"Pickup/coil indicator" light?

[Sovereign_13]

This is a purely hypothetical scenario that I've kind of been pondering/kicking around on and off for a few weeks, and I figured I'd ask the fine folks here if they've ever seen/tried anything like it.

Let's say you have a dual-humbucker guitar, and you've opted to outfit it with some Seymour Duncan P-Rails* (as I know some people here have done).  That invariably involves some sort of switching in order to get the most out of the pickups.  However, you find yourself having trouble remembering which coil you're using at any given time.  Maybe sound alone isn't good enough, I don't know.  (I remember having this problem when I had Triple Shots on my PRS - the series and parallel sounds were different enough, but keeping track of which coil was which was kind of tricky and the switch positions weren't super intuitive if memory serves).

Has anyone seen/heard of/implemented any sort of indicator light, either on the switch or next to the pickup, that indicates which coils you're using?

In theory, you could do this with a fairly basic switching circuit that lights an LED based on the position of your coil-splitting switch, either one per coil per pickup or a bicolor for each pickup.  I'm not really concerned with how you'd do it, since I'm fairly confident I could figure that part out, but whether or not anyone has ever seen something like this before.  Google turns up accent lighting that's more for looks than anything else.

*If you're not familiar, P-Rails are interesting pickups by SD that are seemingly designed to be coil-split for different sounds.  They implement a P90-ish screw coil alongside a rail-style single coil, the idea being that you can split them to either coil for P90 or single-coil sounds, or leave them in series for a humbucker sound.

 

[BigSteve22]

I have P-Rails in my Jazzmaster. Two switches, one a standard Gibson type pup selector, and a 4 position rotary as a mode selector. I have it set up so both pups are always in the same mode, (P-90, Parallel HB, Series HB, Rail), and I if I can't tell by the sound, I can glance at the knob and know what mode I'm in.  :sign13:

 

[Cagey]

To answer your question directly: I've never seen it done.

Seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Also seems like if you can't hear what mode you're in without indicators, nobody else can either, so the system is too complex to start with. Simplify it down to one pickup and no switches. Also precludes any need for indicators.

 

[TBurst Std]

I was thinking the same thing.  But there is something to be said for knowing what mode you are in when beginning a song live.  Not sure if a light presents a better solution than just observing your settings.
Just got back from a rehearsal where every song beginning requires a different setting than the previous song ending. 

 

[Sovereign_13]

Seems like a solution in search of a problem.

Probably is.  More of a curiosity than anything, and not something I'm actively considering doing.  Just figured if anyone had seen/tried a visual indicator for pickups beyond "which way is the switch pointing", this forum would be a good place to find them.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Fat Pete]

The only thing I can think of is this:

These solved lots of problems

 

[spe111]

You'd need a separate set of contacts on each switch, wouldn't you?

 

[Sovereign_13]

Holy moly, that's a bit more complicated what I was envisioning.  That thing looks like you could fly a drone with it! 

These solved lots of problems

Sorry, but I can't actually tell if you're being sarcastic here.

To be completely honest, what I had in mind was one of a few options.  Option 1 would be a rotary dial with a lighted indicator (for each pickup, probably).  Not unlike what Gibson did with the Robot Guitar, where you could spin a dial to a specific tuning and then the guitar would tune itself, only in this case it would just light up what "mode" the pickup is in.  Not unlike an illuminated rotary encoder, except that it also needs to be a mechanical switch.

Option 2 would be a little under-mounted LED or LED pair next to each pickup that lights depending on what "mode" the pickup is specifically set to.  It would just be tied to a pole on the selector switch, rather than any sort of sensor.

The easiest option would just be a 3-position illuminated switch that has different colors assigned to each of the modes.  Then you have it all in one package rather than trying to mount LEDs places.

You'd need a separate set of contacts on each switch, wouldn't you?

Yes, an additional pole on each switch would be needed to control the LEDs.

 

[spe111]

I would say you should just do it. If few/no people have done it, that just makes it cooler. If anyone thinks building/playing guitar is about being practical, they should probably get a different hobby.

 

[Sovereign_13]

If anyone thinks building/playing guitar is about being practical, they should probably get a different hobby.

I mean, a lot of what goes into choosing or building a guitar is what the user finds practical and useful - and more than a bit of the negative criticism toward innovation in guitars is based on practicality.  The MinE-tune system Gibson put out wasn't particularly practical for a lot of players, and that's a major part of why it didn't do well (along with the facts that a) they forced it on everyone and b) it wasn't particularly well-designed).  And of course, Cagey would tell you that most guitarists are a bunch of Luddites and favor outdated designs for the nostalgia (which they call "tone").

So the question really is a matter of practicality, and the reason I asked was to see if anyone had ever had a similar thought and tried it.  Lighting circuits are fairly simple, even with current-driven devices like LEDs, so it's not a lot of time and energy invested in design unless you want a crazy light show on your instrument.  Will I stick this in a guitar?  I don't know - I might try it on the next project just to see.  And then if it's useless I'll just take it out again.  But I'm generally less interested in "what looks cool" than I am "what's a cool way to serve a specific function".

 

[swarfrat]

I've always wanted to build a capacitive switch into the body. Perhaps even shave the wood down to paper thin above some indicator LED's. Or just hide the indicator LED some place like the neck plate or under the bridge (on a TOM).  Or leave the guitar electronics alone and hide a midi patch change inside - wave your hand over the horn and voila! Or (Wah-lah! as the case may be).  But then I realize the easier way to do the same thing is just to sequence your patch changes and let it switch your effects during the song for you.

 

[spe111]

If anyone thinks building/playing guitar is about being practical, they should probably get a different hobby.

I mean, a lot of what goes into choosing or building a guitar is what the user finds practical and useful - and more than a bit of the negative criticism toward innovation in guitars is based on practicality.  The MinE-tune system Gibson put out wasn't particularly practical for a lot of players, and that's a major part of why it didn't do well (along with the facts that a) they forced it on everyone and b) it wasn't particularly well-designed).  And of course, Cagey would tell you that most guitarists are a bunch of Luddites and favor outdated designs for the nostalgia (which they call "tone").

So the question really is a matter of practicality, and the reason I asked was to see if anyone had ever had a similar thought and tried it.  Lighting circuits are fairly simple, even with current-driven devices like LEDs, so it's not a lot of time and energy invested in design unless you want a crazy light show on your instrument.  Will I stick this in a guitar?  I don't know - I might try it on the next project just to see.  And then if it's useless I'll just take it out again.  But I'm generally less interested in "what looks cool" than I am "what's a cool way to serve a specific function".

In that case, if I just wanted to serve the function of knowing what coils were active, I'd just put a piece of masking tape by every switch and write the function on it.