1913 A with a B Berry Hot Dot I am thinking of swapping out?

[Mike Bunting]

you can also make your own piezo transducers... but making a DYN or a C411 would be a whole new dimension.

Personally, I do feel the DYN and the C411 are superior in a number of ways, but still do not match the results you can achieve with a good microphone (whether stand mounted or instrument mounted). It is all about compromise... cost vs. performance, feedback resistance, convenience, etc.

Many years ago Mandolin World News was selling a piezo disk for $5, you could solder the wiring yourself. It worked OK as I remember.
Agree on the AKG C411, it's my standby in case I have to plug in.

[westsideryan]

Many years ago Mandolin World News was selling a piezo disk for $5, you could solder the wiring yourself. It worked OK as I remember.
Agree on the AKG C411, it's my standby in case I have to plug in.

I haven't really looked into the AKG much as it looks like I wouldn't be able to do a permanent internal install.

As far as piezos go, there are many different piezo disks. I don't know all of the technical specifics, but my old bass player purchased a bunch from different suppliers. He did some sort of electronic test in which he found elements from even the same supplier to be different from each other. I am just saying that K&K and JJB piezos are most likely a little different than your $5 piezo. I am guessing that they are picked to be within certain tolerances and to be of a certain thickness. I do know that the K&K piezos sounded better than the Radio Shack ones in the Taylor that he was testing them out in.

[almeriastrings]

I haven't really looked into the AKG much as it looks like I wouldn't be able to do a permanent internal install.

I have a permanent C411 install in my Ellis

Well, semi permanent, anyway. Exits via a 'Vintage Jack' so I could remove it with no damage if If wanted to.

I have two cable options. One is simply where I cut the supplied XLR adapter cable and connected it to a right-angle mini-jack, the other is slightly more involved in that I made up a mini-jack to 1/4" TRS cable that I run into a Headway EDB-2 and use the 'Tip+' switch to provide the bias voltage direct from that. Both methods work perfectly. I like it much better than any piezo-based system I've heard to date (and that is an awful lot of them).

Yes, discs do vary, but there are reliable, high quality sources and even those are (frankly) dirt cheap. $5 is actually seriously expensive for a piezo disk. You can buy a hundred for less than $50 easily.... including shipping...

The best ones (at least in terms of reliability and consistency) are those destined for scientific measurement purposes. Even those are only a few bucks each. They are usually available in 15mm, 18mm and 20mm sizes.

Do I think there is a real performance difference between say, a $50 or $100 transducer and one assembled from a decent quality 'bulk' disc?

No.

They will be nicely wired and encapsulated, however - and while you can do this yourself - if you are not experienced with electronics, it may well be worth the extra to you.

[Teak]

Many years ago Mandolin World News was selling a piezo disk for $5, you could solder the wiring yourself. It worked OK as I remember.
Agree on the AKG C411, it's my standby in case I have to plug in.

Hey, I remember buying one of those!

I installed it by sandwiching it between pieces of electrical tape on the top of my beautiful, wine-colored Givens mandolin. I soldered the wires into a jack that I put down by the strap peg on the bottom. I got some amplification, but being a novice in terms of pre-amps, post-amps, and etc., I gave up fairly quickly and kind of regret marring the mandolin's top. Thirty or more years later, you can still see the tape residue on the mandolin.

[westsideryan]

Hey, I remember buying one of those!

I installed it by sandwiching it between pieces of electrical tape on the top of my beautiful, wine-colored Givens mandolin. I soldered the wires into a jack that I put down by the strap peg on the bottom. I got some amplification, but being a novice in terms of pre-amps, post-amps, and etc., I gave up fairly quickly and kind of regret marring the mandolin's top. Thirty or more years later, you can still see the tape residue on the mandolin.

You should get yourself some Goo Gone!

[westsideryan]

With a little heat from a soldering iron and a little finesse I was able to remove the jack and the pickup from the mandolin in functioning condition!