<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When musicians compare “piezos” to “transducers,” they are actually distinguishing between under-saddle piezo pickups and soundboard contact transducers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piezo Pickups consist of piezoelectric crystals or ceramic strips placed directly beneath the bridge saddle. When string vibrations press down on the saddle, the physical stress alters the crystal, creating an electrical voltage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transducer (Contact) Pickups are sensors that function similar to a microphone. They are often attached directly to the inside or outside of the instrument’s soundboard (the body of the guitar) rather than under the strings. Instead of reading direct pressure, they pick up the sympathetic vibrations and acoustic movement of the wood itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piezo Tone: Piezos are revered for their crisp, clear, and articulate sound. Because they sample the string vibrations directly at the saddle, they provide a very high-frequency response with a sharp, percussive attack. This makes them excellent for cutting through a dense live mix, though some players find this directness can result in a harsh, “quacky” tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Transducer Tone: By capturing the resonance of the wood, contact transducers produce a much warmer, deeper, and natural “woody” tone. They offer a lush representation of the whole instrument rather than just the strings. However, they often lack the sharp definition of a piezo and can sound muddy without careful EQing. Another drawback is that as one plays the instrument any touching or tapping of the body of the instrument can translate into noise picked up by the transducer. If you move a lot while you play this might be unwanted noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have used both of these pickups and in my experience transducers will give you a more accurate and true guitar sound but they are very susceptible to feedback. I use a feedback buster every time I amplify with my transducer pickup guitar. I have three guitars with piezo pickups and all three are great on stage and very resistant to feedback. The tradeoff is the “quacky” sound you get with a piezo pickup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My take is that most people don’t really notice the difference. In my experience the only people who notice the slight quacky-ness sound are audiophiles sensitive to true sound or musicians who are familiar with the differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As always I strongly suggest you go to your local guitar shop and try them out for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Keep on Rockin !<\/p>\n\n\n\n
JohnnyO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When musicians compare “piezos” to “transducers,” they are actually distinguishing between under-saddle piezo pickups and soundboard contact transducers. Piezo Pickups consist of piezoelectric crystals or ceramic strips placed directly beneath the bridge saddle. When string vibrations press down on the saddle, the physical stress alters the crystal, creating an electrical voltage. Transducer (Contact) Pickups are … Continue reading “Piezo or Transducer Pickups”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guitar-setup-and-repair","category-instrument-and-music-gear-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148\/revisions\/152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyozelius.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}