TechHui

Hawaiʻi's Technology Community

In response to Kurt Olsen's email to the group that read:

"Some idea's who's time has come.

Modular guitar pickups. Pickups...have 4 wires. Make a stand socket for the things would'ya/

The electronics cavity on (a very sarcastic) 'electric guitar' hasn't changed much since the 1950's. Guitarists...hate change. The physical simplicity of an electric guitar is hard to beat. But adding 1's & 0's is as natural as ... well, it's natural...so...use those square inches to add the dsp capability (amplitube & apple, a partnership born in guitarists heaven) to guitars, that will allow us to keep effects (and songs) for lifetime. Apple...Finish the job...add computerized/ipodlike/dsp/implementing the amplitube algorithms, in order to free guitarists, and put Apple on par (and inside) guitars with the the names Fender or Gibson - Fender, Gibson & Apple. It could be.

And what would happen if I could plug 120v ac into my guitar. Everything else I plug it into has a power cord....why not my 'electric' guitar?"

OK Kurt, maybe not exactly what you had in mind, but there are some alternatives out there on the market:

Modular, plug and play pickups:
http://www.kaminstruments.com/plug&play%20pickups.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N87bQWjVE0k

25 guitars in one:
http://line6.com/variax/

Views: 31

Replies to This Discussion

I'll take steps in the right direction. In particular the standardized pickup socket would be a massive cash-infusion to the pickup co's if they could simply understand that I'd have a drawer full of pickups if I could swap'em out when I change strings. While the 'insert thru the back' idea is great (and thanks for pointing that out), I think the more standard solution would be to swap pickups when you change strings before the gig. country band tonight? let's get out the single coils - AC/DC? time for the humbuckers..Seriously - to the pickup mfg's - WAKE UP!!! - I currently have TWO pickups, I'd have LOTS MORE if I didn't have to unsolder the things!
Regarding dsp and variax's - The variax is a good start, but the key point is the need for a 'generic dsp engine', not a custom implementation. I need to be able to usb the guitar to the computer and upload amps and effects onboard, using an intel processor most likely as the vast major of vst plugins run on that processor. Heat would be a problem so we need no more speed than absolutely required, gotta be battery powered, and MUST have TOTAL BYPASS switch in case of diaster. A small cpu, with 768k of ram, and enough digital to analog conversion to a) sound great, and b) have about 2v (max) of output. Open source, so everybody can write algorithms...And while I'm wishing Apple would build this (because they might get it right), I'll ask for little wireless nubs...A transmitter nub I plugin to my guitar (transmitter), and the corresponding nubbin I plug into my buddies stereo so that when I goto somebody's house to jam I can do so by sending my guitar right to their stereo. Little bitty things, nubbins that fit in your pocket and are totally easy to plugin to the stereo's aux-in rca jacks...

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