some sort. most pizeos need a little pressure, but not too much, to work best.

john

[cheepaxes]

[Michael Ambrose]

THE END. FINALLY finished it!

[Michael Ambrose]

...and with a pickguard, but I'm wondering if its overkill...

[newey]

MA-

Nice work! But I do think the pickguard is a bit too much. Besides, pick scratches on the covering will give it that "road worn" look!