trying to decide on a Piezo: 22 or 24?

SundanceSanDiego

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want to make some reasonably acoustic sounds and getting ready to pull the trigger on a Custom 22 or 24 Piezo (newer model, not P22 or P24).

love to hear any thoughts/opinions on whether the usual tonal differences between a Custom 22/24 are any different for the Piezo models - for example, does the Custom 24 Piezo sound less 'woody' that the Custom 22 Piezo due to the location of the pickup? or do the Piezo sensors in the bridge tend to 'neutralize' the differences?

Also curious about any folks who regularly switch from a 22 to 24 fret guitar and find it easy or not....my other guitar is a Les Paul Traditional, so I'm comfortable with 22 frets and don't often play high enough to really need the 24 for those extra 2 frets, but as a way of expanding the range of sounds I can make with my 2 guitars, maybe the 24 offers more? But I don't want to fumble around feeling lost if the 24s feel differently than the 22s...

I dunno - help a newbie to the forum out?
 
I only have a P22 with stoptail, so I cannot comment on a piezo trem.
That being said, I often switch between a Mira 24 fret with wide/thin neck and other 22 fret guitars with wide/fat or Pattern etc.
That's just me though, and everybody is different.
My fave lately is Pattern Vintage, or the Silver Sky neck. And I favour the 22 fret overall.
 
Its really subjective as far as the frets, I look at the neck markers as a grid so 24 fret guitars screw me up when playing up there so I stick to 22 frets myself but plenty of guys switch with no problem, I also like the cleaner look of a 22 fret guitar....again all personal preference ….not sure if that's what youre looking for? I thought the piezo was under the saddles anyway?
 
When I bought mine it came down to what I was comfortable playing, and that was a 22 fret guitar....so I got a P22. I was pleased. It has 57/08s, which I love, and the piezo sounds great in the tremolo bridge.
 
I have a P22 stoptail with 57/08s and a CU24 piezo trem with 85/15s. I love them both, but on the electric side they are somewhat apples and oranges due to the pickups, number of frets and different bridges. The piezo sounds for both are very close, particularly as I run them through impulse responses to get more realistic acoustic sounds. The 22 vs. 24 fret thing makes very little difference for me, though I'm sure it has some influence on the neck pickup tone. If I could only have one, it would probably be the CU24, but only due to it having a trem and therefore being more versatile. If I were you, I would choose based on the electric features you are after, the piezo will be great regardless.
My favorite of the two is whichever I am playing at the moment.......
 
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For the regular pickups, if you ever use them outside of the piezo, a 22 will match closer to an LP while a 24 will match closer to an SG.
Two extra frets shift that neck pickup back so your tones will shift as well. Find a Strat and switch between neck and middle pickup and that's the kind of positional-tone-shift you can expect (most Strats use the same pickup kohms and magnet in both neck and middle, while you introduce more variables comparing two guitars to each other LP vs SG).

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I have both a P22 and a P24 trem. Both guitars will function as you'd expect in the magnetic pickup tonal realm. The piezo tones will shine best with the stoptail, using the separate piezo out to an acoustic amp, and using thicker strings, like .011s. Jumping from .010 to .011 on the piezo is like night and day to me. The trem bridge also has a different saddle and break angle, and the movement of the tremelo bridge is detrimental to good acoustic tone. It squeaks. Both are sensational instruments, it just depends on what you feel is more important: having a wang dipper, or commanding acoustic tones better.
 
thanks all - much appreciated! The Custom 22 Piezo I'm looking at doesn't have a StopTail, so it's Trem either way (which is fine by me). Sounds like this boils down to the basic 22 v 24 elements, so I'm leaning 22 at the moment.
 
I've had a couple of PRS piezo guitars. They do sound better acoustically with 0.011 and a wound third. But I found that I can get a good enough tone with 0.011 unwound third or 0.010.

Amping is key. In a pinch, a clean channel on an electric amp is decent. Otherwise I run the piezo to a powered speaker or FOH. I add delay and reverb to it as well, but try to keep a flat response.
 
who the heck can play 11's - certainly NOT ME. even 9.5's give me a hard time.
I play 12s on my acoustics (and I can bend all the strings a full step or more), 11s on my piezo HB. Not sure what's on my P24 or P245. 10s on everything else, unless it is an SE and might still have stock 9s on it - sheer laziness not swapping them yet. My SE 7-stringers have 10s on them, IIRC.

I found 10s to be impossible, and used only 9s, until I started playing regularly - like every day, with 3 hour gigs and 2 hours of band practice weekly. Now 9s feel like cooked spaghetti noodles.
 
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