Electronic Hardware

The SDT1 is a piezo film pickup, fully shielded, in a nicely configured ready-to use form. The film itself is 5/8″ by 1-1/8″. We sell it two ways: 1) Plug-and-play ready, including a standard 1/4″ jack at end of the 18″ cable ($39). 2) No jack — the end of the cable is left bare, so you can run it to any sort of jack, plug, or other destination you wish ($32). Piezo-electric film has several advantages over traditional rigid contact pickups, as described in the “More Info” pages for this and the other piezo film products we sell.

For those who want to wire up their own contact pickups, we offer these piezo films in three sizes: 3/8″ x 1″, 1/2″ x 2-1/2″, and 3/4″ x 6″. Piezo-electric film has several advantages over traditional rigid contact pickups, as described in the “More Info” pages for this and the other piezo film products we sell.

Quantity discounts are available for these items. Please call or email for information.

Piezo cable isn’t cable meant for peizos; rather, it’s piezo material in the form of a cable. It can be used for under-the-saddle pickups in guitars and similar instruments, placed in the bridge slot under the saddle. We sell it by the inch (a typical guitar bridge installation requires about 5″ of cable).

Quantity discounts are available for these items. Cick on “More Details” below for information.

Piezo cable is sold by the inch. In the “quantity” field, indicate how many inches you want.

Affordable, durable, excellent-sounding ready-to-use piezo pickups from K&K Sound, suitable for use on almost any instrument with a vibrating surface you can attach it to. We sell two models: the Hot Spot ($32), with a single sensing element, and Twin Spot ($54) with dual sensing elements.

For more information on different types of pickups, their uses, and the pre-amp question, click here.

Choose Hot Spot (single sensing element) or twin spot (dual sensing elements)

Sorry, this item is no longer in stock and we’re not sure when or if we’ll be able to make it available again.

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Electro-magnetic pickups are the sort used in electric guitars and basses. In addition, they can be used on any instrument in which the vibrating body is of steel (and there are ways to make them work with many non-steel instruments as well). Our unique spot pickups are suitable for all sorts of applications calling for anywhere from one to a great many small pickups. Comes with complete documentation on use and installation.

Quantity discounts are available for this item. Click on “More Details” below for information.

Magnetic pickups are the sort used in electric guitars. They can also be used on other sorts of string instruments, as well as kalimbas, tuning fork instruments, or anything else in which the vibrating elements are made of steel. These oversized pickups, six inches in length, are custom-made for Experimental Musical Instruments by Jason Lollar of Lollar Guitars. Their tone is excellent – full and clear, with good signal strength. [With apologies to our customers, the 8" length we have sold in the past is no longer available.]

This compact preamp, made by K&K Sound Systems, will improve the performance of contact pickups, magnetic pickups, and other high-impedance, low-level sources. (It will work with low-impedance microphone signals as well, but not optimally.)

The Powerjack, made by Fishman, is as small and unobtrusive as a preamp can be, making it suitable for mounting on or in an instrument. The package includes a battery clip for separate mounting of a standard 9-volt battery. The very high input impedance makes it ideal for piezo pickups, good for most magnetic pickups, not suitable for low-impedance microphones. Some soldering required.

This is the plug that you see at the ends of an electric guitar player’s guitar lead cord. It’s the standard connector for plugging instruments into amplifiers, mixers, effects processors, etc. All-steel casing provides shielding; excellent overall quality. Information sheet with wiring instructions included.

The picture shows the assembled plug on the left and the same plug disassembled to show components on the right.

This jack is the female counterpart to the standard quarter inch phone plug described above, designed to go at the end of a cable. Use this if you want to be able to connect your instrument using a standard musical instrument cable such as an electric guitar cord. All-steel casing provides shielding; excellent overall quality. Wiring instructions will be are included with your order. Note that this jack is from a different manufacturer than the similar shielded jacks we sold until recently. This new version is slightly less elegant in appearance, but just as dependable and rugged in quality, and a good bit less expensive for our customers.

The picture shows the assembled jack on the left, and the same jack disassembled to show components on the right.

This s a standard, quarter-inch phone jack, designed to be mounted on the body of an instrument or the casing of an electronic component. Use this if you want to be able to connect your instrument using a standard musical instrument cable. Wiring instructions included.

This volume control’s 250K Ohm resistance is suitable for the signal strength coming from either a typical piezo or typical magnetic pickup. It is “audio taper,” meaning that it provides a uniform rate of increase in perceived volume as you turn the knob. Complete wiring instructions included.

You can purchase this volume pot with or without the knob. Purchase it with the knob if you’re happy to use the functional but not fancy knob we offer. Purchase it without the knob if you prefer to look elsewhere for a knob in a different style.

This lightweight cable is suitable wherever you want light, flexible shielded wiring. Good for attaching to piezos, as well as most other pickup wiring other than the main exterior lead cable. Overall diameter .071″ (just over 1/16″). This sort of narrow shielded cable is difficult to find elsewhere if you’re not planning to buy huge quantities. So … get it here.

Quantity discounts are avalilable for this item. Click “More Details” below for information.
Sold by the foot. Indicate the number of feet you want in the quantity field.

This sturdy coaxial shielded cable is suitable as a lead cord for applications where there’ll be some wear and tear, such as the cord used for plugging a pickup or instrument into an external amp or preamp.

Quantity discounts are available for this product. Click “More Details” below for information.

Sold by the foot. Indicate the number of feet you want in the quantity field.