15 pickup combos in one guitar.

[Stratman1188]

I still have to discuss this with my dad who knows a lot about microchips, but he thinks that is could work. By using two humbuckers I would have four coils to work with. My idea is to use a microchip to switch my pickup configurations. I would use a 3 way switch to access three different pickup banks. Each bank would have 5 different pickup configuration accessed by a 5 way switch. That would give me 15 different pickup settings. You could have all four coils in parallel with each other or any other possible combination. It could change if coils were in or out of phase, series or parallel and lots of other stuff. I still don’t know if this would work but if it could it would be a way to get the most out of different pickup combinations all in one guitar. :headbang:

 

[Alfang]

Or....you could be like the rest of us idiots on here, build a diferent guitar for each sound you want.

 

[Stratman1188]

Or....you could be like the rest of us idiots on here, build a diferent guitar for each sound you want.

If I could do that i would. But I am just starting college so different guitar are kind of out of the picture because i have vary little income and have to pay for school. :sad:

 

[CD]

You could probably do it, but really do you think each of the 15 would be used that much? Maybe it's just me but I use either the neck pickup or the bridge. Thats it. :laughing7:

 

[riarojr]

is that similar to that PRS 513???  i'm not sure how it actually works, but i know it's some wierd stuff goin on inside that thing.haha

 

[TroubledTreble]

Sounds great! Why not give it a try... It may lead to other things. Share the schematic and parts list if you get it working. Please.

Also you could play with a variable cap setup on the tone control.

-TT-

 

[Stuck in the Sixties]

Stratman1188 sounds like over kill to me I love it give it a try and let us know what happens. arty07:

 

[DiMitriR33]

i could do this with convenional switches. and much more. but there would be a lot of wires. plus i never use all 5 positions on my strat. i use a 4 pole 5 position switch and decide on the five most useful sounds to wire in.
the prs 513 has a cool setup with 5 coils all with a coil tap in a hsh configuration. the 5 way chooses the paired coils. the 3way chooses how they're paired. ie split(single coil), humbucker with the individual coils tapped for a more paf sound, and humbucking with coils on full for a very hot metal sound. the 3way does not work when the 5 way is in the center position as this is single coil only. this design is all pasive no microchips only a pcb and ribon cables to keep it organised.
if you  want to go all out you could have the three way do series/taped/paralell or series/phased/paralell or a number of other things. if you have an idea of what your 15 sounds will be. i can help with wireing ideas.
i've seen a guy who wanted to use three 6-way rotary switches on two humbuckers. series/tapped/paralell/phased-series/phased-paralell/tapped(other coil) or something to that efect. one switch per pickup plus one to pair the other switches. it would have a few redundant positions but he figured 82 diferent combos!

 

[Josbourne]

Wow! Would love to hear if this thing works!

In theory anything is possible with electronics, but in practice; i'm wondering if phase reversals would work, and how to program/flash the eprom..

Keep us informed if you could :icon_smile: