Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch

Will Chen

Will Chen

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I'm not a fan of adding a point of failure within a guitar...but this is an interesting concept. Active 5 way switcher which allows you to program the positions via Bluetooth and it's a solderless install. Seems the 1 thing it's missing standard parallel wiring for a humbucker, but since this is app driven I bet it can be added with an update. Seems like a great idea for folks who tinker a lot and like to experiment with different options...probably massive overkill for most though.

www.seymourduncan.com

HyperSwitch™ | Seymour Duncan

The Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch™ is a powerful active 5-way blade that is compatible with most passive pickups and configured via your smartphone.
www.seymourduncan.com www.seymourduncan.com

 
First there was the Vigier Nautilus in the 80s, then the PMT Guitar Max, then EBMM's technology seemingly taken from the Guitar Max called The Game Changer, then the Vigier Nautilus II (allowing Bluetooth MIDI pickup switching!), and now the Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch! Here we are; this will be maybe the first widely available and approaching reasonably priced wiring reconfigurator.

These technologies are all different in various ways, but this is incredible and relatively affordable, hopefully unlikely to be lost to the sands of time due to the strength of the company making it. I love that you could set up your configuration in between songs in a set. It's like the absolute ultimate super switch. I'm very interested.
 
Not to be a Luddite but Bluetooth, Cloud, iPads, Phones, WiFi, and all other "Internet-of-Things" things should be strictly prohibited if the piece of gear should be classified as 'professional'.

These IOT gadgets don't last.
Call me in 40 years and tell me your "Vintage" Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch™ still works with your Galaxy S63, or any other IOT gadget for that matter.
 
James Freeman said:
Not to be a Luddite but Bluetooth, Cloud, iPads, Phones, WiFi, and all other "Internet-of-Things" things should be strictly prohibited if the piece of gear should be classified as 'professional'.
Click to expand...

I sighed as soon as I read "configured via your smartphone".

No Way Do Not Want GIF
 
James Freeman said:
Not to be a Luddite but Bluetooth, Cloud, iPads, Phones, WiFi, and all other "Internet-of-Things" things should be strictly prohibited if the piece of gear should be classified as 'professional'.

These IOT gadgets don't last.
Call me in 40 years and tell me your "Vintage" Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch™ still works with your Galaxy S63, or any other IOT gadget for that matter.
Click to expand...
Which is why I suggested not being a fan of adding a point of failure. However...the worry of the state of an instrument in 40 years is 100% inconsequential as this is a non permanent mod which is easily reversed. Plus...I'll be long dead by then. ;-)
 
This is really cool, but me, "able to configure [my] pickups in hundreds of possible ways!" Is this a good thing? Do I want this?

finds-rabbit-hole.jpg


The concern re: iPhone deprecation is real, and has burned me a number of times. (Does anybody even remember that 30-pin cables were a thing pre-Lightning?) The trick to getting the most mileage is to buy the cheapest used (compatible) iPhone you can find, set it up for this one application, and then configure that phone to never auto-update anything (without serious consideration.)
 
It's a neat idea. The weak point is the smartphone integration, because what are the odds they'll actually maintain that app for years, through OS updates, etc?
 
I bet the majority of the people who buy this thing will mess with it once or twice and then forget about it and just use it like standard 5 way switch

It definitely ain't for me haha
 
It's intriguing but I can easily see this as being something more frustrating than useful. Kudos to them for trying something.
 
Jarick said:
It's intriguing but I can easily see this as being something more frustrating than useful. Kudos to them for trying something.
Click to expand...
I thought the same thing initially but once I got to try it firsthand and really understood how it works, it turned out to be surprisingly simple overall.
 
"Seems the 1 thing it's missing standard parallel wiring for a humbucker, but since this is app driven I bet it can be added with an update. Seems like a great idea for folks who tinker a lot and like to experiment with different options...probably massive overkill for most though."

Yeah I think updates will likely fix or add things like that, at least I hope so. I'm kinda hoping they'll figure out a way to incorporate this into a LP-style toggle switch at some point, if possible.
 
It's a solution looking for a problem.

I also don't get why gear developers insist on mobile apps only approach. You can easily develop cross-platform apps that work on the computer as well and this type of software really does not need to be 100% native code for performance.

Mobile is always at the risk of being delisted from app stores for whatever reasons, or becoming non-working because of an OS update. Computer software not so much, so 20 years from now you could still use this at least on your computer.
 
In the manual there is a warning that the switch will not change pickup selections when the charge drains enough, and the guitar will make no sound at all if it drains enough after that. Anyone using EMGs has in mind that the battery is essential, but those pickups take a long time to drain enough of the battery to degraded the tone. In this context I'm not at all into the idea of the switch being so dependant on the battery. I assumed if the battery were not in at all it would still work in the last way it was programmed (like maybe a watch battery would take over and maintain memory, or something like that). Knowing this, I have to echo the OP, and I just start to think of this as a point of failure only. I guess if the app lets you know battery status and warns you when to change, that's one thing. But you guys are also right that apps don't necessarily stay updated, usable, or even available, so this does not seem as future proof as it could be.

I think a good alternative is really to route and install enough physical switches to allow for every variation. Pain in the ass to navigate, but it would work in a future proof way. Binary tree switching can get you there too if you want to remove the pickup selector.

Awesome Guitars has solderless PCBs and pickguards for that, but I think even their implementation would be better if they integrated blade pickup selectors rather than just a row of mini switches. I prefer a blade selector plus mini switches for variety of I'm going that route.
 
laxu said:
It's a solution looking for a problem.

I also don't get why gear developers insist on mobile apps only approach. You can easily develop cross-platform apps that work on the computer as well and this type of software really does not need to be 100% native code for performance.

Mobile is always at the risk of being delisted from app stores for whatever reasons, or becoming non-working because of an OS update. Computer software not so much, so 20 years from now you could still use this at least on your computer.
Click to expand...

There are already Android emulators you can run on a PC and Windows is very backwards compatible, if something's absolutely critical to someone on those platforms you'd likely have access to it forever if needed. Apple's closed architecture and planned obsolescence to force upgrades is a different story.

But again...anyone worried about 20 years down the line is being a bit naive here. Given the the gear turnover of most board members across every forum I've been on and the target market for a product like this which is someone who's always wanting to experiment with different sounds and is into more cutting edge tech, a piece of gear is lucky to be hanging around in 2 years, maybe 5 for a really good guitar.
 
Will Chen said:
There are already Android emulators you can run on a PC and Windows is very backwards compatible, if something's absolutely critical to someone on those platforms you'd likely have access to it forever if needed. Apple's closed architecture and planned obsolescence to force upgrades is a different story.

But again...anyone worried about 20 years down the line is being a bit naive here. Given the the gear turnover of most board members across every forum I've been on and the target market for a product like this which is someone who's always wanting to experiment with different sounds and is into more cutting edge tech, a piece of gear is lucky to be hanging around in 2 years, maybe 5 for a really good guitar.
Click to expand...
I have plenty of 30 + year old guitars. That wouldn’t stop me from using this though but the thing that would it is a stupid idea.🤣
 
It's a pretty nifty thing, especially for experimentation with humbuckers.
The fact that it's reliant on the app is a turn off. Not sure how else it could be, someone mentioned PCs. How would you connect this to a PC?

Demo of switch in action:
 
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