Does something like this exist?

[paguitarist]

Sp, I was hoping to build almost like a scaled down version of a Variax, like way scaled down and analog. My goal was to have piezo's in the bridge, and for it to be able to switchbetween an acoustic sound, a humber kind of sound and a single coil kind of sound. Do any piezo preamps/circuitas exist that would model, or get close to a single or humbucker sound. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If I can get this thing to work, I would gladly post a big write-up on here.

[aron]

I am not aware of anything like this other than the BOSS acoustic simulator.

[paguitarist]

Hopefully I was clear in what I meant to say, but my intentions are actually the opposite of that pedal. Instead of a circuit that can make a magnetic pickup sound like a piezo pickup or an acoustic, a circuit that can make a piezo sound like a magnetic pickup. If something like this really doesn't exist, does anyone have any suggestions on way I might design my own?

[Andi]

Might be tricksy. Piezos have lots of attack for starters. I s'pose it might be worth trying a notch filter or a comb filter, see if you can find a setting that sounds more like a mag pickup.

[paguitarist]

Well, I'm always up for a challenge. Just a guess, but I wonder if maybe building an eq, and messing with it until if find something close sounding, then converting the settings into a fixed circuit, would work, but somehow something tells me that that would leave alot to be desired in the way of sound?

[Taylor]

I know DIY is more fun, but Variaxes are relatively cheap aren't they?

This is the kind of thing that is really difficult to do well with analog tech. It isn't just an EQ thing, there's also all sorts of phase relationships, physical modeling with delay lines, probably multi-band compression/expansion, etc. going on in a Variax. While you could probably do it if you had a ton of time to devote to it, the money you'd be saving would be paying you very little for your labor.

If you don't like the Variax itself for ergonomic/aethetic reasons, a much easier, and still fun, project would be to buy one of the cheap Variaxes on ebay and transplant the electronics into a guitar you do like, or build one.

[paguitarist]

Yeah, I'm basically going for a good DIY project, I'm not trying to replicate the complexity of a Variax. I'm trying to go for a guitar with only piezo pickups, that has that acousticish sound for cleans, and then I could say, have a humbucker type sound for a solo or lead. My goal is kinda like the EXG and SPC type of preamps from EMG that make singles sound a little like a humbucker or whatnot, but instead for a piezo.

[Andi]

I do have to say "why?".

I like piezos - especially for really filthy distortion or blended with mags for added spank on clean sounds, but it'd be so much easier just to add a nice set of magnetics...

[Ripthorn]

If you are dead set on it, what I would do is start with a guitar that has perhaps splittable hb pickups and a piezo.  You could then find the transfer function between them and use that as your filter design.  Won't be perfect, but it's at least a good place to start.

[JKowalski]

If you are wanting that "clean" guitar face look, you could mount the humbuckers underneath the wood - You'd need a really low action, though. I believe I saw someone do that over on projectguitar.com once.

[paguitarist]

I'd be lying if I didn't say I absolutely love the clean face, no pickup look.

[CynicalMan]

If you are dead set on it, what I would do is start with a guitar that has perhaps splittable hb pickups and a piezo.  You could then find the transfer function between them and use that as your filter design.  Won't be perfect, but it's at least a good place to start.

Instead of using a regular humbucker, you could use a p-rail pickup.
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/prails_shpr1/

It's specially made to be able to sound like a regular single coil, a p-90 and a humbucker.

[Mike Burgundy]

I'd actually use piezo's in the bridge and blend them with the magnetic pu's with a balance pot. Using coil-splittable pu's allows for single coil/humbucker selection. Keep in mind that acoustic sound (wether it's piezo or well miked) doesn't work well with the frequency range of a guitar amp. You could wire for a stereo setup, so the acoustic signal goes to a different amp or directly to the PA.
It's quite doable, and can yield good results (our lead guitarist has a magnificent custom guitar kitted out this way).
If you're interested in making magnetic pu's sound like an acoustic, check out Mark Hammer's Woody and all info around it - good stuff.
Burns had some kind of circuit in their guitars to do something like that, but I never found any info on it.
hih

[paguitarist]

I had seen those P-Rails pickups a little while ago, thought they were kinda intriguing. I wonder how they actually work, as I've never really seen much of an in depth review, and I've never played them. If they're good I think I'll wait till one of those companies makes a copy, and throw a couple in a strat.

[CynicalMan]

Here's the Guitar Player review:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/pdfs/products/electric/progressive/prails.pdf

It seems fairly positive, although the sounds won't exactly fit what real single coils, p-90s and humbuckers sound like.

[paguitarist]

Thanks for that review, and yeah I figured. That's always been my sour point with coil tapped humbuckers, do they sound okay? Yes, but they just don't beat a real single, IMHO, but to each their own.