Re: Hexaphonic guitar (was: single coil & hum (was EH2880 on video)

["Mark Smart" <mwsmart@insightbb.com>]

Hi all.
I can contribute a few ideas.



ROLAND VG-8

I have a Roland VG-8, which is driven by a Roland GK-2 style pickup. If 
you just
want to do polyphonic distortion, this is a really good unit for that. You 
can
choose what type of guitar pickup you want to sound like, pan the 
individual
strings in stereo, add effects, all kindsa cool stuff.

A while back in the jazz guitar newsgroup we were having an 
argument/discussion
about whether hexaphonic distortion sounds different than regular
distortion...yes, some people were actually arguing that they sound the 
same!
Anyway, I put up some mp3s to demonstrate the difference using the VG-8. 
So if
you want to know what the VG-8's hex distortion sounds like, here it is:

http://www.marksmart.net/sounddesign/guitarsounds/VG8/HexFuzz.html

You can get 'em on Ebay. I'm sure the VG-88 can do all the same stuff.




RMC FANOUT BOX

This is a splitter box that can be used to tap off the individual analog 
string
signals from a Roland GK-2 type pickup:

http://www.rmcpickup.com/fanoutbox.html




HEX PICKUPS IN REGULAR BODY

For a while, I have been investigating regular humbucker-sized hex pickups 
for
use with my looping setup:

http://www.marksmart.net/gearhack/jazzpedalboard/jazzpedalboard.html#V2

The reason is that I like to use an octave divider for bass rather than a 
synth
or the VG-8 (which also has a tracking delay when the pitch shifter is
activated). Octave dividers like the Chili Dog I use have real problems 
trying
to track a signal from a pickup at the bridge. So a hex piclup in a 
humbucker
body is desirable.

Apparently Bartolini made these a long time ago, and that is what got used 
in
the stereo Eddie Van Halen guitar mentioned eralier.

I have been using this very cool pickup by Rick Copeland:

http://www.marksmart.net/gearhack/jazzpedalboard/copeland.html

This thing is great, but seems to be unavailable now.

There is a guy in Sweden named Olle Svensson who makes similar hex 
pickups. I
had him make me one. It was very reasonably priced and looks great, but I
haven't had a chance to really try it out yet because I keep getting 
distracted
with lots of other stuff. If anyone is interested in asking him about a 
custom
pickup, I can give you his email. He also makes them with hex distortion 
built
in.

There is a place called Sound Garage that makes a unit with a regular 
humbucker
and a hex humbuckler built into the same humbucker body. This is intended 
to be
used for GK-style synth output in the bridge position, but it looks like it
could be adapted for use in the neck position.

http://www.quest-md.com/soundgarage/index_e.html

Hope this info helps.

Mark Smart
http://www.marksmart.net/