Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: WezV on July 27, 2009, 11:30:49 PM

Title: concrete guitar
Post by: WezV on July 27, 2009, 11:30:49 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFyQXy74xz4

thoughts?

Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: 38thBeatle on July 27, 2009, 11:42:19 PM
Hmm, does sound pretty good if we can judge from that clip. Seems to make the construction of the guitar irrelevant -in other words how much of the sound is the guitar and how much is the pickups. I'm not complaining but if I had a high end acoustic I'd kind of want the amplified sound to be that and as little else as possible.Great, though, for we mere mortals with more modest instruments.
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: Afghan Dave on July 27, 2009, 11:46:23 PM
Do you remember that late 80s guitar that was supposed to be made from marble?

I think it was called the Au-rock or something similar.

Actually a Strat copy made from glued Gypsum with a Hohner graphite neck and EMGs

Died a death before 89 was out (I think)
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: Dreichlift on July 27, 2009, 11:50:35 PM
I remember an interview with Les Paul where he'd discovered he got the best sound from a piece of railroad track, until his mother asked him if he really wanted to carry it around. :lol:
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: JDC on July 27, 2009, 11:58:52 PM
you'll never get a neck heavy guitar if you make it like that one!!!

shame about the upper fret access ;)
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: Philly Q on July 28, 2009, 12:17:16 AM
I don't know what to say, other than it sounded really good!
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: MrBump on July 28, 2009, 06:46:37 AM
Stick a Warpig in that and it would be... ummm... really... heavy...
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: WezV on July 28, 2009, 09:19:14 AM
yeah, sounds nice doesnt it

but if you think about what a piezo should do its deigned to make a guitar sound like an acoustic whatever the body is made from... and it certainly does do that well

now i like the graphtech ghost system - which uses the graphtech saddles.  it seems to work well because the saddles impart a nice amount of warmth which takes some of the typical piezo shrillness away

this is a wooden bridge with wooden saddles so i assume its doing a similar thing, i do wonder how much the wooden bridge will soften the electric tone though. the graphtechs just about right but i cant help but think this will soften it a bit too much for really heavy stuff

interesting stuff though - it seems to prove how important saddle/bridge material is for a good piezo tone

Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: gwEm on July 28, 2009, 09:41:14 AM
i guess concrete is quite dense, maybe its naturally good sounding, hard to say. the guy was obviously proud of his pickups though. good find wez!
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 28, 2009, 12:35:03 PM
Didn't sound like an acoustic guitar though - sounded somewhere between a nylon acoustic and a clean electric humbucker tone.  I'm bearing in mind that the 'body' was a concrete slab, but still - not the best demo (imo).  I'd rather see what the guitar can do with an average quality acoustic - it's implied that since it sounds passable with a concrete block, a proper acoustic guitar will sound much better (which it probably will), but why not do a demo with an acoustic in the first place ???  :?

Anyway, I had a listen to some Parker Fly piezo demos on youtube that sounded much better, fwiw.

Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: WezV on July 28, 2009, 12:42:20 PM
Quote
I'd rather see what the guitar can do with an average quality acoustic - it's implied that since it sounds passable with a concrete block, a proper acoustic guitar will sound much better (which it probably will), but why not do a demo with an acoustic in the first place ??? 

its not designed to fit an acoustic though, its essentially a wooden tune-o-matic.  i suppose it could fit an archtop quite easily

i think its best to see them as an alternative sound rather than purely as acoustic emulation... after all, even in acoustics they rarely sound truly acoustic like unless you mix in another input like an internal mic

the high end parkers are pretty good for peizo tone, the lower priced ones sound awfull - not even worth bothering
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on July 28, 2009, 01:08:21 PM
Thats one way of turning a Tokai Breezysound to a Tokai Breeze-block sound
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: gingataff on July 28, 2009, 02:30:17 PM
Do you remember that late 80s guitar that was supposed to be made from marble?

I think it was called the Au-rock or something similar.

Actually a Strat copy made from glued Gypsum with a Hohner graphite neck and EMGs

Died a death before 89 was out (I think)

I remember seeing them in Guitarist, and I saw some at one of the guitar/music shows in London around then.
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: sgmypod on July 28, 2009, 08:49:52 PM
yeah asked price for the bridge pickup system $370 then shipping etc on top
Title: Re: concrete guitar
Post by: HTH AMPS on July 28, 2009, 09:40:01 PM
 :lol:  Seems I got the wrong end of the stick.  Again.

Any road, it still didn't sound as good as the Parker Fly piezos I've heard.