Disk Pickup Placement (JJB)

[Ausdoerrt]

Hey folks,

So I finally got the JJB 'Marcato' pickup system in the mail today. Just in time for the concert on Sunday!

Not a lot of time to experiment though, so thought I'd try and crowd-source some knowledge. What, in y'all's experience, is the best placement for the two piezo disks?

I'll be using my The Loar 220M, and I'll need to be heard reasonably well over the drums, bass, overdriven guitar, and accordion. I do play both tunes and chops, so I'll need decent volume on the treble side. So, I was thinking one to the left and one to the right of the bridge? Though the sample pic on the JJB site shows both discs on the bass side...

Or should I consider putting them on the inside rather than on the top of the soundboard?

[Mandobart]

I have always mounted the piezo heads internally, underside of soundboard as close as possible to one being directly under each bridge foot contact point. If you're going external it's better to be on the nut side of the bridge vs the tailpiece side.

[Tavy]

+1 on what mandobart says, if you can superglue them in place (use the gel version) even better.

You can also plug them into an amp and then move them around the top one at a time rather like a stethoscope (just hold against the instrument) until you find a decent response. Make a mental note of the "sweet spot" then do the same with the other one.

[Ausdoerrt]

Well it came with the two-sided adhesive thing, so I'll probably use that for now rather than jump onto superglue. I mean, I did get the carpenter jack version, so keeping it easily removable sort of makes sense.

I'll try moving em around, question is how representative that'd be of the sound when actually fully attached.


But thanks for the advice! I'll try the top, bass+treble, nut side placement first, as it seems logical to me.

[mandroid]

Or Blue tack temporary mount .. Move it around on the outside till you find a sweet spot
Playing it,,

then mount it opposite that spot on the inside . If You want.