Separating guitar pickups for stereo

  • Thread starter Thread starter thebigcheese
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thebigcheese

thebigcheese

"Hi, I'm in Delaware."
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-turn-your-guitar-from-mono-to-stereo/

It seems so obvious that someone must've done it before, but it's a pretty neat idea. I suppose this is more of a DIY post, but I thought it might benefit more people if I posted it here. Why is this a good idea? Well, you could get twang distortion out of one amp and a clean rhythm out of the other! There's all kinds of fun possibilities with this mod, though it's not quite as flexible as Gibson's idea of separating individual strings (you'd need different pickups for that, I think, or at least modded ones).

I think if I did this project, I would wire in a switch so that my guitar could operate normally or separately, depending on the switch.
 
thebigcheese said:
http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-turn-your-guitar-from-mono-to-stereo/

It seems so obvious that someone must've done it before, but it's a pretty neat idea. I suppose this is more of a DIY post, but I thought it might benefit more people if I posted it here. Why is this a good idea? Well, you could get twang distortion out of one amp and a clean rhythm out of the other! There's all kinds of fun possibilities with this mod, though it's not quite as flexible as Gibson's idea of separating individual strings (you'd need different pickups for that, I think, or at least modded ones).

I think if I did this project, I would wire in a switch so that my guitar could operate normally or separately, depending on the switch.
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I did this to a guitar many years ago. IMHO this sounds like more fun than it really is. I played with it for a while and then put it back to original.
 
I figured it wouldn't come out that useful, that's why I was suggesting the switch. It could be fun for live, but it's totally unnecessary for recording.

Of course, I suppose you could always just split the signal of whatever pickup/combo you are using...
 
isn't it basically splitting a mono signal? A single source duplicated? Yeah?
 
I always wondered what the point was in the ES-355 being stereo.
 
Rick-O-Sound, stock on some Rickenbacker guitars and basses. One pickup's output is on the tip and the other's is on the ring of a TRS jack.

Ovation did something similar on some of their acoustic guitars - strings 1, 3, and 5 were on one connector and strings 2, 4, and 6 were on the other.
 
ggunn said:
Rick-O-Sound, stock on some Rickenbacker guitars and basses. One pickup's output is on the tip and the other's is on the ring of a TRS jack.

Ovation did something similar on some of their acoustic guitars - strings 1, 3, and 5 were on one connector and strings 2, 4, and 6 were on the other.
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both equally pointless. the ovation could sound like shit in STEREO. WOW!
 
ez_willis said:
isn't it basically splitting a mono signal? A single source duplicated? Yeah?
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Exactly.

And neither is splitting your guitar out through two amps, true stereo...it's just the same signal coming from two amps. :)
 
miroslav said:
Exactly.

And neither is splitting your guitar out through two amps, true stereo...it's just the same signal coming from two amps. :)
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That has some benefit. Often times one amp will compliment another to make for an awesome tone. I just don't see the point of splitting a single source in two.
 
Oh I agree that with two amps you can get all kinds of new flavors...I was just commenting on the "stereo" aspect.
 
Two amps can be great for pseudo-stereo if you're running a stereo chorus, or stereo delay before the split. That combined with slight tonal differences makes a nice wall o' sound.
 
ez_willis said:
isn't it basically splitting a mono signal? A single source duplicated? Yeah?
Click to expand...
No, the idea is that one pickup goes out one side and the other pickup goes out the other. So in the sense that it's from the same guitar, yes, it's the same signal, but with different acoustical properties, since one will be the bridge pickup and the other will be the neck pickup.
 
thebigcheese said:
No, the idea is that one pickup goes out one side and the other pickup goes out the other. So in the sense that it's from the same guitar, yes, it's the same signal, but with different acoustical properties, since one will be the bridge pickup and the other will be the neck pickup.
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Right, I follow you from a technical aspect, from a realistic one it's stupid.
 
I had my 355, (orignally not a 'stereo varritone) split to dual out and single coil splits on the p/u's many years ago. The idea being an optimum front end for each p/u. But frankly, I've abandoned that part of it- being too many options, overly complicated (vs having a few less but known good places to land.
Still use and love the bridge single coil/neck humbucher blend though. :)
 
A lot of us prefer to double our tracks.It would be more practical to just record two tracks using each pick up.What about 3 way pickups or different guitars with different pick up configurations?It's just making things more complicated than what it's worth.Recording each track individually will give a thicker sound and with tons more options.
 
mcmetal said:
A lot of us prefer to double our tracks.It would be more practical to just record two tracks using each pick up.What about 3 way pickups or different guitars with different pick up configurations?It's just making things more complicated than what it's worth.Recording each track individually will give a thicker sound and with tons more options.
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I think that's understood--doubling tracks is widely accepted around here as a great recording technique--in fact the standard approach for most. I think the discussion of the "stereo" split guitars pertains more being curious about what the application is.

I can't speak for others, but for me that application is likely to be live (that's the only time I split a guitar two ways). In the studio, I always play it and track it multiple times to get a thicker, richer sound.
 
WhiteStrat said:
I think that's understood--doubling tracks is widely accepted around here as a great recording technique--in fact the standard approach for most. I think the discussion of the "stereo" split guitars pertains more being curious about what the application is.

I can't speak for others, but for me that application is likely to be live (that's the only time I split a guitar two ways). In the studio, I always play it and track it multiple times to get a thicker, richer sound.
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I've never known what the players actually did with the stereo feature on the old ES-355s. I do know that whenever I ran across one in the past it had been disabled or they had made a stereo/mono cable. I also know that Gibson was also producing stereo guitar amps at the time.

If anybody knows something about how the folks were using this feature back in the late '50s/early '60s I would love it if you would fill me in.

When I modded mine I converted a wah-wah pedal so I could pan from one side of the stage to the other as I swapped pickups. I was really cool for about 5 minutes.
 
Milnoque said:
When I modded mine I converted a wah-wah pedal so I could pan from one side of the stage to the other as I swapped pickups. I was really cool for about 5 minutes.
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That's about 2 minutes longer than I've ever been cool!
 
It isnt the true stereo like those Steve Ripley guitars...but I guess that would be advanced for DIY:rolleyes:
 
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