An electrically amplified percussive instrument has at least one tone bar having a bottom side and fundamental nodes each of the fundamental nodes defined by a channel. A permanent magnet on the bottom side of the tone bar is proximal to one of the fundamental nodes and not aligned with a location of maximum tone bar vibration. A pickup coil positioned underneath the tone bar is aligned with the first permanent magnet and in electrical communication with an amplifier.

A musical instrument pickup includes a vibrating body that is disposed facing a plurality of sound sources and excited in response to sounds from the sound sources, and a sensor that detects vibration of the vibrating body.

A sensor output device includes a sensor and an output circuit. The sensor includes a piezoelectric element and an output terminal. The piezoelectric element includes porous resin. The output circuit is connected to the output terminal of the sensor and includes a thermistor.

An electric bass marimbula device may include a bridge assembly having a cover and a base. The cover may have a cover face and the base may have a base face. One or more key plates may be coupled between the cover face and the base face. One or more pickups may be coupled between the cover face and the base face, and each pickup may be in contact with a key plate. Optionally, the device may include one or more counter bores which may be positioned in the cover or the base, and a portion of a pickup may be positioned in a counter bore. Optionally, the device may include one or more fasteners which may be configured to couple the base and cover together. Preferably, a counter bore may be positioned between two fasteners.

A musical instrument pickup includes a vibrating body that is disposed facing a plurality of sound sources and excited in response to sounds from the sound sources, and a sensor that detects vibration of the vibrating body.

An electronic mallet controller includes a plurality of bars representing musical notes. Each bar active produces a signal indicative of the respective musical note when struck by an implement, and all adjacent bars are spaced apart with the same spacing. A first user input permits a user to select a lowest diatonic natural note of the range of the musical instrument to thereby define a location of dead notes. A processor circuit interprets each signal as an outputted musical note. Based on the first user input, the processor circuit shifts mapping between the bars and the musical notes to be outputted, causing the dead note locations to be associated with certain of the bars, and wherein the bars at the dead note locations are inactive bars. An indicator is associated with the inactive bars to indicate the location of the dead notes to the user.

A sensor output device includes a sensor and an output circuit. The sensor includes a piezoelectric element and an output terminal. The piezoelectric element includes porous resin. The output circuit is connected to the output terminal of the sensor and includes a thermistor.

An electronic mallet controller includes a plurality of bars representing musical notes. Each bar active produces a signal indicative of the respective musical note when struck by an implement, and all adjacent bars are spaced apart with the same spacing. A first user input permits a user to select a lowest diatonic natural note of the range of the musical instrument to thereby define a location of dead notes. A processor circuit interprets each signal as an outputted musical note. Based on the first user input, the processor circuit shifts mapping between the bars and the musical notes to be outputted, causing the dead note locations to be associated with certain of the bars, and wherein the bars at the dead note locations are inactive bars. An indicator is associated with the inactive bars to indicate the location of the dead notes to the user.