Battery box but no active pickups, ideas for other active onboard electronics?

[electric__steve]

I've got a body with a double battery box route, but am not planning on using active pickups... at least, not immediately.  So I'm wondering what other options there are for onboard active electronics.  I really don't know what products are out there, and didn't find much while searching the web.  GFS has a bunch options like a headphone amplifier, preamps, EQ, gain, distortion.  Didn't really find much else. 

 

[Lbpesq]

I really like the Alembic Blaster (aka “Stratoblaster”).  It was originally designed for Jerry Garcia’s “Wolf” guitar.  You can set the gain.  I use it always on at almost unity gain.  It gives me a fuller sound and acts as a buffer to prevent signal loss from long cord runs and/or pedalboards.  If you are even half-way decent with a soldering iron, there are a few kits available to build your own that are surprisingly inexpensive.

Bill, tgo

 

[mayfly]

how about a tuner?

 

[DangerousR6]

I'd just bite the bullet and put some EMG's in it, can't go wrong with a 81-85 set... :dontknow:

 

[Rick]

Fernandez sustainer?

 

[stratamania]

You can also use thing such as an EMG SPC and EXG with passive pickups and they would need a battery as would an active boost.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/eJG25PEsyLY[/youtube]

 

[DuckBaloo]

Along the lines of the EMG preamps, Fender offers a kit for the active mid-boost they use in the Clapton Sig model.

 

[Sadie-f]

fwiw, I've got a fernandes sustainter on my Fender EOB. It's fun in it's own right, however of all the electronics I could add to a guitar, that would be low on the list. The way they're usually wired, the guitar won't play without a battery.

I'm fond of my Ghost piezo pickups, they blend in well and use a tiny bit of juice off the battery. I'll probably add one to my Maple build, and I'll be looking at other piezo options also.

There are a lot of cool new pickup + preamp designs out there.

 

[electric__steve]

I love all of these ideas so far. 
Tuner - Solid idea.  Any options other than the N-Tune?
Stratoblaster and EMG SPC/EXG - excellent ideas as well.  Might just get them first and try them out on my Strat if they don't go on this build.
Sustainer - Probably not the right idea for this build, but again I might try it out on the Strat.  I actually did a universal route on it recently and added locking tuners so I can set up pickguards with different pickup combos for experimentation.  This would be a great idea for that.
EMG pickups?  I guess I can add that to the list of things to try, hah. 

Probably should have posted a photo of the build as well, added that to this post.

 

[NedRyerson]

Disclaimer: in one of my posts, I mentioned that I tend to gravitate toward the obnoxious when it comes to guitar design.

Spare battery box?  Use it power strings of LEDs mounted in the pickup cavities.

Why?  WHY NOT?!

 

[mayfly]

You could make them RGB LEDs, which would change colour.... or better yet a colour organ!!!  :headbang:

 

[stratamania]

Now I see the body you could use a Fishman TOM Powerbridge with Powerchip Piezo Volume control, and use the batteries to power them.

Or a similar idea using Graphtech Ghost TOM and Acoustiphonic.

For the three humbuckers for switching perhaps also checkout the Freeway 5b5-02.

 

[BroccoliRob]

yo i would just say dont write off EMGs too quickly. They are even more noiselessly than the most noiseless pups out there. i call em NoiseLeast™ lmao. and they do more than just #higain, just look at Steve lukafer. Well... Don't look at him (enbarassing hair much?), but look at his Signature EMG set (look at them with your ears). Also Dave Gilmour (better/less hair).

or maybe the fluence stuff since that is the new hotness. u can jazz it up, making the next bawwiddabaw is not a requirement. Can we all agree that Kid Rock makes music for the kinda people who smoke menthols through a neck hole and their friends? Dude is like if a set of Truck Nuts was a person lol

 

[electric__steve]

Now a piezo system is an idea.  I need a bridge anyways, might as well go for the Graphtech one.  Are there any compatiblility issues with Warmoth's routing that I need to be aware of?  I think the 6mm one is the one to use:
https://graphtech.com/collections/ghost-pickup-systems-tune-o-matic-wraparound-bridges/products/ghost-resomax-nv-bridge-6mm-ss-nickel

LEDs?  Sounds like fun!  I wonder if I can mount some to the bottom of the pickups so that the light shines out through the pickup route.

EMG - I'm not quite writing them off, but I'd already been somewhat planning on trying out some P90s and maybe Filtertrons on this build.  I'm also a huge Gilmour fan, so that will draw me back there eventually.

Dude is like if a set of Truck Nuts was a person lol

Now THAT is a burn!

 

[stratamania]

The 6mm Gotoh TOM is probably the closest size wise to the Gotoh TOM that Warmoth sells. Though as with all these types of things it is worth checking all published dimensions, thread compatibility and so on that you can find.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I tried the EMG SPC buffer, but I found it's kind of limited.  IMO pedals tend to be more useful to tune the mid-boost as needed, as its normally matched to the overdrive circuits. EDIT:  In my case the EMG SPC did not match well with the combination of passive pickups and amplifier model I was using.

My suggestion is to just add a buffer amplifier or switchable clean boost.  If you want to add some tuning effect, you can try changing the capacitance load on the input to the buffer amp.  The pickups resonant frequency can be shifted in that way, which is the same as using different cables.  What I am suggesting is to keep the conventional 500k Volume and tone controls, but place the buffer amp after the volume control.  It means the loading on the pickups will be similar to the conventional wiring scheme the pickups are designed for. 

 

[WindsurfMaui]

Clapton uses a mid boost powered by battery in his Strat. I know GFS sells stuff like that as I am sure others do as well. lots of tiny computer  cards full of chipsets to tweak tone.