Analog hexagonal classical acoustic guitar pickup

  

Although the idea of six individual outputs from an electric or steel-string acoustic guitar is not new,  the state of the art has not progressed much since the 70's, 

Ubertar is a small company that makes coiled hexagonal pickups for steel-string guitar, Roland makes the GK3 for steel-string guitar, the Axon PU100 made by Roland and Seymore Duncan also provides six-channel output for steel-string guitars as well as others.



The ability to process each string individually and rout to individual amplifiers for tonal modification and spatial modification provides unlimited possibilities for composers. Since there are a certain warmth and response about analog that gets lost after conversion to digital. (needless to say that Midi guitars and guitar to midi converters are awesome for synthesizer effects) I designed and built a Hexophonic pickup for nylon string guitars. Taking into account that a guitarist playing an acoustic nylon string guitar uses four to five fingers simultaneously on six strings, imagine a different sound or place for each string. 



There are plenty of hexagonal and midi guitars out there since the 70s that do that, but, the cost includes special electronics and can be a factor for musicians and composers who wish to experiment. but you can't get the output of each individual string without an expensive breakout box. You can't send each string individually to an amplifier before the digital conversion.



  To be able to place six speakers at different locations sounds crazy but, with today's technology like self-powered speakers, and Bluetooth it is doable. each reproducing an individual string and individual processing can create an amazing effect. If you choose to assign each string to a unique sound using analog effects like a bass octave for the bottom E or delays and echo or distortion on the high strings, then the possibilities are endless. 

The other upside of this project is that you can use the guitar as a controller not just to convert to digital and synthesize for musical outputs but also as a source of voltage per each string for Arduino, Raspberry, or any other type of microprocessor.
For instance, part of this project includes a fountain that has six water spouts with color led that responds to each string individually and is controlled by an Arduino processor., just one idea if you are playing a fair or event of some kind and want an extra umph. 

  


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