Sound Quality Differences between Electret Film (EMFIT) and Piezoelectric Under-saddle Guitar Pickups

Penttinen H, Tikander M. Sound Quality Differences between Electret Film (EMFIT) and Piezoelectric Under-saddle Guitar Pickups. In: AES Convention 120. Audio Engineering Society; 2006. Paper 6669. Available from: https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=13473

@inproceedings{Penttinen2006_13473,
  author = {Penttinen, Henri and Tikander, Miikka},
  title = {{Sound Quality Differences between Electret Film (EMFIT) and Piezoelectric Under-saddle Guitar Pickups}},
  booktitle = {AES Convention 120},
  note = {Paper 6669},
  year = {2006},
  month = may,
  publisher = {Audio Engineering Society},
  url = {https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=13473}
}

TY  - CPAPER
TI  - Sound Quality Differences between Electret Film (EMFIT) and Piezoelectric Under-saddle Guitar Pickups
AU  - Penttinen, Henri
AU  - Tikander, Miikka
T2  - AES Convention 120
M1  - Paper 6669
PY  - 2006
DA  - 2006/05/06
UR  - https://aes.org/publications/elibrary-page/?id=13473
PB  - Audio Engineering Society
LA  - en
AB  - Two different types of under-saddle guitar pickups, piezoelectric and electret film (EMFIT) were measured and compared. The measurements included comparisons of magnitude, time, and phase responses, and distortion characteristics. The measurements were conducted with a custom rig that allowed accurate control of the environment. For excitation both frequency sweeps and impulsive stimuli were used. As for the magnitude response, the piezoelectric pickup has a boosted bass response and a slightly pronounced high frequency response. The results imply nonlinear behaviour as a function of both the excitation type (sweep vs. impulsive) and the amount of excitation force (small vs. large). In addition, the piezoelectric microphone is fairly immune to tension changes, whereas EMFIT microphone's sensitivity increases as the tension decreases. For time responses excited impulsively the only differences were found at the beginning of the responses. No significant difference in the distortion behaviour was found. A linear filter model is also proposed for making either microphone sound like the other.
ER  -