LED guitar mod - pics inside :)

[Docaroo]

Hello there fellow home recordists...

I thought I'd take a break from recording to show you what I did to my guitar last night

Whadda you think?

 

[mshilarious]

You should connect them through a transistor with the guitar signal at the base, then they would flash as you played

Or wire a pair of them as a limiter, then you'd have an onboard distortion effect

 

[Docaroo]

hehe I'm one step ahead of you the next phase will be to wire in a circuit for controlling the LEDs - like a sound activated circuit maybe woop!!

 

[travelin travis]

those suckers look bright. did you put leds inside a single coil pickup cover? you should have killed a humbucker instead.

makes a good alternative to a lava lamp.

 

[Docaroo]

lol yeh that's exactly what I did... I use both humbuckers but not really the SC so it was sacrificed in the name of looking good haha....

 

[Anfontan]

How long is the battery life at that brightness?

 

[Docaroo]

well I'll put it this way the battery life is measured in days...

I'd say would have at an EXTREMELY safe guess, 3-4 days of continuous use...minimum.


I haven't tried it but i have played 2 gigs, 4 practices (so around 10 hours) and 10 hours of having it on at home at least... I won't be changing the batteries anytime soon!

 

[Keiffer]

that's slick...

 

[Adam P]

Looks cool.

For your next mod, make it look a little more like this.

 

[mshilarious]

hehe I'm one step ahead of you the next phase will be to wire in a circuit for controlling the LEDs - like a sound activated circuit maybe woop!!

Seriously, it's a pretty easy circuit, especially since you already have active electronics. A single transistor (with an adequate power rating!) should do, along with maybe a trimpot to fine tune the level of the guitar signal that triggers the flashing

That will save you lots on batteries too

 

[Docaroo]

that sounds pretty cool!!! how would I wire that though lol?

 

[mshilarious]

that sounds pretty cool!!! how would I wire that though lol?

Here's a guess. Maybe I went a little overboard on the input circuit. First try hooking a tap off the guitar output straight into the base of the transistor. If that doesn't work well enough, then try the other stuff. The resistor & pot are there to trim the signal if necessary, the diode and cap are a rectifier circuit if the LEDs flash too quickly.

The LEDs should be whatever you have already done, I just threw some in as an example.

If the guitar output is too low, it will need to be amplified by another transistor. I don't work with active guitar pickups, so I'm not really sure if you'd need that or not. Maybe somebody else will know

 

[andydeedpoll]

although looking very cool, it also looks inCredibly gaudy. i can't imagine being able to turn up to a jazz club or something with that...

but nice one

Andy

 

[Docaroo]

well you never know about those Jazz types...

incidentally I play power metal where being over the top is good and also its an Ibanez - you HAVE to customise those bad boys

 

[TragikRemix]

hmm im going to do something like that now... i like the idea alot. one question for MSfunny guy..

the LED's are connected off of the diodes? and Q is a transistor?

 

[White_moon]

Thats awesome. You should put them in the neck too, like Billy Sheehan.

 

[IronFlippy]

A common mod would be having them light up to tell you which pickup is currently selected.

 

[Anfontan]

hmm im going to do something like that now... i like the idea alot. one question for MSfunny guy..

the LED's are connected off of the diodes? and Q is a transistor?

Thats the symbol for a light emitting diode and Q is often the symbol for transistors in most schematics

 

[ez_willis]

I have a Converse Hi-Top sticker on my 1969 Yamaha acoustic.

 

[andydeedpoll]

well you never know about those Jazz types...

incidentally I play power metal where being over the top is good and also its an Ibanez - you HAVE to customise those bad boys

ha, well, in that case, there isn't enough. and they're not big enough. or bright enough. and only one colour? what do you think you're playing at? you want to be blinding people from 50 feet.




Andy