mechanical guitar funkiness

[gordian knot]

OK, the gizmotron making the rounds makes be just kind of think back to what else there is/what out there as far as mechanical funkiness.
It's be funny to build a homer simpson car with all the gizmos on there

Oh, some mechanical "prepared guitar" effects that come to mind

Obviously...the tremolo bridge
then there's

Hipshot benders
Aspri guitar-mounted mechanical reverb
Buzz bridge (a Sitar style jawari bridge. Was it Gotoh that actually made those for the Jerry Jones, etc??)
hammer jammer
Capo? does that count? (I suppose esp the alternate tuning ones that selectively capo strings)

I guess we have to include bottleneck slide.
some people used to use baby combs as picks. I think there's an actual pick like that now


hmmm, what else???

[gordian knot]

the mdel B/C sustainiac is sort of on the line, but the gizmotron is powered too, so I guess it sort of eeks in there provisionally

[BoatRich]

Has anyone put an Aspri or Hammer Jammer on an electric??? (or both?) The Aspri could be fucking rad with a contact mic or low profile pick up underneath it.

[gordian knot]

There was a mod serveral years ago where guys were putting longer trem springs in strat style bridges and using pickups on them

[BoatRich]

There was a mod serveral years ago where guys were putting longer trem springs in strat style bridges and using pickups on them

That could be rad. I just want to isolate a super trashy spring reverb tone and run that into other pedals. I might start running my spring first in the chain

[lordgalvar]

Framus Organ Tone (spring loaded volume pot).

That one weird one that used mechanical arms loaded with springs that attached to the strap so that you could bend by tilting the guitar. I think the Rolling Stones used one. I have schems for it somewheres. edit: B-Bender: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-Bender

One of those old industrial/art guys back in the early 1980s straped a fan onto his guitar for a gizmotron like thing (though I imagine it just broke strings like crazy and sounded like clanging).

There was that one guitar that had swappable pickups on rails that could slide positions. And that other one from England in the 1970s that had swappable electronics (can't remember the name right now...damn, someone posted one in setup of the day or something a few months back).

[gordian knot]

Oh yeah! the parsons b-bender. the hipshot was sort of an externalized version of that because there was sooo much routing involved

Yeah, i was thinking mainly mechanical (or electro mechanical) - the swappable electronics you are probably thinking about the is Electra MPC series aka the "atari cartridge" guitars.

[lordgalvar]

I remembered...was thinking of shergold: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shergold

And I know what you meant...but was just expanding my thoughts to mechanical designs.

Anyway, they made this guitar that could be swapped out for different combinations of two guitars and swappable electronics.



I don't like them, but those gibson auto/mechanical tuners fit I guess. Also those bridges that stay in tune no matter what.

[gordian knot]

oh ok gotcha.

there've been a few with swappable electronics, but that interchangable bodiesthing... seriously funky

[lordgalvar]

Is the kinda stuff I was talking about.

[DannDubbleEwe]

[lordgalvar]

That's the one I remember Dan. Thanks Bud!

Surprised that third bridge stuff hadn't gotten mentioned yet!

[gordian knot]

Did they have a guitar version of the westone? I seem to recall they maybe did...I seem to recall something bodiless like that in guitar with the rail system

It seems like they are more popular on bass. Gibson had the Grabber (I think basically a modified ripper) with a sliding PU too

[lordgalvar]

Did they have a guitar version? I seem to recall they maybe did.

It seems like they are more popular on bass. Gibson had the Grabber (I think basically a modified ripper) with a sliding PU too

I seem to remember a guitar with removeable sides too, but I might be wrong.

Electric Resonator?:


Rickenbacker Electro Vibrola:

[gordian knot]

yeah, resonators. I remember seeing an acoustic with a projection horn like those old violins (I think it was at the EMP).

Then there's the harp guitars and stuff, but that doesn't fundamentally change the sound like the resonator