Guitar electronics

hexaphone

I've just seen the Bognar Pickup System, which looks similar to variax but with analogue audio processing and a bluetooth app for configuring presets.  Looks like it was already discussed in January.

Axe_meister

Yeah just saw that a bit steep at a grand mind

JayGee

OilCityPickups said:

ICBM said:

Violins have not changed very much since the early 19th century either.

The 1950s technology in a traditional electric guitar will still work just as well in another 70 years as it does today, wear aside. A lot of other electronics won’t, even if it’s not obsolete in functionality by then.

This

I think there are probably one or two potential exceptions to this - for instance Rangemaster style boosts have been an “always on” staple for a lot of guitarists for a very long time, and a lot of players seem to favour having them close to the guitar in a holder on the strap so building one into a guitar (particularly if it’s a “Red Special”) doesn’t seem like too much of a reach. See also also some classic fuzz (or even compressor) variations. They’re not going away, they’re not changing, they’re simple enough not to a problem to service, and power consumption is modest enough that the life of a standard 9 volt battery not to be a big deal…

p90fool

I accidentally dropped an entire pint of lager on my Strat about three gigs ago, and it was absolutely fine to just carry on playing. 

BillDL

Jeff Becks Strat?

M, m, m m, m, my Corona.

Nerine

I’ve never really understood swapping pickups incessantly. I’ve never done it on any of my guitars ever. 

I buy them because I like how they already sound. 

topdog91

Nerine said:

I’ve never really understood swapping pickups incessantly. I’ve never done it on any of my guitars ever. 

I buy them because I like how they already sound. 

That's nice for you, people who replace pickups do it because they like the sound even more. Especially on cheaper guitars where the pickups are often cheaped out on. I less understand replacing pickups in exotic guitars. (I don't think it has to be incessant.)

Nerine

topdog91 said:

Nerine said:

I’ve never really understood swapping pickups incessantly. I’ve never done it on any of my guitars ever. 

I buy them because I like how they already sound. 

That's nice for you, people who replace pickups do it because they like the sound even more. Especially on cheaper guitars where the pickups are often cheaper out on. I less understand replacing pickups in exotic guitars. (I don't think it has to be incessant.)

You’re right. It’s nice for me. I don’t think it has to be incessant either, but it does seem that some people enjoy changing them often. 

ICBM

I have a favourite guitar which I have four different sets of pickups for. I may yet buy a fifth set…

It’s because I love that specific guitar, I don’t really want another one - even if I could find one, it’s very rare - but occasionally I feel like doing something different with it. It’s non-destructive and can completely change the character of the guitar. I’ve kept all the previous sets in case I change my mind and want to go back to a previous version. (I have once so far.)

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

I have a favourite guitar which I have four different sets of pickups for. I may yet buy a fifth set…

It’s because I love that specific guitar, I don’t really want another one - even if I could find one, it’s very rare - but occasionally I feel like doing something different with it. It’s non-destructive and can completely change the character of the guitar. I’ve kept all the previous sets in case I change my mind and want to go back to a previous version. (I have once so far.)

Aria Pro II?

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Aria Pro II?

Yes. Conveniently it’s a Strat type, so the range of available pickups is nearly infinite.

Alex2678

Nerine said:

topdog91 said:

Nerine said:

I’ve never really understood swapping pickups incessantly. I’ve never done it on any of my guitars ever. 

I buy them because I like how they already sound. 

That's nice for you, people who replace pickups do it because they like the sound even more. Especially on cheaper guitars where the pickups are often cheaper out on. I less understand replacing pickups in exotic guitars. (I don't think it has to be incessant.)

You’re right. It’s nice for me. I don’t think it has to be incessant either, but it does seem that some people enjoy changing them often. 

I find that once I change from stock I keep chopping and changing because I second guess myself. I’ve gone back to stock on my current guitar, so that it feels like the choice was made for me. 

Devo do a song about pickup swaps - 
https://open.spotify.com/track/5IN9YZ1ehd9vjNk0rNQ5FD?si=9zKl6pOnTPykdCga47JUxw

Bowks

One of the selling points of the early Music Man Silhouette guitars was their swappable scratchplates, allowing you to use the same guitar, but switch out the HSH pickguard for an SSS one by unscrewing it and disconnecting one plug, then plugging in the new pickguard, but that didn't catch on, even though it's a pretty good idea. 

I like the idea of the versatility of the Tyler Studio Elites, which have a Demeter midboost preamp, series/parallel switches for each pickup (they use stacked humbuckers) and an 'add neck pickup' switch on a push pull tone pot. Again, the majority of guitar players don't want the complexity.

I'm tempted to combine both worlds and mod an EBMM Silhouette Special with the Tyler switching mods.

p90fool

ICBM said:

I have a favourite guitar which I have four different sets of pickups for. I may yet buy a fifth set…

It’s because I love that specific guitar, I don’t really want another one - even if I could find one, it’s very rare - but occasionally I feel like doing something different with it. It’s non-destructive and can completely change the character of the guitar. I’ve kept all the previous sets in case I change my mind and want to go back to a previous version. (I have once so far.)

I've lost count of the pickup changes I've put my Les Paul through since 2012, most of them are documented on here. 

Funnily enough, since putting a pair of run of the mill Gibson pickups back in it (490s) I've never been happier. 

Sporky

There was a drop-in programmable switcher for guitars.

It disappeared entirely from the Internet shortly after EB brought out a remarkably similar system, which they called the Game Changer. 

Philly_Q

Nerine said:

I’ve never really understood swapping pickups incessantly. I’ve never done it on any of my guitars ever. 

I buy them because I like how they already sound. 

I buy guitars because I like the way they look, the feel of the neck, the balance.  Those elements are difficult to change but the sound is the most changeable element.

That said, I was most into changing pickups when I didn't have many guitars.  My old Hamer Special has been through at least a dozen pickup changes, my old Squier Strat became a Ship of Theseus.  Nowadays I'm more likely to buy a new guitar than change a pickup, but I hardly ever play... if I played more I think I'd be back swapping pickups because it's fun to tweak the sound.

hexaphone

Musically I guess The Game Changer and Bongar systems allow to switch from an LP- to tele-like sound part way through a song.  Otherwise is there a musical benefit?

Cycfi's electronics interest me more, because the guitar becomes almost a new instrument.  At least this is how I understand their Thor guitar:

The polyphonic sustainer will sound different from the Sustainiac, because it allows chords to be played in a way that's stable with a more acoustic effect (without overdrive or feedback).

There will be two kinds of pickups.  The XR pickup gives a conventional guitar output shaped by an interesting tone filter.  The Nu pickups give a full-range signal that can be processed by DSP per-string.

Thor will have an electronic tremolo bar that gives a MIDI/CV output, and the tone/volume knobs will also send control signals.  Cycfi has already spent years working on pitch and onset detection, so this might eventually be included too.

With these electronics and some software combined, Thor will play like a guitar but also act as a combined analog/digital synth.

The Bognar system focuses on the analog signal path, but on recent laptops with thunderbolt the round-trip latency of DSP is less than 2ms, so imperceptible and easily combined with the analog one.

I guess things that might be possible are: using the tremolo bar to shift the position of the virtual pickups from the neck to the bridge, using the bar to introduce an effect first to higher strings and then slowly to lower strings, applying the tremolo or the sustainer to some strings but not others, creating the sound of an acoustic-like instrument with more sustain while tapping, etc.

Whether any of this will make it more musical or fun I don't know, but I'm looking forward to tweaking the sounds.   And kudos to cycfi for making so much of their work open-source, because the other products advertise their patented-technology as if this were a selling point.

Sporky

hexaphone said:

Musically I guess The Game Changer and Bongar systems allow to switch from an LP- to tele-like sound part way through a song.  Otherwise is there a musical benefit?

The Game Changer basically lets you combine all the coils in series/parallel and in or out of phase.

Essentially only what you could achieve with a Superswitch (though maybe an 8-pole one), but without rewiring when you want new combinations. 

normula1

I think that the only guitars I haven't had different pickups in are my Les Paul Goldtop which has the stock burstbuckers, my CS 339 which has the stock Classic 57s and my Les Paul Melody Maker which has its stock P90. I knew when I bought my PRS that I would likely swap out the pickups. I had the originals rewound by @OilCityPickups so they were less shouty than the HFS set it came with.

hexaphone

Just noticed, a UK company are producing a hex pickup called Submarine SubSix.  It is designed to retrofit.  You glue it onto the top of a guitar, and two three-way splitter cables hang around either side of the neck.  So it's not pretty, but it's cheap enough for people to start experimenting (currently £279 inc cables and delivery).

Here are a few examples:

Interesting rhythmic/delay effects:

https://youtube.com/shorts/PTs7ecToIN0

'Pedal steel' effect B and G bender:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFrGzWV4AYw

An effect using harmonics on higher strings:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JrHcWmSW228

An intro/review with four demos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZnH0TcDBG8

Using a kick trigger on the sixth string:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Lt6AWOm3mFg

An effect with hybrid picking:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yhfgPjBAbi0