HB w/piezo owners - Help!

[solacematt]

I just got a new HB with Piezo in the mail last night (post later after I've had a chance to truly try it and take pics in light). Since it was late when I got in from class I didn't have a chance to try this through either of my Mesa's (my main is a recto and backup a Mark IV), but I tried at low volume through one and through a vintage fender tweed I keep in my room and uhm..it all around sounded absolutely horrible. So, since I've never actually had a chance to play one of these before last night, any advice on setting this thing. The pickups did not sound very normal, very straty, and the piezo sounded bitey and distorted. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Maertl513]

Piezos run by battery power, depending on the certain guitar aswell the circuit of magnetic pickups. Example: Parker Fly. Make sure your battery is fully loaded.

I was trained to be an Army Ammo Tech Officer. Piezos are part of some fuzes, starting the ignition process.
Having the piezo activated every vibration has an impact to the guitar sound... good: strumming the strings; bad: knocks on the body...

 

[solacematt]

New battery, one of the first things I tried haha. The pickups don't sound good either though. They are Archtops just like the one's I have in my other HB, only this instrument is a double 10 top Artist Package which is why I'm confused

 

[shinksma]

The pickups did not sound very normal, very straty, and the piezo sounded bitey and distorted.

Piezo bitey and distorted sounds like a bad battery. You say you swapped it, but try another just in case. If still bad, then I would suspect something inside the electronics is drawing off voltage/current, maybe a mild short or a loose connection / bad solder joint, and the battery voltage isn't getting through.

Have you tried both output jacks? You will get just the piezo signal if you plug into that jack, and if you plug a dummy plug (spare cable) into the piezo jack, you'll get just the mag pup out the "mag" jack.

The mag pups being strat-like could be just a pickup height issue - how are the pickups relative to your other HB? I assume your other HB doesn't have a piezo?

What year is this new-to-you HB w/ piezo?

And finally, try it side-by-side with your other HB into your favorite amp, mag pickup mode only.

 

[shinksma]

Ooh, a couple more questions:

Do you get the distorted piezo sound from each individual string or any particular string, or only when you strum a group of them? Maybe something went weird with the trim-pot mini-PCB inside.

And: does the blend knob blend everything in nicely? i.e. at one extreme you get the mag only sound, and at the other piezo only, and in-between you get an expected mix?

And finally: maybe you just need to spray contact cleaner into the jacks, knobs, and switches.

 

[vchizzle]

Hmm, sure your cable is good? Just trying to eliminate anything else. Are you plugging straight in the amp?

 

[solacematt]

In class right now. Thankfully I'll be home at 5 so I can actually plug into my rig at regular volume.
I will try another new battery as well, but the regular pickups sound bitey/straty also. I will match the pickup height to my other HB too. I honestly wasn't expecting any issues since the fiddle belonged to a collector and is pristine.

 

[LJD]

Make sure your bridge ground is in tact.

 

[CVS]

I was playing 2 PRS Hollowbody's in a store recently. One of the guitars had an issue similar to what you were describing. The store manager took the guitar away, gave to his technician and in 15 minutes the guitar was fixed! He said while the battery was fine, it was not connected properly. Hope your problem is as easy to fix as this one was.

 

[C&M Music - Lafayette]

I just want to put out there if you are talking about that pretty green/turqouise HBII you have going in the other thread. If so, the knobs appear to be speed knobs and not the stock ones. In any case, something else may not be stock internally with this guitar and a qualified tech who is knowledgeable about PRS should take a look at it. I am concerned about your problem. Perhaps, a polite call may be in order to determine if any mods were done to the guitar. I will say the archtops are mild pickups (if those are what is in it) and you could be expecting something that they cannot deliver.

 

[solacematt]

I just want to put out there if you are talking about that pretty green/turqouise HBII you have going in the other thread. If so, the knobs appear to be speed knobs and not the stock ones. In any case, something else may not be stock internally with this guitar and a qualified tech who is knowledgeable about PRS should take a look at it. I am concerned about your problem. Perhaps, a polite call may be in order to determine if any mods were done to the guitar. I will say the archtops are mild pickups (if those are what is in it) and you could be expecting something that they cannot deliver.

Unfortunatly I don't have the hang tag with me with the serial, otherwise yes I would definitely call PRS and see if they may be able to give me more info. I ABéd my regular McCarty HB against the new one through the same Fender tweed amp, same tuning, same cable just guitar through amp and the new green sounds noticeably brighter. I'm not sure if this is a wiring issue or what, but something seems odd still. The Piezo is finally sounding better, but the pickups sound very different. I would think it would sound identical considering they are the same pickups. I actually really love the McCarty Archtop pickups.

 

[shinksma]

I'm sure this is obvious, but are you sure you have the pickups you think you should have? Maybe the archtops got swapped out for something else when the speed-knobs were added - with covers they all look the same (-ish).

 

[solacematt]

I'm sure this is obvious, but are you sure you have the pickups you think you should have? Maybe the archtops got swapped out for something else when the speed-knobs were added - with covers they all look the same (-ish).

What a lunch hour. Called up the store I bought it from to get the serial, called up PRS and spoke with Shaun (nice guy). Some colors actually came with the black knobs over the amber ones. As for the pickups, I'll take the strings off today and unscrew the pickups so I can check and make sure they are in fact the originals. Even if they are Artist package they are awfully clean and I just chalked that up to the guitar formally belonging to a collector, so I guess it is a possibility that these are not originals. Shaun however said that it could also be a difference of woods between this and my other HB. I did bring up though that the ZM semi-hollow sounds pretty close to my HB and he said that those pickups are voiced closer to LP's and that's why. So I guess I'll have more answers later on tonight.

 

[shinksma]

Another thing to keep in mind - two guitars, side by side in the "production line", from the same types of woods, in theory made identically, can sound different. Differences are generally less with solid bodies, more with acoustics, and hollowbodies are right in between I suppose.

So maybe you are just encountering the differences between that slab of mahogany sandwiched by those slabs of maple, attached to that beam of mahogany for a neck, vs. the other slabs/beam, which undoubtedly came from different trees of different ages harvested in different years.

 

[vchizzle]

Another thing to keep in mind - two guitars, side by side in the "production line", from the same types of woods, in theory made identically, can sound different. Differences are generally less with solid bodies, more with acoustics, and hollowbodies are right in between I suppose.

So maybe you are just encountering the differences between that slab of mahogany sandwiched by those slabs of maple, attached to that beam of mahogany for a neck, vs. the other slabs/beam, which undoubtedly came from different trees of different ages harvested in different years.

Agree 100%. Hollowbodies are going to vary more from one to the next. Yet, from Matt's initial post, it seems like there was more to it than just different sounding. Hoping you figure something out, it's a beauty!