Show Your Hybrid Guitars, Stock Or Modded

[capmaster]

After thoroughly thinking it over, I herewith dare starting a topic on hybrid guitars. To my senses, there are not so many of these owned by all you forumites, but I hope you will show them here and tell what made you purchase them.

 

I had dreamt for years of adding acoustic tones to some of my songs which also call for playing electric or more precisely magnetic pickup tones. Then I happened to have the money and gave the Gibson Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess a try. It would be an understatement to say I was impressed. I was dearly smitten and bought her.

 

A few weeks later appeared one of the last Black MIM Fender Nashville Power Telecasters on the web. This model had already been discontinued about two years earlier. I called the dealer and had them put her on layaway. She convinced me in an instant, so I bought her, and the following months I bought another two of these in Two-Tone Sunburst. Both of them were single items then. I had one of them N3 Noiseless modded, and left the other one stock. She is played by a bandmate and some other players for recording.

 

Finally, inspired by the Graph Tech Ghost LB 63 CR Floyd Rose piezo bridge including active electronics coming stock with the Alex Lifeson Les Paul Axcess, I purchased two MIM Fender HSS Floyd Rose Stratocasters for modding. My Candy Apple Red Strat features Vintage Noiseless SSS pickups now, the Aged Cherry Burst Plustop Strat now has Samarium Cobalt Noiseless (SCN) pickups, and either are retrofitted with Graph Tech Ghost LB 63 CR bridges and active Acousti-Phonic circuits.

 

Then I was considering an LPX for a while, or having a Les Paul Traditional with piezos built by the Custom Shop. To my surprise, the SG Supra appeared, and finally I ended up with one of these, too.

 

The acoustic tones of all of them are different but definitely flawless. So I go after the "electric" sound a partly acoustic song calls for when deciding which of them to play, and if a vibrato is desired or not.

 

So, enough chitchat from me, here are the pics:

 

 

 

[Jimi Mac]

My Peavey JF1-EX (Poor man's ES335)

 

 

 

I've now adorned this axe, a Chinese made but incredibly playable and very sharp looking in trans red with a flame pattern I have no idea if it's real or one of those photo-faux laminate finishes, with Gibson coverless (open-bobbin) 490 humbuckers and it sounds marvelous!

 

It's next to impossible to make out here (Click the picture link and when on Photobucket if you click the "view image" magnify button that appears on mouseover of the pic and you can get a better look) but I do have some viddie clips of it in action with the Gibson 490's...

 

http://youtu.be/1Bh_EePv45c

 

[Searcy]

Here's mine. It uses the Graphtech Ghost system and a piezo bridge made for me by Eric Stets.

 

 

[rct]

I had dreamt for years of adding acoustic tones to some of my songs which also call for playing electric or more precisely magnetic pickup tones.

 

I have had similar life experiences. I tried a few guitars with the piezos over the late 90s early 2000s. I just didn't get anything like what I wanted, which was a decent amped acoustic sound across from Other Guitar Player usually using his Strat. I ended up with an Ovation for that job, and it worked really well for a night out.

 

Then, 10 years ago, I started fooling around in my own studio space, and wanted the same, and tried two Fenders for a short time with the magic saddles. Again, just meh. My Ovation is on everything I do, I usually put the acoustic and the piano down first on the drums. This summer I bought a Martin, and I can get a decent recording out of it with just two mics and a minimum of kn0b twiddling and mic placement, because I'm all about not twiddling and mic placing too much.

 

So, I just record an acoustic when I want an acoustic sound. Horses for courses and all that. I find that once mixed and in their right spot, an acoustic usually sounds great in there. I should point out that I am not out to record the sweetest airiest mid toneyest uber acoustic thru Neuman sound ever made, just get the texture of that kind of guitar in the overall picture. I'm only recording songs, not sound samples.

 

rct

[BigKahune]

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A few years ago I was looking to replace my "anywhere" guitar. I looked at a few value based options and then I came across the Epi Ultra LPs and I ended up with one - in addition to two humbuckers, they also have a Nanomag pup. Interesting output scheme has a combined output jack along with a second jack for Nanomag only. I like it and it's a nice guitar for the money.

 

[rct]

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What the hell is that stick doing on that bridge???

 

rct

[BigKahune]

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Well obviously - - that device fends off aliens more dependably than a tinfoil hat. . B)

 

[vangoghsear]

I don't have any photos of my hybrid guitar with me, but I can tell you what it is and why I got one. I have a Michael Kelly Hybrid Special. It's a beautiful thing, lovely block inlays and great build quality. Here is a photo (not mine) of what it looks like:

 

MK Hybrid Special

 

Two humbuckers with coil split, and Fishman undersaddle pickup and blender. Fully blend-able or separate-able pickups, stereo/mono output, incredibly versatile guitar.

 

I got mine to play for a church. I used two amps, an electric and a acoustic with the stereo output option. I would use a Jamman Solo looper and connect the stereo output from the acoustic pickup to the looper to the acoustic amp, then take the electric side to the electric amp. It was just me and two singers, so I could flesh out the sound to be pretty full with just that hybrid arrangement. Some weeks I would take the acoustic side to a DI box to the looper to the PA and forget about setting up the acoustic amp.

 

The only thing I don't like about this guitar is that the battery compartment is screwed shut and you have to plan ahead to change the battery, but they last a long time.

[zigzag]

2007 American Std. Tele with a DiMarzio Tone Zone T humbucker in the bridge with coil splitter switch.

 

 

Epi Dot with Lindy Fralin P-92s.

 

[BigKahune]

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@JimiMac / @Zigzag - - You didn't mention what kind of acoustic pickups do your guitars have?

 

 

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[zigzag]

You didn't mention what kind of acoustic pickups do your guitars have?

 

Ah... and thus the name hybrid... my bad. Carry on...

[milod]

Basically I went the reverse direction when the time came.

 

Back in the mid '60s I converted an old archtop into a 7-string (doubled "G") and added a single pole pup that clamped onto the strings behind the bridge. It worked well for rock/folk rock stuff - but it's long gone.

 

When I was doing a house band country gig in the '70s I got one of the first Ovation AEs. (Actually 2, but only the steel string "electric legend" was played "out": and the nylon string "country artist" stayed mostly at home.) It worked well miked on stage with old time fiddlers and such, and plugged into one side of a Fender DR in the saloon.

 

All my flattops are AE, one way or another.

 

I got a cheapie 12 dread that I added a mag soundhole pup to and it sounds fine doing either electric or acoustic material - just change the amp settings a bit to get a "jangle." The Masterbuilt Epi AJ500e has that mag pup on it, but I mostly use that guitar for straight acoustic strumming stuff. Fancier picking is on smaller boxes standard AE plugged into a board or an AE amp.

 

Frankly I've been a lot happier using various sorts of pickups on acoustics than what I've heard from variations of piezos on "board" guitars. Dunno what I'd think of a piezo bridge on a semi - and depending on settings, an archtop with mag pups can end up sounding pretty much "acoustic" through an ae amp or a board.

 

m

[BigKahune]

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Good one Milod.

 

I was down that road a bit with an old DeArmond I used in my acoustics (not my pics).

 

 

[vangoghsear]

Frankly I've been a lot happier using various sorts of pickups on acoustics than what I've heard from variations of piezos on "board" guitars.

 

Depends on why you are using a hybrid. One reason I like the Hybrid Special is that its playability is more like an electric than an acoustic, in fact it has one of the lowest actions of any of my guitars. The blending capability allows it to smooth out the harsh piezo tones with some humbucker tones (which is how I often use it, especially when playing in mono mode). Also, risk of feedback is next to none at all.

 

If mostly what you play is acoustic type songs, a hybrid is probably not what you want, but if you need versatility; electric Humbucker, single coil, and occasional acoustic tones, a hybrid is worth looking at.

 

I have another guitar that boarders on hybrid. My Fender Santa Rosa has an electric style body with a 24 fret neck, but is only set up to produce acoustic/electric tones with an under saddle pickup. The electric style body is what puts it in the hybrid camp.

[milod]

I think some of my perspective may be due to the age at which I "connected" with guitars, and my music environment of those days.

 

Then again, that single pole pup on that archtop worked quite well in a rock band environment of the day.

 

I thought for a cuple years of figuring a piezo bridge on a semi. The full archtops never seemed to need it if you wanted a more acoustic sound, just mess with various controls.

 

Oddly two guys who play regularly at a cowboy music/poetry gathering - far more years than I have - one has an old Gibson flattop with a built-in mag pup. The other guy has a Gibson archtop of the same era. Both plug into the board. Both have a sound pretty much indistinguishable from a flattop. Mess with the controls a bit especially on the archtop and... voila, an electric.

 

m