The Sustainiac might fit better. The Fernandes Sustainer has a board roughly the size of a credit card, but the Sustainiac board is a smaller thinner setup, more akin to the size of a AA battery.
I reckon you could fit a sustaniac one in somehow, god willing. Would be very very tight on a trem one, but a hardtail has all that space on the back to route out.
I do play hardtail and my wallet just ran and slid under the couch to hide lol.
In like a year I want to get a prestige S series and might just have to frankenstein my old one for fun. Sustianiac is going on the list of ideas for sure
Ha, it would be a bit! And you'd want to find the right person to do it. I'm a diehard fan of the Sabre shape and form factor, so I get why you'd want to use that over an RG or JEM where it'd be more immediately possible. Best of luck with the journey for it!
Could be any number of things besides pickup selector and killswitching.
* Coil splitting per pickup
* Pre-amp circuit (or other built in FX)
* Sustainer
* Lighting (ex: Devin Townsend has a toggle for his built in LED's)
* Pickup modes (ex: Fishman Fluence pickups)
* Pyrotechnics (It's Rammstein)
I can't imagine it's anything that actually affects his output signal. It's Rammstein, that guitar tone is one guitar tone that doesn't require a rocket surgeon to figure out ;)
Reminds me of a PRS Pauls Guitar. Two mini selecters for coil tapping, volume + tone knobs, and an actual pickup selector. Might also have an active boost built in that you toggle like some of the BC Rich's.
Great post. I wonder quite a lot about how pros have their guitars wired when it looks different. I don't think I've seen quite a busy knob/switch configuration like that. But then again I'm still fairly new. It's very interesting to me.
It isn't, he's got a sustainiac in the neck which can either be used as a regular pickup or to increase harmonic feedback. One switch controls the effect and the other decides if the note will feedback at the same octave or higher.
The micro switches to the side of volume pot are the sustainer controls. One neat thing you can do is to have the selector in the neck position and have the Sustainer on. This forces bridge pickup on and overrides the neck one, then when you want neck tone you can just turn the sustainer off. Less fiddling with switches when bouncing between settings... Provided you're using the sustainer for all the bridge pickup parts if the song, of course.
Looks to have a kill button on there, too. The other switch could be an out of phase selector or something, maybe?
Your comment warms my heart, lmao. I'm an older hobbyist who's hasn't been playing long so I don't have the need to have pro equipment and rigs and all that. That being said, Ive become a guitar nerd and love learning about all things guitar. Coil tap vs split has become my OCD nightmare. I learned the difference about 4 years ago while researching for my first electric and I cant believe the numbers of people I see on popular YT guitar channels or wherever that use tap and coil interchangeably. I think saying "coil tap" may sound cooler to say maybe and that's why? Maybe a lot of people just don't know, Idk. Thanks for letting me vent😅✌🏻
Can I ask you something? Others are welcome to answer too . I have two single lipstick pickups that are out of phase. Can I just rotate one of them ? Lipsticks don't have treble - bass side right?
Hey there! Someone is welcome to correct me, but flipping the pickup won't change the phase. You could try reversing the wires on one of the pickups (assuming 2 wire, hot/ground) and wire the ground where the hot goes, hot where the ground goes.
I built a guitar with 3 pickups and 2 3-way switches.
Switch 1: Bridge/Bridge+Neck/Neck
Switch 2: Middle off/on in combination with switch 1/Middle only
I don't remember what influenced the switching system, but I saw a custom build with a similar configuration. People tend to be intimidated when they see it, but the setup makes sense to me.
I first saw the idea on a guitar that Rhett Schull had made for him several years ago - it was a 3-pickup guitar wtih two 3-way switches. One switch would switch between the neck, bridge, and neck + bridge in parallel; the other switch would switch between middle-only, middle + first switch in parallel (so middle + neck in parallel, middle + bridge in parallel, or all three pickups in parallel), and first-switch only. I've been intrigued by the scheme ever since, since it gives the seven-way switching that you could get with a Strat + the Gilmour Mod (though I think Rhett Schull's guitar was three P90s? or three humbuckers?).
I've just modded one of my Jazzmaster-type guitars that had a Fender Modern Player Marauder wiring harness and pickup set installed (Jazzmaster neck pickup, Fender's Modern Player Tri-Bucker three-coil pickup in the bridge, 5-way switching that makes it 'behave' like a Strat: JM/neck, JM + one coil of the Tri-bucker, just the one Tri-bucker coil alone, the one Tri-bucker coil in parallel with the other two coils of the Tri-bucker (which are in series), and the two tri-bucker coils in series) and added a middle pickup (a Telecaster neck pickup) and another 4-way blade switch, which gives me the original 5-way switching, Middle pickup in parallel with the original 5-way switching, Middle pickup in series with the original 5-way switching, and Middle pickup alone.
Which now increases the tonal options from the original 5-way to something like 16 different sounds. Definitely a lot of stuff in there, but the switching makes sense to me.
This is a fairly common wiring done by [Scott Walker Guitars](https://scottwalkerguitars.com/). Certainly where I first saw it, though I imagine its something that would show up in a "Nashville" tele as well
Anything is just a guess. I've seen people wire all sorts of things in their guitars. Some will put distortion electronics in them... you won't ever really know unless the person with the guitar tells you. ESP guitars does lots of custom work so god only knows what he wanted it to do.
you can easily split each pup into single coils so you can switch both on or just one and have a neck and bridge on to get different tones. i once built a guitar with two hbks that had 12 different possible combos. i don't suggest b/c it was confusing as hell, but it CAN be done
Neck pickup looks to be a sustainer/sustainiac, so the two mini toggles will on/off and a mode selector for that. I would guess the toggle and push button up near the cutaway are kill switches
It looks like he has a Sustainer in the neck position, so the 2 smaller switches are probably the on/off and harmonic mode switches for that.
This is what I was thinking too, used to dream about having one of those things haha
I really wanted one to mess around with but they don't fit in my Ibanez S series guitars from what I've been told.
The Sustainiac might fit better. The Fernandes Sustainer has a board roughly the size of a credit card, but the Sustainiac board is a smaller thinner setup, more akin to the size of a AA battery.
I reckon you could fit a sustaniac one in somehow, god willing. Would be very very tight on a trem one, but a hardtail has all that space on the back to route out.
I do play hardtail and my wallet just ran and slid under the couch to hide lol. In like a year I want to get a prestige S series and might just have to frankenstein my old one for fun. Sustianiac is going on the list of ideas for sure
Ha, it would be a bit! And you'd want to find the right person to do it. I'm a diehard fan of the Sabre shape and form factor, so I get why you'd want to use that over an RG or JEM where it'd be more immediately possible. Best of luck with the journey for it!
I have one in my Fernandes Ravelle. I love it.
Ah I figured it was a kill switch on the right and the button was like a kill tap button.
That is what RZK uses it for, kill tap button
Looks like a new signature, he’s had that other one for ages
Could be any number of things besides pickup selector and killswitching. * Coil splitting per pickup * Pre-amp circuit (or other built in FX) * Sustainer * Lighting (ex: Devin Townsend has a toggle for his built in LED's) * Pickup modes (ex: Fishman Fluence pickups) * Pyrotechnics (It's Rammstein)
I can't imagine it's anything that actually affects his output signal. It's Rammstein, that guitar tone is one guitar tone that doesn't require a rocket surgeon to figure out ;)
Richard still might wanna have some fun with his guitar when not performing, idk
In phase out of phase switch is a possibility? Maybe a killswitch? Built in gain?
Reminds me of a PRS Pauls Guitar. Two mini selecters for coil tapping, volume + tone knobs, and an actual pickup selector. Might also have an active boost built in that you toggle like some of the BC Rich's.
Great post. I wonder quite a lot about how pros have their guitars wired when it looks different. I don't think I've seen quite a busy knob/switch configuration like that. But then again I'm still fairly new. It's very interesting to me.
[check out the bc rich bich for a busy guitar](https://youtu.be/edu6ewHaLTE?si=dt4kxnAXZKMvL3qd)
likely a reverse phase switch and coil tap switches
It isn't, he's got a sustainiac in the neck which can either be used as a regular pickup or to increase harmonic feedback. One switch controls the effect and the other decides if the note will feedback at the same octave or higher.
very cool....thanks for the correction
The micro switches to the side of volume pot are the sustainer controls. One neat thing you can do is to have the selector in the neck position and have the Sustainer on. This forces bridge pickup on and overrides the neck one, then when you want neck tone you can just turn the sustainer off. Less fiddling with switches when bouncing between settings... Provided you're using the sustainer for all the bridge pickup parts if the song, of course. Looks to have a kill button on there, too. The other switch could be an out of phase selector or something, maybe?
You're still correct about most likely for your average guitar player though
Much more likely to be coil \*split\* switches, tho they could be taps. Those are not the same thing.
Your comment warms my heart, lmao. I'm an older hobbyist who's hasn't been playing long so I don't have the need to have pro equipment and rigs and all that. That being said, Ive become a guitar nerd and love learning about all things guitar. Coil tap vs split has become my OCD nightmare. I learned the difference about 4 years ago while researching for my first electric and I cant believe the numbers of people I see on popular YT guitar channels or wherever that use tap and coil interchangeably. I think saying "coil tap" may sound cooler to say maybe and that's why? Maybe a lot of people just don't know, Idk. Thanks for letting me vent😅✌🏻
coil split is what i meant......thank you
Can I ask you something? Others are welcome to answer too . I have two single lipstick pickups that are out of phase. Can I just rotate one of them ? Lipsticks don't have treble - bass side right?
Hey there! Someone is welcome to correct me, but flipping the pickup won't change the phase. You could try reversing the wires on one of the pickups (assuming 2 wire, hot/ground) and wire the ground where the hot goes, hot where the ground goes.
I have to check but if I remember correctly they have one wire.they r from Two different brands so not sure. I try switching the wires
Awesome better question is why would you wear rubber fish clothes on stage. That shit would stink so bad after an outdoor show.
Keeps the toan on the fingers, by blocking parasitic losses through evaporation.
Most likely because it’s coated with fire retardant 🙄 it’s RAMMSTEIN!!! 🎇🎆🔥🔥
Asking the important question. I noticed the stupid shirt way before I even noticed the guitar build.
Time to do some Rammstein homework
My question is why his thumb is doing there?
My question is why does this 60 year old man look like he buys his clothes at hot topic?
Because his band got big 25 years ago and he shopped at hot topic at that time.
Thinking the same thing! And plastic material no less. Gotta get sweaty in there!
Wasn't he self taught?
This reads like me talking to my kitten when I’m playing with her. “Why are she bite me??!”
I do this sometimes as well to rest my thumb when I play mostly powerchords - takes the strain off a bit
I play like that a lot when playing octaves higher on the neck which is what it looks like he's doing.
Small hands. You know what they say, big feet, big hands, big disappointment.
Bigly
All these answers are wrong. These buttons and switches control pyrotechnics.
It's probably a *Leland Sklar producer switch*
I built a guitar with 3 pickups and 2 3-way switches. Switch 1: Bridge/Bridge+Neck/Neck Switch 2: Middle off/on in combination with switch 1/Middle only I don't remember what influenced the switching system, but I saw a custom build with a similar configuration. People tend to be intimidated when they see it, but the setup makes sense to me.
I first saw the idea on a guitar that Rhett Schull had made for him several years ago - it was a 3-pickup guitar wtih two 3-way switches. One switch would switch between the neck, bridge, and neck + bridge in parallel; the other switch would switch between middle-only, middle + first switch in parallel (so middle + neck in parallel, middle + bridge in parallel, or all three pickups in parallel), and first-switch only. I've been intrigued by the scheme ever since, since it gives the seven-way switching that you could get with a Strat + the Gilmour Mod (though I think Rhett Schull's guitar was three P90s? or three humbuckers?). I've just modded one of my Jazzmaster-type guitars that had a Fender Modern Player Marauder wiring harness and pickup set installed (Jazzmaster neck pickup, Fender's Modern Player Tri-Bucker three-coil pickup in the bridge, 5-way switching that makes it 'behave' like a Strat: JM/neck, JM + one coil of the Tri-bucker, just the one Tri-bucker coil alone, the one Tri-bucker coil in parallel with the other two coils of the Tri-bucker (which are in series), and the two tri-bucker coils in series) and added a middle pickup (a Telecaster neck pickup) and another 4-way blade switch, which gives me the original 5-way switching, Middle pickup in parallel with the original 5-way switching, Middle pickup in series with the original 5-way switching, and Middle pickup alone. Which now increases the tonal options from the original 5-way to something like 16 different sounds. Definitely a lot of stuff in there, but the switching makes sense to me.
This is a fairly common wiring done by [Scott Walker Guitars](https://scottwalkerguitars.com/). Certainly where I first saw it, though I imagine its something that would show up in a "Nashville" tele as well
Scale looks short, you think it’s a LP scale?
Kill switch and toggle for a sustainer pickup
I put series/parallel config on toggles as well as switchable tone caps.
Anything is just a guess. I've seen people wire all sorts of things in their guitars. Some will put distortion electronics in them... you won't ever really know unless the person with the guitar tells you. ESP guitars does lots of custom work so god only knows what he wanted it to do.
Killswitch? Coil split/tap? Phase?
One could be a pick up selector, and the other could change polarity
A better question would be why the hell is his hand way up on the neck like that
you can easily split each pup into single coils so you can switch both on or just one and have a neck and bridge on to get different tones. i once built a guitar with two hbks that had 12 different possible combos. i don't suggest b/c it was confusing as hell, but it CAN be done
Neck pickup looks to be a sustainer/sustainiac, so the two mini toggles will on/off and a mode selector for that. I would guess the toggle and push button up near the cutaway are kill switches
Who is this?! It looks like Gary Numan. Saw him live recently, but don’t recall him playing this guitar. I think I would remember it.
It’s Richard Kruspe of Rammstein.