Piezo Pickups

Piezo pickups work differently to magnetic pickups as they don’t use the interaction of a string and magnetic field to create the sound. Instead the pressure of a string vibrating is measured and this is what causes an electric current. The vibrations of the string and the tonal qualities of the wood and the bridge all come together to produce an accurate representation of how the guitar actually sounds. This is one reason why electric guitars sound similar to acoustic guitars which also use piezo pickups. Unlike magnetic pickups which are clearly visible underneath the strings piezo pickups aren’t. This is because they are actually contained within the guitars bridge. A really nice feature of electric guitars fitted with magnetic and piezo pickups are the ability to select which pickup type can be used. The two pickups can also be blended together. Therefore, an electric guitar fitted with piezo’s can increase the versatility of the guitar with the increased amount of sounds which are available to a guitarist.