Post by michaelcbell on Mar 21, 2007 18:51:06 GMT -5
Since I recently spec'd a HSH guitar, I started playing with a tone monster version of that pickup arrangement. It came out huge. The basic concept is a bus-based guitar so that each pickup (each coil in the humbuckers) can be individually assigned to one of four busses (2 are serial, 2 are parallel), then those busses can be combined in serial or parallel, and the final mix (of the parallel combined or serially combined busses) can be in serial or parallel as well. Take a look and see what you think.
Ultimate Tone Monster Guitar (HSH)
By: Michael Bell
My goal with this design was to make a guitar that had as many different tones as possible. That is all. Functionality, accessibility, aesthetics, etc. were only taken into account if they did not interfere with the total tonal flexibility of this guitar. This design was also not intended to be an easy modification. If anyone ever attempts this mod, there will be significant issues with body routing, and a larger pick guard will need to be installed. The end result, while somewhat ungainly and unattractive, is a tonal behemoth. With 31,850,496 different switching combinations for a total of approximately 11867 different pickup combinations (even if you exclude phasing, there are still 952 possibilities), this guitar will give you nearly any possible combination of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 pickups in any combination of parallel, serial, and phasing, even compound combinations like ((2s5)p1)s(3p4) shown below:
Overall Layout (as on a strat body):
note: The white shapes are the controls that protrude from the guitar body. The black shapes are the underlying electronics.
The jack would need to be side mounted.
Pickup Assignment Wiring:
Note: both parallel busses have individual power and individual ground for each bus as noted in the example for bus 4
Tone Selector Wiring:
Bus Selectors Wiring:
Ultimate Tone Monster Guitar (HSH)
By: Michael Bell
My goal with this design was to make a guitar that had as many different tones as possible. That is all. Functionality, accessibility, aesthetics, etc. were only taken into account if they did not interfere with the total tonal flexibility of this guitar. This design was also not intended to be an easy modification. If anyone ever attempts this mod, there will be significant issues with body routing, and a larger pick guard will need to be installed. The end result, while somewhat ungainly and unattractive, is a tonal behemoth. With 31,850,496 different switching combinations for a total of approximately 11867 different pickup combinations (even if you exclude phasing, there are still 952 possibilities), this guitar will give you nearly any possible combination of 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 pickups in any combination of parallel, serial, and phasing, even compound combinations like ((2s5)p1)s(3p4) shown below:
Overall Layout (as on a strat body):
note: The white shapes are the controls that protrude from the guitar body. The black shapes are the underlying electronics.
The jack would need to be side mounted.
Pickup Assignment Wiring:
Note: both parallel busses have individual power and individual ground for each bus as noted in the example for bus 4
Tone Selector Wiring:
Bus Selectors Wiring:
