serpoid138 Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 I have two JTV89F guitars which I have gigged for over 6 years, recently I’ve become unhappy with the tone which had become very scratchy and crazy loud compared to the Mags, then one string went dead, so I thought it was time to overhaul both guitars with new Piezo’s. I spoke to Graph Tech and they agreed to ship an order of twelve new Piezo’s for just shy of $300. They arrived after a few days and I made a start replacing them, little bit finicky but doable. I noticed the original connectors where colour coded, but the new ones didn’t have the connectors fitted but supplied loose a simple push on type but no colour coding. So I fitted each new unit and connected it to the multi pin as required. Once I completed the process I restrung etc and fired it up, no change and the low E volume was crazy low. My question is are the Piezo’s unique to different strings, if so they should have been identified as such, and secondly I might have the connections to the board the wrong way around on the multi pin. I am about to make a start on the second guitar and that will probably answer the second question but not the first, any help would be appreciated. Cheers Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverhead Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 I did the same with a V300 several years ago. Actually I had a guitar tech do it for me, but I don't recall that there was any distinction in the piezos vis-a-vis strings. They were all identical and I'm sure the tech did not make any distinction among them. I suspect there's an installation issue with that one piezo, perhaps soldering or just dirt. It's also possible that the piezo is bad off the shelf. One thing was immediately obvious - the Graphtech piezos deliver a stronger signal than the original LR Baggs. I had to adjust for that in many presets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted October 5, 2023 Share Posted October 5, 2023 "... are the Piezo’s unique to different strings" --- no, but the saddles are. Saddles are grouped in pairs (outer, inner and mid) to conform to the neck radius spec at the bridge. Same piezos in each saddle, but each saddle pair height is different. "... the low E volume was crazy low" --- it is probably connected to the incorrect connector pin. Each string piezo has to got to the correct connector for that string. "... I might have the connections to the board the wrong way around on the multi pin. " --- more than likely. As stated above, they have to be in the correct order for that string. Yes, it knows which string is which. And can't go any deeper than that,... it's an NDA thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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