Can piezo pickups detect nylon strings?

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ubik55
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Can piezo pickups detect nylon strings?

Post by ubik55 »

I was just curious if anyone has ever tried stringing a Parker up with nylon classical guitar strings. Will the piezo pickups respond to them at all? Based on my understanding of how they actually work, my initial hunch is "no" but thought I'd double check here to be sure!
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mmmguitar
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Re: Can piezo pickups detect nylon strings?

Post by mmmguitar »

@ubik55



It works because the piezoelectric elements embedded in the saddles function via the downward pressure of the strings inducing current through mechanical stress. Aside from the extra hassle required to tie non-ball end nylon strings around the Fly bridge (if that's all you have to work with), the only thing I’d worry about is the Sperzel locking pins cutting the strings.

Disclaimer: I haven’t done this with any of my Flys; due to having a nylon simulation in my Roland unit. But I for certain would have strung one of them with nylons at some point, otherwise. I’ve also read of players using special nylon-wrapped strings with ferromagnetic cores - But, again, have no firsthand experience.
Summary of the Parker Guitars speculator market from 2020 onward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_fool_theory
ubik55
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Posts: 31
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:26 am

Re: Can piezo pickups detect nylon strings?

Post by ubik55 »

@mmmguitar
Okay wow this is great news. I guess my understanding of piezo pickups wasn't very accurate. I assumed they required an electromagnetic field to detect the vibration but I see now that's not the case. Wow so literally ANY type of string should work then. Okay then... now stringing up my Parker with multicolored rubber bands! :mrgreen:
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