Any suggestions for a Dobro pickup?

[philbo]

I have a single cone dobro with a nickel-plated steel body, and was wondering if anybody has installed a pickup into one and what sort of luck they've had.

 

It would be desirable to have a volume control mounted on the body.

 

I'm very leary of feedback problems; unlike an acoustic guitar, you can't just plug up the holes...

 

Here is what it looks like:

[Lee Knight]

How about a high quality instrument mounted stage mic instead?

 

It ain't cheap but it is... great! Really. This little DPA stage instrument mic can be switched on the fly from mandolin to gut string acoustic, to your Taylor to your banjo to your Dobro. It has a feedback free, high quality, neutral sound. Really great sounding on everything. Smaller than it looks and needs no eq. These are really great. My multi-instrumentalist buddy uses one and literally switches instruments between songs in 5 seconds.

 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VO4099G/

 

[Tim Mayock]

I saw Buddy Emmons many years ago and he had a dobro emulator he used on his pedal steel. It sounded great! I know this does not help, but just wanted to say something. I don't have a good suggestion. Spend more money, buy another dobro with a system built into it. The economy needs your influx of capital. I won't tell the missus! I have a few instruments and if you do this, I won't feel so selfish and obsessive.

[philbo]

Thanks guys! The DPA looks really nice, but... it's pretty pricey; the dobro is the only all acoustic instrument I have (other than a wash board, a dulcimer, & similar toys...)

 

As for buying another dobro, I already have around 11 guitars, enough so some feel lonely and neglected from time to time. I never thought I'd have enough guitars, but, well, here I am...

 

I made the acquaintance of a dobro player (Rob Lumbard) performing at the Mid-Winter Blues fest in Des Moines last January; he swears by the Lace Sensor pickup he uses.

 

I've also considered a tiny electret or condenser mounted under the cone; I guess I'll see what other replies show up before I start experimenting with it.

[Huh?]

Schatten make great Gypsy Jazz guitar pickups so I feel sure their resonator pickup might sound pretty good.

 

http://www.schattendesign.com/resonator.htm

 

This National Hotplate has a Lollar single coil. Kinda cool......you take the original off and save it in case you ever sell the guitar down the road and want to keep the Hotplate...... and the Hotplate goes right on....no mods except maybe the output jack/strap pin..

 

http://store.nationalguitars.com/hot-plate.aspx

[philbo]

Wow, these look great! Thanks.

[Huh?]

You are welcome. The Hotplate looks like it will suit your needs as it has the volume etc right on the plate....and Lollar pickups are great so I bet it sounds phenomenal. Plus you just remove and keep the original plate in case you ever want to sell it as all original..... or you buy a better reso and want to use the Hotplate on it instead.

[Huh?]

The Schatten on the other hand looks like a good alternative 'cos it attaches directly under the biscuit bridge and you know it's going to get that cone sound. Tough call.

[philbo]

Yeah, I'm leaning toward the Schatten right now; since mine is not a National it'd be hard to confirm the hole patterns would match up for the Hot Plate. Though it wouldn't be that big of a deal to drill & tap new holes for it, I hate to do violence to my instrument like that.

[Huh?]

Even though these things are somewhat standard......I'd be almost sure they don't line up perfectly. Yeah I forgot you are dealing with metal. Just out of curiosity, do you think the original holes are actually tapped for machine screws or do you think it possible they just used sheet metal/self tapping screws?

 

Anyway...best of luck with it. Let me know how it sounds, whichever you choose.

[philbo]

I've had it apart twice already while setting up the action (mostly shaving down the bridge); the screw holes are definitely tapped. I plan to touch each thread with a dot of fingernail polish next time so I won't lose any of the little machine screws.

[Huh?]

I used to use fingernail polish or even enamel paint sometimes, on the head of a screw to be able to visually see it had not come loose.For use directly on the threads why not get some #242 blue Loctite? NOT the red or green. Blue Loctite #242 Threadlocker. Sounds like something Anderton might do.

 

http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/10/15/t_lkr_blue/overview/Loctite-Threadlocker-Blue-242.htm

 

A tiny drop on the threads before installation does the trick and the blue is designed for disassembly in mind....comes apart well although you want to be precise with the screwdriver, have the right size screwdriver tip and make sure you do not slip and round out the Phillips head.

 

Use the red and kiss your screw's ass goodbye. Now why does that sound so wrong? Red requires heat to take apart.

[philbo]

I used to use fingernail polish or even enamel paint sometimes, on the head of a screw to be able to visually see it had not come loose.For use directly on the threads why not get some #242 blue Loctite? NOT the red or green. Blue Loctite #242 Threadlocker. Sounds like something Anderton might do. http://www.loctiteproducts.com/p/10/15/t_lkr_blue/overview/Loctite-Threadlocker-Blue-242.htm A tiny drop on the threads before installation does the trick and the blue is designed for disassembly in mind....comes apart well although you want to be precise with the screwdriver, have the right size screwdriver tip and make sure you do not slip and round out the Phillips head. Use the red and kiss your screw's ass goodbye. Now why does that sound so wrong? Red requires heat to take apart.

 

Yep, I use all of them from time to time at work. The advantage of FN polish is I can get it for free from my girlfriend..

[philbo]

Ok, I went the super cheap route: Radio Shack parts!

 

I was in a hurry to get something installed since I had 2 gigs over the weekend and am playing primarily slide now. The local guitar center had a couple things, but nothing like what I was looking for, and all over $200.

 

So I bought a piezo alarm transducer, cut the plastic case off of it and attached it to the rezo cone with a couple lines (arcs, actually, it's round) of gel superglue.

I spliced the two wires from the piezo to shielded cable, ran it to the outer terminals of a 10K audio taper volume pot, and from the wiper (center terminal) of the pot to the output jack.

 

Total Cost, including a spare piezo pickup: $30

It's got fairly good output level; if I sit in front of my guitar amp it'll feed back when at very loud levels. But if I'm 6 or more feet away, it isn't really a problem.

 

The sound? Pretty damn screechy. Right now I'm compensating with the tone controls on the 'clean' channel of my amp: Bass 2/3 of the way up, treble at zero. It sounds pretty good like that, very much like the acoustic sound of the instrument, but I have to be careful to reset the controls when swapping guitars during a gig. Or use the 'distort' channel for other guitars.

 

For the future, I plan to remove the cone with attached transducer, put it a couple feet in front of one of my studio monitors & play pink noise into it at 100 dB or so, and capture a spectral plot of the system response, then use the data to design a passive low pass filter to be installed into the dobro.

 

Since the piezo has adequate output, I believe I'll be able to make a 2 or 3 pole filter without suffering too much from the insertion loss from the filter. One of the filter poles might end up using a 2nd pot for the resistive element, so I can use it as a tone control.

 

If/when I get around to it, I'll post circuit details & component part numbers if there's any interest from other forumites...

 

 

Oh yeah, I found out the body of my dobro is not nickel-plated steel. It's nickel-plated brass. That really helped out with drilling holes for the pot & the jack; my left wrist is still really weak from the surgery I had on it a couple months ago (which is why I'm playing slide now).