graph tech ghost saddles on a lgxt?

Started by lulu_m, October 09, 2012, 02:46:11 PM

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lulu_m

Hi I'm a newbee here and appreciate all your sharings.

I live in france and bought a godin lgxt this year on the Internet in Vancouver. Everything came over ok and I had a fantastic guitar for a good price (B-stock lgxt-tb). Unfortunately this summer was very hot here in the southwest of France, and apparently I must have sweated on my b-string piezo that died out. Did the cleaning thing like others did on this forum, and it only worked temporary till eventually die out completely!  Contacted godin to find out that I do not have any form of warranty here in France, and no direct repair men in my area,  so I have to pay for and do a piezo replacement myself.
Before i spend much money in some new RMC piezo's that'll die out after a drop of sweat.., i was wondering if it's possible, and if so how, to install the ghost saddles and making use of the onboard Godin print-board? Is there someone that have done this?
Godin lgxt, epiphone emperor, yamaha aex500N2, boss gt6, roland gr-20, gr-55

TheGuitarPlayer

#1
I have done exactly this for the same reason.  The output of the GraphTech piezos seems subjectively lower, but it does work fine.

The piezos on my LGXT started failing at the second gig I used the guitar at.  I've now used the guitar at probably a dozen gigs with the GraphTech saddles with no further problems.

As for the actual installation, I had a luthier do the work, but it looks conceptually pretty easy.

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'll try and provide whatever information I can.

lulu_m

Thanks for your response guitar player, it's promising to hear it's done and working good.  :)
I'm not exactly a handy man, but not afraid of doing some soldering myself. I'll try to get some advice at graphtec for the conversion, they must have some info on this matter too. Guess we're not the only one  ;)
Godin lgxt, epiphone emperor, yamaha aex500N2, boss gt6, roland gr-20, gr-55

tekrytor

If you are not able to do the repairs yourself, and if you cannot find a good technician in France, there are definitely ones in England, Spain, or Germany you could send it to for repairs. But I would think you could find a good tech in France. There was a recent post from another member in France. Try the search feature or the member list to find and ask them for local references, if they don't chime in on their own.
SY-300/BeatBuddy/VoiceLive 3/GR-55(v1.50)/33/1/50/700/VGA-7/V-Bass, Yam-G10, GPK-4, DIY X-Bee HighlyLiquidCPU "Cozy-Lil-Footie", FCB-1010, other MIDI stuff, Godin Freeway SA and various other GK equipped controllers, Sonar X1, Audacity, KXstudio, Misc devices

lulu_m

I contacted graph tech and would like to share their quick respone (good service :-))

"Thank you for the interest in the ghost system. I would be happy to help you with your Godin.

You can certainly use our piezo elements with your RMC pre-amp, although I do not recommend it. Besides having to cut the push-on connectors off of the saddles to hard-wire them to the stock pre-amp, the input and EQ curve of the stock pre-amp is based on a different material and proximity to the strings.
"

I'm affraid I have to stick with the RMC's as i Don't feel like replacing all the electronics.  Well at least I do know to be Very very careful with sweat and other moistures..

thank you all for your input.

Lulu M
Godin lgxt, epiphone emperor, yamaha aex500N2, boss gt6, roland gr-20, gr-55

TheGuitarPlayer

I absolutely didn't replace all the electronics, just the saddles.  Like I said, the volume suffers a little, but the EQ curve was fine (plus the Godin has adjustable EQ anyway).  I wouldn't let this put you off, the shorting problem is not going to go away by itself.

local83

Hey!
      Old post but I found myself in a similar situation like this! Godin RMC saddles dead on low E and A strings, Can't find replacement in my part of the world either! Luckily I can ship in Graph Tech Ghost saddles. So I think I have to do the same like you, Install Ghost saddles with RMC pre amp.
     Now I don't have an expert tech guy to help me with wiring etc. It's great to hear that you have got your guitar working with the hybrid combo.
    Will it be possible to post some audio samples and if the MIDI tracking does not suffer either? Pictures also showing the wiring to the preamp will be highly appreciated.

Thank you

TheGuitarPlayer

Hi,

Lucky I saw this, I'll try and by as helpful as I can.

I might be able to post audio samples, I'll try and record some. Specifically, what would you like to hear, the acoustic response, VG-99 guitar models?

As for pictures, they'll be pretty useless, you can't see much without pulling everything apart.  I had a tech do it, so I can't comment on how difficult it was to do.

I feel the MIDI tracking might suffer a little, the output of the Graphtech saddles is lower than the RMC saddles, so you have to crank the gain a bit.  I'd say it's still workable, but I don't do much note-tracking stuff anymore.

local83

Hey!
    Thanks for hitting back! Been a while. Acoustic Audio Samples sounds good.
  I figured you have to unscrew the back plate and stuff so yeah no issues with no pictures. I dismantled mine and know where the Piezo wires are soldered now. :D
      I track a lot using the MIDI feature instead of a midi control surface or a key workstation so tracking is important for me. If that suffers, I'm having second thoughts. As for the Acoustic sound, like you said we can always crank the gain or use a boost in live situation.
Do you recommend replacing the entire RMC polydrive with the Hexpander Ghost system then? I'm hearing a lot about Graph tech lasting longer and sounding better than RMC's plus cheaper too.

Elantric

#9
QuoteI track a lot using the MIDI feature instead of a midi control surface or a key workstation so tracking is important for me. If that suffers, I'm having second thoughts. As for the Acoustic sound, like you said we can always crank the gain or use a boost in live situation.
Do you recommend replacing the entire RMC polydrive with the Hexpander Ghost system then? I'm hearing a lot about Graph tech lasting longer and sounding better than RMC's plus cheaper too.

I suggest stay with the RMC Electronics  - they have less "Hiss" and  better performance with VG-99 / GR-55 compared to Ghost.

also I recommend stay with RMC Piezo saddles - as they have MUCH better cross-talk immunity from  adjacent vibrating strings.

jassy

I have the same problem. Why is people trying to switch to Ghost saddles?
Wats the problem with RMC?

Elantric

#11
QuoteWhats the problem with RMC?

RMC Piezo Saddles have same issue as LR Baggs Piezo Saddles - if you play a gig under Very Hot Stage lights its easy for a bead of Sweat to fall from your forehead onto the Piezo Bridge. Since salty Sweat is highly electrically conductive, it temporarily electrically "shorts" out the active piezo saddle to the Grounded Bridge - resulting in No sound / Dead Strings, until ALL Moisture near that wet Piezo saddle has evaporated 100%.

Happened to me last month playing an Acoustic Showcase gig on  my Variax Acoustic 700. Fixed it later after the gig by aiming a Hair dryer at piezo saddles  for 20 minutes.

Graphtech Ghost Saddles are more immune to this "moisture = no sound problem".

From 1st post in this thread:
QuoteUnfortunately this summer was very hot here in the southwest of France, and apparently I must have sweated on my b-string piezo that died out. Did the cleaning thing like others did on this forum, and it only worked temporary till eventually die out completely!  Contacted godin to find out that I do not have any form of warranty here in France, and no direct repair men in my area,  so I have to pay for and do a piezo replacement myself.


But its important to know that at this time - RMC remains the best Piezo Saddle for best Guitar to MIDi Tracking, because Richard McClish's careful attention to Materials and higher adjacent string mechanical crosstalk immunity.   

jassy

Thanks for the answer Elantric.

Someone already contacted with RMC and purchased the saddles to replace the ones damaged? how much is the price per saddle?

Rorster

#13
Luckily I have not had this problem with my LGXSA but I did replace a Fishman piezo setup that came on a special Fender Tele. The Fishman had saddles shorting out and I had a tech put in the graphtech system including their electonics. Never had another problem. A couple of years ago I inquired about this potential problem with my then new LGXSA. A conversation I had with Morgan, a great guy no longer with Graphtech said that the ghost sytem could be installed on the LGXSA though this bridge is different than the LGXT and the switch would be more complicated. Cutting to the chase here, Morgan suggested applying car wax directly to the RMC saddles and letting it dry on there in order to help insulate from sweat. Since I play indoors with AC and probably don't sweat enough on the saddles I never did the wax thing but it seemed like a good idea so I'm passing along what Morgan suggested. Someone here may want to ask Mr McClish what his thoughts on this may be. Morgan had to be referring to perhaps a paste wax or something without water in it.