New product idea for you

[ralphhope]

I've just bought a gibson customshop hummingbird. It has no electronics and a normal strap button on the end.

I am not drilling holes it in. Because of the thick scratchplate that goes right to the edge of the soundhole, I also can't easily put a an iRig microphone or a mag pickup on it.

The lyric is great for guitars you don't want to permanently mod because it sticks on with double-sided tape not superglue, but it still needs a hole.

So, a new idea for you; a completely non-invasive version of the Lyric. Partner with someone like boss who make wireless guitar transmitters (or develop your own) and produce a version of your pre-amp that has wireless Tx capability. It'd need an on/off switch rather than being turned on by plugging in a cable, but it should be very doable. Perhaps an auto power-off would be useful too.

I'm tempted to make my own DIY one by just mounting your pre-amp to the inside of the guitar with an adhesive cable-tie pad and plugging an off-the-shelf transmitter into it. I'd then need to cut your battery cable and add a switch to it, but it seems feasible. Esp if I can find a 9v powered transmitter so it can share battery.

Just a thought - there must be all sorts of people out there with vintage, or high-value guitars they're just not willing to have permanent mods made to...

[Caleb_Elling]

Hey Ralph,
The idea of a fully non-invasive/wireless system has come up a few times before in various development meetings, and the Lyric mic is a good candidate for that kind of system. One of the biggest issues that we've foreseen is that if you would need to keep the guitar's battery charged at all times. Without a hole in the guitar, you wouldn't have a backup way to plug the guitar in. So if you forgot to charge the pickup or if the battery got too low during a performance, you would be completely out of luck for the rest of the gig. Most of those digital wireless systems only get about 8 hours of play-time. If the same battery also powered the Lyric, that time would be cut down even more.

There are other concerns, of course, but there are also a lot of players who are looking for a modern and professional solution for amplifying their guitars with no modifications to their instruments. So it is something that is on our radar.

Thank you so much for bringing this up. I will be sure to bring the idea up again in our next meeting.

[ralphhope]

One solution for the battery problem is to add a rechargeable battery to the system and give the soundhole pre-amp a USB socket for charging. It's not convenient to take the strings off every 8 hours to swap a 9v battery, but charging the guitar with a usb charger before each gig seems perfectly reasonable.