Ahoy mates, Finally I’m able to get back to the Steinberger nation from below deck on the S.S. synapse. There are pictures available thanks to my computer god nephew Al. I’m very bad with computers and typing. I’m learning. Perhaps check out the pictures first. It is possible, but very mad scientist and midi- evil. After much thought, and not many choices I went with the battery compartment to hold the new controls. The initial hole I drilled was for the pickup wire, unfortunately the hole has to be wider than the pickup but the connecter is a little large. The fun part was creating the tunnel between that hole and the battery space. Then drilling and cutting out the holes for the volume and selector switch. I was afraid of the wear and tear on the 13 pin Roland input so as you can see I replaced the ¼” input with the input in the kit. To do that you have to cut a slot in the guitar deep enough and tight so it will hold the plastic piece the output is mounted to. As I mentioned in my earlier message I’m a carpenter so I’ve got the tools to make my mad scientist experiments go a little less mad. I used a Fein cutting tool for the slot and other areas making slots for the wiring to run. The tool is one of those vibrating tools that everyone and their mother has out now, but Fein is the best I’ve found. As you can see putting in the little computer board in the main compartment is kind of like sitting on a suitcase and zipping it shut. If you do this maneuver the way I did you will need to put in a kill switch for the battery. I actually had that done by a guitar tech who thought I was crazy (more about that later)so of course he put in that giant toggle that doesn’t match anything. Also I’d like to say right here THANKYOU to Gibson for sending the matching knob along to my local store at no charge I was very impressed. I took the guitar to 2 of the best guitar techs in my area because one day the guitar fell silent. They checked out everything and the guy who thought I was completely out of my mind for trying any of this diagnosed that the preamp had died. He laughed when I brought up warranty because he worked for Gibson for a long time and he said not a chance. He said after many years of owning and dealing with EMG pickups he’d never heard of a preamp going out. EMG was also anxious to see what the problem was 80.00 later plus the install and the kill switch I was back making music. I myself do not see any way the pickup could have caused the preamp to blow but maybe some of you seasoned Steinheads have a theory. All I know is for me it was all very well worth it. I feel bad when I see the video of Mr. Steiberger say the synapse does’nt really sound like an acoustic guitar. When I put it through those 13 pins into the GR-20 then into the Native Instruments guitar rig 4 on some of the presets I stay up all night grinding out (instead of learning how to type) I get an amazing acoustic guitar sound that can burn your house down. I wish he could hear it! Thanks for going out on the technological limb Mr. S. If anyone out there is planning on taking the midi- evil trip I took and has questions, perhaps I can be helpful but remember this was my first voyage. Playon. Windship5x5
