A versatile electric guitar is a must for modern musicians. As a performer, I often need a clean acoustic guitar tone in the middle of a set or song that pedals and different pickup combinations cannot emulate. Owning an electric guitar with a piezo pickup is how I achieve that. In this guide, I will help you find the best electric guitar with piezo at all price ranges.
Bottom-line up-front: Electric guitars with a piezo are an excellent solution for the modern guitarist that needs an acoustic-like tone on stage. The crisp, glassy sound of a piezo in an electric guitar is very useful for strumming and blending with the magnetics pickups for extra note separation.
Even though it can somehow imitate to a certain point an acoustic guitar and cut through the mix well, the tone of a piezo on an electric guitar by itself is very bright and lacks the warmth and low mids an acoustic has.
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If you already own an electric guitar with a piezo installed, this article will prove helpful with tips on how to get the best tone out of it.
A piezo pickup works by picking up the vibration of the string and instruments. Unlike a regular electric guitar pickup where the field created by the magnet and coil translates the string vibration into electrical signals, a piezo measures the pressure strings/instruments vibrations create an electrical current.
Typically, a piezo pickup is made out of compressed crystals that receive the vibration and send the signal to the preamp and then to the pedal, amp, or PA system. In electric guitars, a piezo picks up the guitar’s body, hardware, and string vibrations and translates those into an electrical signal.
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Since the signal is weak, it needs a battery-powered preamp to bring it to line level. Most piezo systems will require a 9v replaceable battery.
The electric guitars we are reviewing use a “piezo bridge, ” where the pickup is built-in in the bridge design. Your other pickups won’t affect the piezo’s tone, and there will be no hum noise since there are no magnets involved.
A piezo pickup on an electric guitar sounds very similar to the unplugged tone of the guitar itself; bright and crisp without any additional coloring. The quality of the piezo tone depends on your reasons for using it.
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If you are after a full-body acoustic guitar tone, piezo pickups won’t satisfy your needs. The reason why acoustic electric guitars with a piezo sound like an acoustic guitar is because of the unplugged tone of the instrument itself.
The solid-body electric guitar does not have a soundhole that ads resonance or depth to the sound and the piezo will amplify the almost ‘plain’ sound the guitar gives acoustically.
A piezo is great for players who need to add clarity to the clean sound of their electric and strum or pick without getting muddy. You will not have a full acoustic tone with mids and low end; however, you will have a bright glassy ringing that, in many cases, is just what you need to cut.
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There are many reasons why I used a piezo pickup other than faking my way into a song that needed some strumming.
There are many situations where a completely clean acoustic-like guitar tone is needed for gigging musicians. If you are the only guitar player in the band, backing up the singer with strummed chords sounds much better with a piezo than a single-coil pickup.
Fingerpicking and slapping the guitar sounds very authentic and percussive with a piezo installed. Slapping is very common in acoustic guitar as the sound of the hand against the muted string is much more rounded than slapping an electric one. A piezo can imitate that sound with some accuracy.
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Compressing the tone of the piezo, adding some warm mids and low end with a sparkle of reverb and chorus will make for a great tone. Not entirely an acoustic tone, but neither too far from a processed plugged-in acoustic guitar.
Another great reason you might need a Piezo pickup in an electric guitar is blending the clear piezo tone and processed magnetic pickups. Adding too much chorus, flanger, tremolo, or any other effect can make the tone lose note separation and not sound like a guitar at all. Adding a clean piezo tone to the mix with bring back the original guitar tone.
Yes, you can. The best option would be to change the bridge with a piezo bridge. They are slightly more expensive than normal bridges but worth it. The other option is to mod the guitar by installing a piezo under the bridge. It’s a tricky procedure that needs an experienced luthier who can work with the guitar’s electronics and wood.
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In both cases, you could either add a second output to the guitar or a modern mixed output, which could cost. Overall the first option of changing the bridge is the best for a better tone without much extra work.
All the models I picked are very playable, and their magnetic pickup tone is great for their style of music. One thing to note is that you should not buy a guitar only because of the installed piezo. Better pickup and neck will beat a guitar with average pickups and playability with a piezo bridge.
A quality PRS is an excellent guitar; however, you look at it. The SE Hollowbody II shares all the qualities of a premium PRS with an added PRS Adjustable Stoptail with Piezo. What sets this guitar apart from the other in the list is the richness of tone when using the piezo. A Hollowbody guitar acts as an acoustic guitar when it comes to resonating the tone and giving warmth to the instrument’s unplugged tone. The body shape and f-holes enhance the guitar’s acoustic properties, making it warmer and fuller.
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The guitar has two separate outputs, one for the 2 58/15 “S” humbucker pickups and another for a blend between the pickups and the piezo. This proves to be very handy as you can always plug the guitar in even if you don’t have any batteries for the piezo preamp.
Another valuable way to use both outputs is to route the signal in two different chains. You can run the magnetic pickups through an amp while connecting the piezo directly to a PA system.
The individual volume control for the piezo and pickups adds to the guitar’s versatility. Combining all this with the superb built quality and playability, I recommend this guitar for every intermediate/advanced player who can afford it.
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PRS SE Hollowbody II Piezo Electric Guitar | Amazon $1, 279.00 The SE Hollowbody II Piezocombines the balanced, clear, resonant tone of a hollowbody instrument with the power and stability of a solid-body electric guitar. Buy at Amazon Check availability on Reverb We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. 08/22/2023 09:10 am GMT
The Majesty features all the best elements Ernie Ball can fit into a guitar and is superbly versatile from the heaviest metal to clean crips tones. John Petrucci’s wide range of sounds among his discography is a testament to all the possible tones this guitar can achieve.
The Custom Music Man Floating Tremolo Bridge with Fishman Powerbridge Piezo Saddles is a unique build that blends perfectly with the hand-picked Dimarzio humbuckers .
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The piezo tone resonates with what the guitar body feeds it acoustically, so you will get a crisp, bright tone that might not sound full without any EQ of FX added. However, the main scope of the piezo in this guitar is the ability to blend it with the other pickups, which you can do effortlessly with the individual volume controls.
Considering the very high price, it’s no wonder that all the modern features such as locking tuners, active preamps with gain boost, and the best tonewoods and crafting quality are present in this model.
I recommend this guitar only for professionals that play metal or progressive music genres that require this much tona versatility and playability. In truth, you could, for the same price, purchase a very high-quality guitar with a piezo along with a good amp and some pedals.
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Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Majesty 6 Tiger Eye Electric Guitar | Musician's Friend Limited to only 300 guitars worldwide, the Ernie Ball Music Man John Petrucci Majesty Tiger Eye is an instrument that we be in serious demand among collectors and players alike. Check Price Check availability on Reverb We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.
It’s no wonder that a versatile guitarist like Alex Lifeson needed a piezo tone in his signature model. This Epiphone guitar is an affordable model fit for intermediate and advanced players who want warm , heavy Les Paul sound and bright, glassy cleans.
Somehow more limited in range than the PRS or Majesty, this Epiphone still offers a lot to modern players. This is a great rock guitar for vintage tone lovers that can go from dark and warm to aggressively distorted only by using the two humbuckers.
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