How Come No Guitars Have The Means For External Switching Of Their PU's?

Eagle said:
I don’t know if it could be put just in a switch and work through a guitar cable.
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The Vigier Nautilus II works via Bluetooth. In the NAMM video on YouTube a player is using a Helix to switch presets as well as guitar pickups without touching his pickup selector. I believe the MIDI out from the Helix was sent to a Bluetooth transmitter that sends the signal to the guitar.
 
I don't think it's popular because it quickly gets complicated. You need more wires coming from your guitar which means special cables or you need wireless digital solutions which quickly makes the circuitry in the guitar complicated and expensive.

I can see the appeal but personally find that having those hands on controls works well enough. There is rarely a need to switch things so quickly that the onboard controls become a problem.

If there's anything I would like to see on guitars, is taking cues from basses. Blend pots and active EQ preamps are quite nice but most guitarists are too traditionalist that there is a market for these. I think that sort of stuff would be perfect on e.g modern 7+ string guitars.
 
laxu said:
I don't think it's popular because it quickly gets complicated. You need more wires coming from your guitar which means special cables or you need wireless digital solutions which quickly makes the circuitry in the guitar complicated and expensive.

I can see the appeal but personally find that having those hands on controls works well enough. There is rarely a need to switch things so quickly that the onboard controls become a problem.

If there's anything I would like to see on guitars, is taking cues from basses. Blend pots and active EQ preamps are quite nice but most guitarists are too traditionalist that there is a market for these. I think that sort of stuff would be perfect on e.g modern 7+ string guitars.
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Putting non standard electronics of any kind in to your guitar has had issues in the past with support down the line. Guitars have a very long life expectancy and the electronics don't. This can cause instruments to be unusable long before time. In the past this has resulted me in replacing the entire guts of instruments simply because the parts are no longer available and the support information is lost in time . I have had PCBs that are cast in resin with ten black wires coming out, others with blank components often with board mounted pots of the worst quality . Specially commissioned switches that are specific to there position and again board mounted. Variax and line 6 in general is very bad for support of discontinued items.
One a plus the bass companies are better at this and EMG do a good job with the active module pots but other than that I would keep this stuff outboard.
 
Eagle said:
Putting non standard electronics of any kind in to your guitar has had issues in the past with support down the line. Guitars have a very long life expectancy and the electronics don't. This can cause instruments to be unusable long before time. In the past this has resulted me in replacing the entire guts of instruments simply because the parts are no longer available and the support information is lost in time . I have had PCBs that are cast in resin with ten black wires coming out, others with blank components often with board mounted pots of the worst quality . Specially commissioned switches that are specific to there position and again board mounted. Variax and line 6 in general is very bad for support of discontinued items.
One a plus the bass companies are better at this and EMG do a good job with the active module pots but other than that I would keep this stuff outboard.
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Isn't this a big issue for Parkers too?
 
TSJMajesty said:
Or do any, and I've just never heard of them?

Seems logical to me- Rig the electronics a bit differently so that a special cable not only carries your signal, but also the means to switch on 1,2,3, or any combination of your PU's, down to some type of foot controller.

And while we're at it, make it so you can coil-tap, reverse polarity, basically move anything you presently control on the guitar, down to the floor.

I mean, somebody thought to move the volume and tone down there; why stop at just that?
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That’s essentially what Gibson tried to do with the Firebird X and it was one of the biggest flops in history


gibson-firebird-x-electric-guitar-during-a-studio-shoot-for-guitarist-picture-id142767414



My experience with trying to use something like a Variax + Helix or Roland GK to create the behavior you’re talking about is that it’s better in theory than in actual practice.

In reality I always found myself frustrated because I was locked into the selections I’d made when I was creating the sounds and it was much more of a hassle to change them when necessary compared to just flicking the toggle on the guitar with my pinky.
 
I've had a variax/helix setup for years and while swapping pickups with footswitches is neat and all... the real power is switching string tunings and jumping from electric to acoustic during a song
 
Eagle said:
Putting non standard electronics of any kind in to your guitar has had issues in the past with support down the line. Guitars have a very long life expectancy and the electronics don't. This can cause instruments to be unusable long before time. In the past this has resulted me in replacing the entire guts of instruments simply because the parts are no longer available and the support information is lost in time . I have had PCBs that are cast in resin with ten black wires coming out, others with blank components often with board mounted pots of the worst quality . Specially commissioned switches that are specific to there position and again board mounted. Variax and line 6 in general is very bad for support of discontinued items.
One a plus the bass companies are better at this and EMG do a good job with the active module pots but other than that I would keep this stuff outboard.
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That is definitely true. Not everything theoretical always works in practice.

I'll admit that even though I love the idea of being able to hit one footswitch that changes everything, pickup selection included, I agree that unless somebody comes up with something extremely innovative, the practicality / longevity of such a system probably wouldn't be worth it.
 
I use a Helix and JTV combo - pickup switching is only scratching the surface. Virtual guitar switching is the way to go.
 
Hmmm, just thinking out loud: CAT cable from guitar signal coming down a couple strands, into controller with a buffer, 2 expression pedals for vol and tone, and a few footswitches for which pickups are active.

But then the entire guitar face would be without knobs or switches. That could look really cool!
 
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