New pickup technology?

[Ang3lus]

Reading everything about it sounds exciting, UNTIL you get to the part where it says the pickups use a buffer and needs batteries, then it just sounds like an active pickup with 2 voicing options.

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/2 ... tar-pickup

[Reeltarded]

that “magic” is precisely why his company sidestepped electric guitar pickups for its first 34 years: “Too much voodoo,” he says. Fishman felt he could match the performance of existing electric guitar pickups, but not bring anything new to the party—until now.

Yeah, magic and unattainable voodoo kept him away, until now. He felt, he said.

I like pickups. Pickups are good. Fishman rigs are the most popular marginal devices for acoustic, you just know that the Chinese designed and built stuff is going to be way better, since he said he can attain magic and voodoo now.

I woke up in a bad mood.

[VacuumVoodoo]

1. They learned about multilayer printed circuit technology. 30 year ago it was new. Today it's old news.
2. Contrary to the name it's not printed, it's etched
3. 3D mapping of magnetic fields. There are several software tools to do this.
4. There will be inconsistencies in manufacturing, due to variations in etching process, thickness of laminate carrying the etched coils and what not. MAny more factors than in traditional wound pick-up.
5. It seems their preamp and filters to correct for frequency response might do the same job with a generic pick-up and just as well.
6. The quick pick-up replacement shuttle system is cool for quick demoing different pick-up model. Usable on stage?- I doubt it.
7. You want a really cool "different" line of pick-ups? Check the Zexcoil. I am not affiliated, just like the concept and execution.
8. All of the above are my opinions, if you don't like them I have plenty more to choose from.

[Ang3lus]

Zexcoil sounds cool, might check it out, always was my beef with single coils, love the sound, hate the icepick and "fight with me to get a good sound response"

[JazzGuitarGimp]

Agreeing with VacuumVoodoo: The "printed" aspect of a pcb is when the gerber files (created by the pcb layout program) are printed on a photo plotter. Then you've got a photographic process where the photo plot films are used to expose acid-resist-coated copper clad FR4 sheets. That is where the "printed" aspect ends. The next step is to immerse the photo-exposed board in a bath of acid to etch away the unwanted copper. And this is where the notion of "perfectly consistent" falls by the wayside. Leave it in the acid bath too long, and your traces narrow a bit. Not to mention inconsistencies in the thickness of the copper as well as the thickness of the FR-4 between copper layers. The process is not as perfectly consistent as Fishman would have you believe. It's a neat idea though.

[dave g]

7. You want a really cool "different" line of pick-ups? Check the Zexcoil. I am not affiliated, just like the concept and execution.

Humbucking across coils for each string? Does that mean I'll have a dead spot if I try to play a unison across the wrong pair of strings? Sounds complicated and kind of over-engineered.

I think a simpler, more effective idea would be to have a little dummy coil offset to the side somewhere that wouldn't pick up any string vibrations but would see approximately the same ambient EMI as the rest of the pickup. Do your hum canceling with that.

Edit: I did some searching and I think this has already been done (Suhr SSC)

[Reeltarded]

Fender did it in the '60s on a single guitar that I know of. Strat with a 4th pickup hidden under the guard below between the pickups and bottom edge. Then there is the strat without pickups.. as far as you can tell.

[John_P_WI]

Dave, in addition to what Miles said, check this out:

http://www.frettech.com/dummy/index.html

[Leo_Gnardo]

Coils printed on circuit boards? Oh my how primitive.

I had a design for coils etched onto silicon wafer . . . 1978. Lots more coil than you can fit on any PC board. No layering or passthru's needed. Mighty thin front-to-back. Separate coils for each string if that's called for.

Nobody was interested. (OK now watch somebody "pick up" that idea and run with it, all the way to the bank.}

Since then I've developed an appreciation for the legacy pickups. Forward into the past!

[Reeltarded]

I think I said it best when I said that Frank Zappa said shut up and play your guitar.

Bacon bowl. Order now and double your order, just pay separate P&H.

[sepulchre]

I've got a Strat with a dummy coil. Doesn't buck much hum IMHO.

[martin manning]

Fender did it in the '60s on a single guitar that I know of. Strat with a 4th pickup hidden under the guard below between the pickups and bottom edge. Then there is the strat without pickups.. as far as you can tell.

Original Marauder? More of a Jaguar type.

Ilitch Electronics makes systems with noise canceling coils mounded in various places: http://www.ilitchelectronics.com

[VacuumVoodoo]

7. You want a really cool "different" line of pick-ups? Check the Zexcoil. I am not affiliated, just like the concept and execution.

Humbucking across coils for each string? Does that mean I'll have a dead spot if I try to play a unison across the wrong pair of strings? Sounds complicated and kind of over-engineered.

No dead spots. That's because individual coils are oblong with elongated narrow poles arranged at a sharp angle rel the strings.

[Cantplay]

How about strain gauge pickup for each string?

John

[Leo_Gnardo]

Frank Zappa said shut up and play your guitar.

I'm with that!

Another FZ: "what can you do that's fantastic?"

Sometimes I think all my pickups are dummy coils. My neighbors would like it if they were.

Keep calm, and wind on!