A method for making a piezoelectric device wherein residual stresses in the piezoelectric transducer element of the piezoelectric device are relieved by forming a groove or grooves extending into a thick-walled region of the peripheral wall of a ceramic substrate in the piezoelectric device. The stresses to be relieved are caused by a difference in shrinkage between the ceramic substrate and the piezoelectric transducer as a result of sintering the substrate and the transducer to form an integral product.