alembic electronics

[aeli]

Anyone get whats going on in these guitars or is it just me?

alembic electronics

[Myka Guitars]

The origianl guitar that this is based upon is pretty cool actually. I found this page a while ago and it explains what is going on with the wiring. Tiger guitar wiring explanation. The overall design of the guitar is not totally my thing but it is done well and the workmanship is beautiful. Of course I am a big Garcia fan so this guitar has played some great tunes for me in the past. He was also one of the best (unrecognized) fusion guitarists I have ever heard. You won't find the good music on the studio cuts though. You have to find the bootlegs. 1985 was one of the great (heavy) fusion years for him.

[lovekraft]

The pickups are not intended to voice the sound from the string, but rather to accurately reproduce the motion of it into the corresponding electrical signals.

That's a mighty fine distinction! I'm not sure how that differs from any other guitar pickup, but it sure sounds impressive.

Basically, they're using active preamps on each pickup (like EMG) and active tone controls on each pickup - the buffer is added to drive the effects loop. I assume the bright switch adds a small cap across the volume pot leads, like the Tele volume pot.

Nothing really unusual here, just all the features that Jerry thought he might ever need. Unfortunately, with all the setlists and other Dead ephemera floating around the 'Net, nobody seems to have documented how he used this stuff, so we don't know if it was used extensively or just a complicated toy that Jerry "set and forgot".

[aeli]

After some research I realized too that it wasn't so unusual but I still don't get the effects loop.

[lovekraft]

It basically offers two "advantages" - you can switch from your guitar, and you can control the volume of the effect's output. You could easily do the first with a footswitch and the second with a volume pedal, but remember the times that spawned this setup - it was "far out"!

[Myka Guitars]

I agree that this could all be down outside the guitar. The only exception is that the effects loop ran straight from the pickups and then returned before the volume and tone as well. To be able to shape the sound onboard to that extent is pretty cool. I may prototype something like this to try it out someday.

Too bad the useage of the system wasn't documented. The fans seemed to notice every time Jerry took a step by not when he was messing with his effects loop.