TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Jul 19, 2020 11:12:02 GMT -5
Like the venerable Swiss Army Knife, which can do many things, but none particularly well, electric guitars can offer a plethora of features and sound options too. Coil-tapping, phase switching, 5 way switches, S1 switches, piezo pickups, blend controls, etc, can alter your sound in many ways, but some of them are not really useful to me. Too many options can get confusing in a band situation too.
My most recent example is the Fender Elite Parallel Universe Tele. It has a contoured body (+) with 3 pickups (HB/SC/SC} (+ -), 5 way switching (+ -), S1 switch (-), locking tuners (+), modern bridge (+). Lots of pickup options, only a couple useful. The middle pickup gets in my way as I'm always hitting it with my pick. And with all the sounds, none seems to be the classic Tele sound.
I'm probably going to move this guitar along too and just get a Tele that sounds like a Tele and nothing else. I'm lucky enough to have most of the iconic guitars of the rock era, so I can pick the guitar that I think will work the best in any given situation. Easy peasy!
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Post by budg on Jul 19, 2020 11:24:58 GMT -5
I had a LP with coil tapping and didnt care for it. Not really a p90 sound , not really a stratty single coil sound. It did the humbucker thing decently . Looked at a silverburst studio that had all that plus phase switching etc. Had a 9 volt battery . Nope , just not my cup o tea. Guess im just a meat and potatoes kinda guy. 2 strats , SSS , A 335 an SG , a LP with no fancy anything and 2 acoustics . Thats who I am and I embrace it.
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 19, 2020 12:02:06 GMT -5
I have a homebrew SAK. Warmoth double bound Tele thinline body, Warmoth Gibson scale neck, P90 in the neck and Rail Tele bridge humbucker with Gotoh 6 saddle bridge. It does many things well. The P90 (Actually Kent Armstrong Stealth 90) can get Jazzy, the middle position does a nice hybrid of middle position of Tele and a 335, and the bridge position all alone rips like a Les Paul. This is one of my oldest builds with tweaks along the way and I lucked out.
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Post by jhawkr on Jul 19, 2020 12:22:59 GMT -5
A Swiss Army knife guitar flies in the face of the premise of needing multiple guitars to cover multiple tones. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
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TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Jul 19, 2020 12:57:48 GMT -5
A Swiss Army knife guitar flies in the face of the premise of needing multiple guitars to cover multiple tones. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! My point exactly. I don't want one guitar that takes the place of 3 others - I want all four. |
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Post by budg on Jul 19, 2020 13:27:02 GMT -5
Yes . Give me as many reasons to buy more guitars as possible.
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Post by Leftee on Jul 19, 2020 13:57:28 GMT -5
It’d better have a corkscrew.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2020 14:31:41 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2020 14:34:04 GMT -5
That said, I have a pretty versatile Strat.
It's a Partsocaster configured as HSH with a Kinman K7 system.
I also have a MIK SSS Strat with a K9.
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Ayns
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Posts: 767
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Post by Ayns on Jul 19, 2020 18:37:03 GMT -5
About 15 years ago, I used to gig with a couple of Strats (MiJ and MIM I think) which I upgraded with SD JB HBs in the bridge position, which covered pretty much everything I needed. I "upgraded" to an AmSe Strat, (which is great) and installed a set of EMG DG20 pups, which aren't quite as versatile as the HSS configuration IMHO. I still think an HSS Strat would cover most of my needs  |
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Post by chimpo on Jul 20, 2020 3:47:55 GMT -5
I love 'em. To me having access to tones other than traditional Strat/LP/Tele/whatever is a good thing. I love vintage tones as much as anyone but variety is the spice of life and can inspire creativity. Some examples of swiss army knife guitars I have are: 2010 SSS American Deluxe Strat with 10 pup combinations, Ibanez AZ two HB with 10 combinations and a 2005 American Series HSS Strat with 9 combinations. At first many combinations was too much for my brain but I made a conscious decision to make the most of it, like a painter to a palette of paints.
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Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jul 20, 2020 4:06:40 GMT -5
I have a few PRSs that have pull-on coil splits. Other than playing around wth 'em when new, I find I don't use 'em at all because it's really not a good single-coil tone like a Strat or Tele.
I've done up a Strat with the 7-sound mod and the additional sounds are good, but really not good enough for me to want to use them. The only non-standard sound option I like is the 4-way switch for the Tele. This is a bacon saver when playing somewhere that has an electrically noisy envirinment; the partial humbucking operation of the 4th position really quiets things down.
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TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Jul 20, 2020 6:38:53 GMT -5
I have to 'fess up: I have had Variax guitars, still have one. Some of the electric models are ok, others not. I use the acoustic models for recording. In the mix, they work well for rhythm parts. |
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Post by Auf Kiltre on Jul 20, 2020 8:00:51 GMT -5
I've tried micro switches in Strats before for all the combinations and whacky out of phase stuff. I've owned the horrible lunkocaster the Elite with the 3 push buttons. There wasn't anything there for me. I do have a 4 way switch on my Tele and personally never use the front position. To me it sounds like the middle position on steroids. I get noise canceling in the middle anyway. I'm leaving it for now because it really hasn't been evaluated in a jam/live setting.
I also have an Epiphone ES-335 Pro and I do like the pull pots, especially single coil op in the neck position. It has a nice transparent snapiness that works for Motowny type stabs on the 2 and 4.
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Post by markfromhawaii on Jul 27, 2020 15:12:15 GMT -5
I have a Godin LGXT AAA that would qualify. 😉 It has Seymour Duncan humbuckers, piezo bridge pickups, and trem, and a 13-pin jack for Boss/Roland GR synths. I had some problems with the 3rd string piezo and had to have the guitar replaced. The upper bout strap pin came loose as well, but that was easily fixed with toothpicks and wood glue. The locking tuners are kind of cheap but if you can get over (mitigate) Godin’s QC issues, it’s a nice sounding, very playable and versatile guitar. flic.kr/p/2j3eRmg |
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Post by reverendrob on Jul 29, 2020 0:04:39 GMT -5
For me, a LP with the 490/498 pickup combo (same as the Customs) and coil splitting/tapping/phase fits the bill nicely.
I rarely need the tapping, but when I do, it's a godsend, same as the phase.
I could happily live with my LPs so outfitted alone, even if I might miss the Jazzmaster vibrato on occasion.
I have seriously, seriously considered having one routed for one, but that is not likely to happen.
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Post by jhawkr on Jul 29, 2020 8:35:41 GMT -5
OK. I guess I do have a Swiss Army Knife Guitar after all. A Taylor T5z Pro. My only blue guitar. It will emulate everything from acoustic to Tele to Les Paul. A very nice guitar.
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Post by Jim D. on Jul 29, 2020 12:24:52 GMT -5
Although best known for their basses, Sadowski six string electric guitars cover a great deal of ground tonally. I have only played one, and that was some time ago, and it was a solid body. I don't know the model but it was one fine instrument. They are still in business but scaled down today. Becker's favorite weapon on the Steely Dan recordings.
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Post by reverendrob on Jul 29, 2020 17:43:04 GMT -5
Technically, my acoustic is the ultimate Swiss Army knife, with all the alternate tunings and wang bar...and... Oh, wait...  Guitar synths are evil. |
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twangmeister
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Formerly Known As: Twangmeister
Age: 72 and fading fast.....
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Post by twangmeister on Jul 30, 2020 18:15:27 GMT -5
My Swiss Army knife guitar is a modified Ibanez AS-53 semi-hollowbody.
I added a bass roll-off control similar to Reverend's so I could get some single coil tone including Tele bridge tones. I also moved the pick up selector sitch to the lower bout, just below the F-hole. It doesn't have a tremelo, so I can't dive bomb, but I don't really need it for anything I play. A plain-jane guitar, I did dress it up with chrome pickup covers and a black pickguard so it was suitably dressed for tuxwdo-clad jazz concerts.
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TBird
Wholenote
Posts: 298
Formerly Known As: greg1948
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Post by TBird on Jul 31, 2020 6:28:57 GMT -5
I still have a couple of guitars that cover several bases. My Music Man JP6 has HB & coil split, a piezo pickup and two outputs. Also have a Gibson Limited Edition Les Paul that has a piezo pickup and two outs, as well as a LP with coil splitting on both pickups. I also have the Roland GR55 synth connected to my PRS. Useful for adding different instrument sounds in recording, but to complicated for live use (for me anyway).
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Post by ninworks on Aug 5, 2020 6:43:15 GMT -5
Before I settled in on my current configuration my 72 Strat went through many different combinations. The most complex was I had a mini-toggle switch for each pickup to switch them on and off. Had another one that would change the polarity of the bridge pickup and a push-pull volume pot that would invert the polarity of the middle pickup. 3 volume pots and no tone pot.
It had all kinds of tonal variations but almost none of them could be arrived at quickly. I ended up with a Seymore Duncan humbucker in the bridge position and Texas specials everywhere else. A typical 5 position switch and a mini-toggle switch to split the humbucker. One volume and one tone pot. I decided all of the different sounds weren't good enough to warrant the difficulty and amount of time it took to get them. It was a nightmare on stage.
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Post by Lesterstrat on Aug 5, 2020 21:42:04 GMT -5
Mine is my Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS. I don't *think* they even make it anymore. At the time I bought it ("like new" off Ebay), I paid $950.00 shipped. They were selling new for around $1300. They were just under $2,000 when they stopped making them. Anyway, my two guitars that I gigged with were Tom Andersons that Tom built for me, each of which were around $3500 each. Once, I played the Fender HSS, both of the Andersons were put on Ebay. That was around 2003-2004 time frame. I still have the Fender to this day (a miracle because I'm not known to keep any piece of gear for very long).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2020 18:50:48 GMT -5
I have a Godin LGXT AAA that would qualify. 😉 It has Seymour Duncan humbuckers, piezo bridge pickups, and trem, and a 13-pin jack for Boss/Roland GR synths. My immediate first thought too. Fantastic guitars. I’ve been eyeing some of the non-synth access options too. One guitar to fly with (should that become an opportunity again). |
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Post by guildx700 on Aug 9, 2020 22:07:11 GMT -5
My old Hagstrom Swede is my Swiss Army Knife. Has been for decades now. Has a 1/2" solid carved mahogany top on a solid mahogany body, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard. It's a 1972 model year. I did a total gut, rewire of it back when I got it. The unusual pickups in it are actually 3 blade triple humbuckers, epoxy potted, they were custom made by KMD for me over 30 years ago. I have them wired for any and all possible options imaginable for their 6 coils total anything from single coil to all coils series/parallel, phase, you name it. The upper 2 body switches are both 3 position and the 3 knobs are vol/vol/tone/all 3 are push-pulls, finally the pickup selector switch is next to the pots. I can get any sound I want out of it.    |
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Post by Vibroluxer on Aug 10, 2020 20:17:27 GMT -5
My Baja Tele. I can't get a Filtertron tone but am pretty happy with everything else I need
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Post by archiestone on Aug 27, 2020 15:29:18 GMT -5
I was shocked -SHOCKED!- to find out John McFee of The Doobie Bros opts for a Line 6 Variax on stage -- a true Swiss Army Knife guitar (+ a Helix pedalboard.)
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