FAS Modelling Guitar ala Variax?

What could one buy to have more sounds or tunings at hand?
Besides the JTV Variaxes there's some more guitars with special specs existing: Musicman Reflex Gamechanger, Gibson Firebird X, Godin LGX Sa, Fender VG Stratocaster, ...
What else belongs to that list?
 
There's also the Gibson LPX, which is kind of a weird modeling guitar with included amp modeling.


I'd say I love the idea for Fractal to delve into guitar modelling aswell. Less in terms of hardware (I'd rather see that topic be handed over to the piezo pros at graph tech or fishman), but in terms of another rack unit.
 
Zwiebelchen said:
I'd say I love the idea for Fractal to delve into guitar modelling aswell. Less in terms of hardware (I'd rather see that topic be handed over to the piezo pros at graph tech or fishman), but in terms of another rack unit.
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I'm all for this. Fractal Axe Modeller in a rack unit with a 13 pin input, I'd pre-order it today.
 
I'm glad i'm not the only one into this. Some great ideas here too. I hope FAS is paying attention to this thread. There seems there would definitely be a strong demand for such a product. I'd love to see them look into it. Especially seeing as there are already soooooo many amps modeled, they could turn their attention to guitar modelling instead.
 
Rook said:
13 pin format precludes more than 6 strings. It isn't the 80s anymore... another format PLEASE :)
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I'd be fine with an alternative, but there would have to be a way for 13-pin instruments to work with it. There's simply too many of them around to ignore if introducing a product like this.
 
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I wonder what kinda format they would come up with to handle 7 + 8 string guitars. I wonder if there are already some potential contenders in the tech world that could be applicable for this kinda thing.
 
I have got a JTV-69 Variax, a Fender Custom Shop 69 Relic with a GK-3A, and a PRS Private Stock with a Graphtec Ghost Acoustic/Hexpander System built in. I think they all have issues. One thing I have noticed is that the better quality guitars sound better under the same models, but sound worse with alternate tunings. Structural borne vibrations seem to be the cause of both the bad and the good. It seems you get leakage from one section of the divided pick up to another and other vibrations coming back from the guitar body which is great for filling out the tone but turns pitch shifting each string separately into a mess. The more resonant the guitar, the more pronounced the effect is.

I think one could spend an entire career looking at that. FAS has a lot on it's plate, and I know the problem is something more than fancy electronics may be able to solve. Can you build something that's resonant enough to get good tone and sustain with a hex pick up that's mechanically isolated enough that it doesn't pass anything but a single string's vibration through uncoupled from the others for each section of the pick up? Would that guitar even sound good without going through some kind of modeller 100% of the time?
 
Dancing Frog said:
I have got a JTV-69 Variax, a Fender Custom Shop 69 Relic with a GK-3A, and a PRS Private Stock with a Graphtec Ghost Acoustic/Hexpander System built in. I think they all have issues. One thing I have noticed is that the better quality guitars sound better under the same models, but sound worse with alternate tunings. Structural borne vibrations seem to be the cause of both the bad and the good. It seems you get leakage from one section of the divided pick up to another and other vibrations coming back from the guitar body which is great for filling out the tone but turns pitch shifting each string separately into a mess. The more resonant the guitar, the more pronounced the effect is.

I think one could spend an entire career looking at that. FAS has a lot on it's plate, and I know the problem is something more than fancy electronics may be able to solve. Can you build something that's resonant enough to get good tone and sustain with a hex pick up that's mechanically isolated enough that it doesn't pass anything but a single string's vibration through uncoupled from the others for each section of the pick up? Would that guitar even sound good without going through some kind of modeller 100% of the time?
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Interesting thought but what about a light based system? A sort of LASER type of pickup with the info being sent down a pice of fiber then decoded at the other end to what ever you want or need it for. I don't understand enough about it to expand other then guessing. So the issues of harmonics that are otherwise dealt with through the magnetic pups then palm muting which seems to be an issue with hex type pups. Seems to me if we can transmit gigs of info down a single pice of glass why not the info from a vibrating string.
 
Sixstring said:
Interesting thought but what about a light based system? A sort of LASER type of pickup with the info being sent down a pice of fiber then decoded at the other end to what ever you want or need it for. I don't understand enough about it to expand other then guessing. So the issues of harmonics that are otherwise dealt with through the magnetic pups then palm muting which seems to be an issue with hex type pups. Seems to me if we can transmit gigs of info down a single pice of glass why not the info from a vibrating string.
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There is a company that already makes guitars and basses that have optical pick ups called LightWave systems. (Technology | LightWave Systems) They use an IR emitter, measure the interference pattern that the vibrating string generates, and translate that into a signal. According to them, it delivers a signal uncolored by the pick ups that have a wider spectrum than magnetic pick ups. Even their pick ups are not mechanically isolated, so the vibration of the pick up itself does enter into the signal.
 
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Dancing Frog said:
There is a company that already makes guitars and basses that have optical pick ups called LightWave systems. (Technology | LightWave Systems) They use an IR emitter, measure the interference pattern that the vibrating string generates, and translate that into a signal. According to them, it delivers a signal uncolored by the pick ups that have a wider spectrum than magnetic pick ups. Even their pick ups are not mechanically isolated, so the vibration of the pick up itself does enter into the signal.
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Interesting but not what I was thinking about. Here the guitar is built around the tech, I was thinking more along the lines of an add on type of deal like a hex or a drop in replacement bridge.
 
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