Members Michael Ratt Posted July 17, 2014 Members Share Posted July 17, 2014 Greetings from the low end folks... I'm a bass player in Toronto, I have a Jasmine by Takamine Acoustic Bass Guitar, model number ES100C-4, and I'm being told that there's a chance that because of the guitar's age, at least 14 years at this point, acquiring a replacement pickup for it, even from Takamine, may be something of a challenge. Would any of you knowledgeable players out there know if there's a comparable "other brand" that I might be able to substitute? Thanks in advance for any help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vito Corleone Posted July 17, 2014 Members Share Posted July 17, 2014 Jasmine Takamine? Isn't that an Asian Porn Star? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 17, 2014 Members Share Posted July 17, 2014 Piezo elements are easy to find and very inexpensive (easily under $10). What you have to do is measure its length. Its likely they used a longer one under the bridge because of the wider string spacing. Get a ruler and post it here and I should be able to find a good replacement in minutes.You can buy a dozen of them for $5 on ebay but you really want to be sure they are long enough so you don't have dead notes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted July 18, 2014 Members Share Posted July 18, 2014 You could try one of those soundboard mounted transducers like here http://www.fishman.com/products/filter/type:pickups I haven't done it but I don't see why it wouldn't work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 18, 2014 Members Share Posted July 18, 2014 You could try one of those soundboard mounted transducers like here http://www.fishman.com/products/filter/type:pickups I haven't done it but I don't see why it wouldn't work Soundboard pickups tend to be more prone to feedback and besides the OP already has the bridge set up for an undersaddle pickup. WRGKMC is right that pretty much any UST will work but personally I wouldn't go super cheap. Also, some have individual piezo elements, designed for six strings rather than four. A good percentage though, like the Shadow UST I installed in my Ibanez, are simply one single unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 18, 2014 Members Share Posted July 18, 2014 Those disk transducers sound awful. I put on in my acoustic and its essentially useless. The farther from the bridge, the more re-vibration occurs. Its like a reverb spring, the sound from the strings travels through the wood and by the time it gets to the element, its lost a good deal of highs and lows leaving a nasty midrange, telephone type tone. The under saddle transducers produce the widest frequency response. The Built in EQ is properly mated with it too so you really don't want to reinvent the wheel here. $2~$5 and this bass is fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted July 18, 2014 Members Share Posted July 18, 2014 The Baggs Element will work. Haven't heard one in a bass but would not hesitate to install one. It's long continuous "rope" type under saddle pickup that will fit anything. It's my fav under saddle pickup, Gibson puts em in the J45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 18, 2014 Members Share Posted July 18, 2014 The Baggs Element will work. Haven't heard one in a bass but would not hesitate to install one. It's long continuous "rope" type under saddle pickup that will fit anything. It's my fav under saddle pickup' date=' Gibson puts em in the J45.[/quote'] It would be difficult to find only the Piezo element which is all he needs. The preamp for guitar are voiced for guitar strings. It wouldn't make sense to spend $150 and buy a whole preamp system just to get the element. On a Bass, the EQ is voiced for an octave lower so an EQ will have a low boost somewhere around 100HZ, mids in the 250~1K range and highs in the 2~5K ranges. Guitar uses higher frequencies. On an acoustic the bass may be 200~500hz, mids 1~3K and Highs 4~6K with a presence that boosts the frequencies up to 10~12K. This is just the preamp however. The elements themselves are fairly full frequency. A Piezo has no problem producing the highs, its the lows I'd be worried about. This site does have elements for bass and many other instruments. I bought the one for my acoustic here. again the size if the key item. Pulling the preamp out and checking the connector is important too. Most use the 1/8" jack that just plugged into the unit. Others are solder connections. If its a solderd connection then you just clip the end off and solder it. These are made by Artec. They are imports but I've bought allot of Artec stuff and its usually as good if not better then some stock stuff. These are pricy but at least you have the specs and know what you're getting. http://www.guitarfuel.com/under_saddle_transducer.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 19, 2014 Members Share Posted July 19, 2014 The Baggs Element will work. Haven't heard one in a bass but would not hesitate to install one. It's long continuous "rope" type under saddle pickup that will fit anything. It's my fav under saddle pickup' date=' Gibson puts em in the J45.[/quote'] Don't know how true this is, it's from an eBay ad http://www.ebay.com/itm/LR-Baggs-Ele...item540c1a3a38: Note: This pickup requires a matching LR Baggs preamp to operate correctly, it is not suitable as a standalone pickup and will not work with other preamps. The preamp is not included with this pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted July 20, 2014 Members Share Posted July 20, 2014 Those disk transducers sound awful. I put on in my acoustic and its essentially useless. The farther from the bridge' date=' the more re-vibration occurs. Its like a reverb spring, the sound from the strings travels through the wood and by the time it gets to the element, its lost a good deal of highs and lows leaving a nasty midrange, telephone type tone. . . .[/quote'] In other words, you installed it incorrectly. A sound board transducer (SBT) is designed to be attached to the bridgeplate, directly under the saddle. If you install it properly, you don't have to worry about delay. The speed of sound in wood is 10,820-13,000 feet per second (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/sound-speed-solids-d_713.html). Let's split the difference and say 12,000 fps. A standard Martin style bridge is 11/32" (0.34375") thick (http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_...e.html#details). Let's allow another 0.4" for the saddle, top, and bridgeplate (typical top thickness is 0.1" or so, same for the bridgeplate, 0.2" of exposed saddle is fairly common) for a total of 0.74375" and round it off to 0.75" for easier math. That's 1/192,000 of a second (0.0000052083 seconds or about 1/192 millisecond) and since delay times are typically in milliseconds I really don't think that little delay is equivalent to "reverb". Granted, the saddle on a "good" acoustic guitar will be made of bone or maybe a synthetic like TUSQ and the speed of sound in those materials will probably be different than in wood so this is an approximation but it's pretty close. Attenuation of both lows and highs is negligible as well. Here's why: The sound of an acoustic guitar is the sound of the vibrating strings causing the top to vibrate. That vibration has to pass through the saddle and bridge to get to the top, just like it does to get to a SBT. Further, the whole top is vibrating and producing sound and different parts of the top are different distances from the bridge depending on the size and shape of the top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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