Along with the almost indescribable pleasure derived from making piezo pickups come significant savings. Below I’ve compared the prices of three commercial piezo pickups to the cost of making your own. I chose three pickups very similar to my piezo disc pickups, i.e. piezo discs soldered to a cable with a jack or plug at the other end. The price for the Hot Spot is from Experimental Musical Instruments; for the next two, from Amazon. None of the prices include shipping.
$32 | |
$54.95 | |
$109.95 | |
$65.63 |
Now consider the approximate costs of making your own:
Piezo disc | $0.50 |
Shielded Cable | $3.00 |
Jack or Plug | $1.50 |
Solder, foil, etc | $1.00 |
Total | $6.00 |
The cost for the homemade pickup is per unit, assuming you make two to four, and thus decreases the more you make. I haven't included the cost of tools you might need (soldering iron, wire clippers, etc.). But, if you didn't have them, their costs would likely be comparable to the shipping you would pay for any of the commercial pickups.
I don't own any of the commercial pickups and maybe they sound great. But, I would be surprised if they sound 5X to 18X as good as the homemade pickups. It's likely these manufacturers purchase their piezo materials from the same source I do or you would. In regard to discs specifically, I haven't come across any "really good" expensive discs. They all seem to be intended for cheap buzzers.
Another benefit I came across recently is that because piezo-electric materials don't pick up sound, multi-tracking is headphone-free. For any successive track, I can play along with my monitors. Also, I can record while my 5-year olds run around the house screaming. These benefits would accrue however, even if you paid $110 for piezo disc with a wire soldered to it.
2 comments:
I had been wondering "can't you just buy these at Radio Shack or online someplace?" and this post answered that question thoroughly. Thanks.
You can buy cheap buzzers at Radio Shack that contain piezo elements. You have to pry the buzzers out of the cases with a screwdriver, but otherwise they're just the same as other elements you can buy. The advantage to these is that they have wires already soldered to the element. So, you can use the already soldered wires (I wouldn't as they're flimsy) or remove them but take advantage of the solder on the element and attach a good cable.
You also can buy discs alone from companies like Electronics Goldmine or Mouser. They're cheaper -- about $0.40 each. Piezo film and cable are more expensive, but very available.
February 19, 2008 8:05 PM
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