thin transducer (under the saddle): where to buy them ?

[kkmm]

I worked on a guitar recently and found that it has a very thin "under the saddle transducer". It's too thin such that the action is affected extremely little whether it is installed or removed.
I have been using 2.5mm thick transducer and this requires deepen the saddle slot with a router (quite some work). With a thin transducer, this work can be avoided.
Question: where can I get these thin transducer.

[pops1]

I have never seen one that thin. I have never liked the sound of the under the saddle transducers as compared to ones that are installed on the bridge plate. I would be curious as to what you find. Does it work? How does it sound?

[Mandobart]

I know there are several models of under saddle pu's out there, and the people that design and make these know more than I. However, as I've said before, I don't think we get the best sound out of an element that is constantly under strain. The piezoelectric effect simply means that some natural and man-made materials exhibit a small (millivolt range) potential when vibrated or placed under strain. Likewise applying a voltage to such elements results in physical vibration (that's where crystal oscillators originated in the early days of radio).

Anyhow, if an element is constantly under strain, that biases its ability to vibrate further. The smaller and thinner an element is, the less output it can provide. For these reasons I've always used piezo pu's placed under the soundboard where they are free to respond to soundboard vibrations. These are very easy to install on a guitar - much less work than routing out the saddle slot.

[pops1]

I dislike under the saddle simply because they sound the same no matter what guitar you put them in, unlike under the top which will sound at least similar to the guitar they are in. They are designed to be compressed and that gives them the electrical signal to send to the preamp.

[DHopkins]

Pick-Up The World makes one that fits under the bridge. They cut it to match the bridge. I've never used one but I've been in contact with people who have. They say it works great.

http://www.pick-uptheworld.com/ecommerce/mandolin-pickup-1ft.html

[Austin Bob]

I too have used Pick-Up The World in the past. Great company with fantastic customer service.

Well made and sturdy pickups, I had one for years on my oval. The only problem I ever had was the belt clip on the preamp broke after 4 or 5 years, and they sent a new one free of charge. Hard to beat that kind of service.

I've recently switched to K&K and find them to be ever so slightly less quacky sounding, but it all depends on the setting on your preamp as well as what kind of other instruments are in the mix.