Guitar ideas you are surprised never got more widespread acceptance?

axisus

Thomas Blug's strat has a dummy coil under the scratchplate to cut excessive hum when he cranks the gain up. That always seemed like a decent idea to me but I've never seen it anywhere else, certainly not in any production SC guitars.

Whitecat

Robot tuners.

guitarfishbay

Haven't used one yet, but the concept of Evertune.  

I get that no beginner would want one, and I get there are a load of purists who think guitars can actually be played in tune all of the time... but guitars generally don't stay in tune for long periods of play, are easily affected by environmental factors, and ignoring the technique aspect of finger pressure - dynamics are tied to pitch... you can't play hard and not go sharp.

prowla

I used to want a Gizmo or E-bow built in to the bridge.

impmann

Quieter amps?

<Runs away>

bobliefeld

^ Sustainiac ?

octatonic

axisus said:

Thomas Blug's strat has a dummy coil under the scratchplate to cut excessive hum when he cranks the gain up. That always seemed like a decent idea to me but I've never seen it anywhere else, certainly not in any production SC guitars.

Actually quite a few noiseless pickup designs are based on this sort of thing, just implemented differently.

The reason it isn't more of a thing is down to how guitar culture reveres the past more than appreciates engineering solutions.

impmann

Actually, genuinely... lightweight guitar combos much like the Mark Bass stuff has revolutionised bass amps.

Bridgehouse

impmann said:

Actually, genuinely... lightweight guitar combos much like the Mark Bass stuff has revolutionised bass amps.

Me too. They really are that good. *shrugs*

guitars4you

octatonic said:

axisus said:

Thomas Blug's strat has a dummy coil under the scratchplate to cut excessive hum when he cranks the gain up. That always seemed like a decent idea to me but I've never seen it anywhere else, certainly not in any production SC guitars.

Actually quite a few noiseless pickup designs are based on this sort of thing, just implemented differently.

The reason it isn't more of a thing is down to how guitar culture reveres the past more than appreciates engineering solutions.

Fender did it with the Strat Elite models in the 80's - not sure who did it first but quite a few since as you mentioned

Ravenous

Guitars that aren't made of wood.

Bass players (a lot of them) seem to "get" instruments made of composites, aluminium or other interesting materials.

Guitarists (most of them, it seems to me) just can't accept guitars unless they're made of wood, and even then they cling to a need for certain species of wood...

HAL9000

Bridgehouse said:

impmann said:

Actually, genuinely... lightweight guitar combos much like the Mark Bass stuff has revolutionised bass amps.

Me too. They really are that good. *shrugs*

Agreed. I guess there are plenty of lightweight combos about (Fender Mustang, Boss Katana, etc)  but they tend to be built down to a price and are generally thought off as 'bedroom' amps. I guess the closest is probably the Roland Blues Cube. However something like a combo version of Yamaha's THR100H could be a useful piece of kit.

DulcetJones

I remember seeing the guitarist with Hermans Hermits on TV in the 60's playing a solid body that had a mute function consisting of a lever near the bridge that pushed a foam rubber strip across the strings from below.    It was in the song "Mr's Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and sounded more like a banjo than a guitar.   

Bridgehouse

DulcetJones said:

I remember seeing the guitarist with Hermans Hermits on TV in the 60's playing a solid body that had a mute function consisting of a lever near the bridge that pushed a foam rubber strip across the strings from below.    It was in the song "Mr's Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and sounded more like a banjo than a guitar.   

Was it a Jaguar?

Alnico

guitars4you said:

octatonic said:

axisus said:

Thomas Blug's strat has a dummy coil under the scratchplate to cut excessive hum when he cranks the gain up. That always seemed like a decent idea to me but I've never seen it anywhere else, certainly not in any production SC guitars.

Actually quite a few noiseless pickup designs are based on this sort of thing, just implemented differently.

The reason it isn't more of a thing is down to how guitar culture reveres the past more than appreciates engineering solutions.

Fender did it with the Strat Elite models in the 80's - not sure who did it first but quite a few since as you mentioned

I've got three Seymour Duncan Classic Stack pickups in my Strat.
Are they the same design as that?

They're very good BTW. It's still most definitely a Strat in terms of sound and actually silent.
 I'm really impressed with them.

DulcetJones

Bridgehouse said:

DulcetJones said:

I remember seeing the guitarist with Hermans Hermits on TV in the 60's playing a solid body that had a mute function consisting of a lever near the bridge that pushed a foam rubber strip across the strings from below.    It was in the song "Mr's Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and sounded more like a banjo than a guitar.   

Was it a Jaguar? 

It might have been, I wasn't  quite a total guitar fanatic yet at that point .  I know it want' a Strat, Tele or Les Paul but I'm sure it was a double cutaway. 

digitalscream

axisus said:

Thomas Blug's strat has a dummy coil under the scratchplate to cut excessive hum when he cranks the gain up. That always seemed like a decent idea to me but I've never seen it anywhere else, certainly not in any production SC guitars.

I had a Fenix with one of those, it worked really well. I, too, am a little confused as to why it's not used more often.

Grumpyrocker

Few years ago I had a ridiculously lightweight Yamaha guitar. Had some sort of foam interior but used some metal poles between back and front to give it sustain. Wish I hadn't sold it now - felt as light as a feather. My aching shoulders would love to have it back.

It was one of these: https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/el_guitars/rgxa2/index.html

I'd love an LP style guitar built the same way.

Rabs

Adjustable zero fret nuts...  Of all the things Gibson have done recently I really felt that was a great idea.... I mean if the bridge is adjustable why shouldn't the nut be too?

And it doesn't have to have a zero fret or be made of metal..  Graphtec do a really cool replacement for the metal Gibson one

http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk//parts-c4/acoustic-guitar-parts-c691/nuts-c692/graph-tech-pql-6110-00-tusq-xl-adjustable-replacement-nut-p10912?gclid=CLbzytqY_9QCFdQ_GwodUYELRg#fo_c=1949&fo_k=e350a883f22a16c99f79e4043eda8256&fo_s=gplauk?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=

WezV

Grumpyrocker said:

Few years ago I had a ridiculously lightweight Yamaha guitar. Had some sort of foam interior but used some metal poles between back and front to give it sustain. Wish I hadn't sold it now - felt as light as a feather. My aching shoulders would love to have it back.

It was one of these: https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/el_guitars/rgxa2/index.html

I'd love an LP style guitar built the same way.

They are a Balsa interior with hardwood veneer front and back.  The bridge mounts with tubes through the body because screws would pull out the balsa

scrumhalf

I have thought of several things over the years:
1) Built-in tuner
2) Pick holder (obviously space-dependent)
3) Individual string mutes
4) Locking jack socket