The fretted versions are no big deal, for me, but with fretless boards, those basses are a freaking revelation. The piezo elements really shine with the acoustic guitar pattern bridges, as used by Rob Allen and Rick Turner. Begs the question why anyone would bother with piezos when using a conventional metal bridge and/or a fretted neck. The piezos sound excessively clanky on fretted boards, and they don't sound very different from magnetics with fretless boards.
I think there are two seperate approaches to piezos in electric basses, one where the element is mounted in the metal saddle of an otherwise conventional metal bass bridge, and another where the piezo is mounted in an acoustic guitar style bridge.īolin, Zon, Tune, and several of the other boutique bass builders have tried piezos mounted in metal bridge saddles, and the results have not done very well.