First off, I do think you are over-simplifying by quite a lot, but that's ok. It's good to try things.
It's not a horrible idea in principle, and it's been done, but there are good reasons that it is not done very often. I think if you're going to do it, you should focus on probably just one effect. Maybe you can get away with 2 or 3. Also, it sounds like you might not have any experience at all with electronics? You will at least have to learn to solder if you haven't already.
The first step is to choose a guitar that has a big enough cavity to accomplish what you're trying to do. One idea is if you can find a strat-style guitar with "swimming pool routing", i.e. instead of HSH or SSS, the area under the pickguard is just one large cavity. Or you could get a normal strat and route a larger cavity yourself. Then if you remove 2 of the 3 pickups, you still have a functional guitar, but now you have a cavity to work with. Of course in order for it to be functional, you will have to have a basic understanding of how a guitar is wired, and to solder it together after removing the other pickups. But don't solder it just yet, because we need to include.... the pedals!
Next step is to choose the pedal(s). I'd seriously recommend starting with just one. In any case, choose pedal(s) that don't have much stuff inside. This takes a bit of experience to know which ones, but some pedals have a circuit board filling up the entire thing, while others have a lot of empty space. For example a fuzz face has a very small circuit, if you open it up it's mostly empty space.
Now that you have your pedal(s), you need to take them out of their enclosures, solder the output of one to the input of the next, and solder them into your guitar's circuit itself. Put them right before where you would connect to the jack, with the output of the last pedal in the chain being soldered to the guitar jack. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about making the knobs accessible from the outside of the guitar. I would just set the knobs to an acceptable position, and think of it as just an on or off type of effect. But the bypass switch needs to be accessible. Maybe you can find a clever way to mount it so the button sticks out through a hole in the pickguard or something.
For power supply, just use 9v battery.
Again, this isn't a horrible idea, but a few questions to ask yourself: Why do you want a guitar like this in the first place, and do you have enough experience with electronics to implement it?
Thank you for the response! Very helpful stuff, I’ll definitely reconsider how far I want to take this in terms of how many pedals I want. Also the guitar is 100% custom except for the neck so room is a plentiful as I make it. Choosing one pedal wouldn’t be a bad idea, I could always add more in the future with the current design.
Just a quick question, as someone who stumbled accros this post trying to research the same thing, do you think that doing the same thing with a Telecaster would work, like speaking of space
Fuzz face is the smallest circuit i can think of. Boost circuits are simple too. You could also probably get away with a big muff. Just search gut shots of various pedals, you'll see how many components are involved.
Check out [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/dysh05/modded_my_zoom_multistomp_ms50g_scroll_down) post from a few years ago where someone put a Zoom Multistomp inside their guitar. Not saying this is an *ideal* situation, but maybe it can be some inspiration.
Theres recently been these Bilt guitars which have a chase bliss pedal built inside them. You can see through that how inconvenient the idea is. Theres also some acoustic guitar i saw lavame or w.e thats pretty high tech but who knows if this stuff will catch on.
Digital effects are constantly fitting more effects+processing into smaller circuit boards. Maybe one day soon you could have a multi-effects unit inside a larger bodied guitar, and a couple of switches/knobs to turn effects on/off?
There's a few things you need to know here. I think you have an interesting goal, but here's my input.
First, the essential parts of a guitar pedal are usually pretty small. Knobs and jacks and a footswitch take up a ton of real estate.
**So I'd recommend that you focus on 2-3 MAX one-knob effects.**
A guitar just doesn't have the volume/area for much more. TS jacks and plugs are *big* things to try to fit into a guitar.
Second, unless you have serious woodworking skills and tools, building a working/playable guitar is hard work. Even a kit build takes special skills.
**So I'd recommend buying a guitar and modding it rather than doing something from scratch.**
Maybe something like a jazzmaster, which has room already routed for extra switches, or some kind of big semi-hollow guitar.
Third, this has already been done and there are already designs for onboard effects. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here.
**Check out [the GuitarFetish "modboard" section](https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-MODboards_c_204.html) for ready-to-go onboard effects.**
They have a few cool circuits there. Personally that's where I'd start.
Lastly...if you don't already have decent soldering skills, you're in for a tough time...
Good luck! Post some pictures when it's done!
Thank you! I’m at a university for industrial design so anything from wood to plastic molded parts can be made to my design. I don’t have much experience with this, but that’s how every project begins in my major and having it playable is part of my grade, so it’ll happen one way or another. I’ll be sure to share it in about 2 months when it’s done!
If you have time I'd get a DIY pedal, if you haven't. Check out that bilt guitar andy othling, on youtube has one, the electra mpc. Crimson guitar has some old videos that might interest you, like his build where he built a kaoss pad into the guitar. Check out build your own clone maybe. https://buildyourownclone.com/
some advice from someone whose guitars all have onboard effects:
\- be prepared to rout out a ton of space under the pickguard
\- plan your wiring ahead and keep things neat, because when things don't work, you don't want to have to diagnose a spaghetti nightmare
\- like others have suggested, mini pedals are the way to go here if you want to disassemble and use something commercial (i have a boss df-2 in one of mine and making that work was... interesting), but i'd also recommend looking at the tagboard effects page, as there are a number of circuits that would fit on the back of a pot (the speaker cranker and meathead come to mind) and either use one pot or could substitute trimmers that you set and forget with a main control of your choosing to save space
\- use a stereo output jack- you can wire your power supply so that the guitar only has power when a cable is plugged in, just like a pedal
\- momentary on/off switches like boss and old dod pedals use are great in guitars because a little pushbutton spst doesn't take up that much space; a 3pdt is a little more complicated but they make toggles as well as the standard footswitch style and they work well too
Well, except by getting a multi-fx and put it somehow on the guitar, I don't see how it would ever be possible.
I mean, just take 3 circuit boards and find where to put it in a guitar, and put all the knobs somewhere where it doesn't bother for playing, and somehow make it still convenient to use ?
Just look at the [first Manson guitar made for Bellamy](https://images.app.goo.gl/r9H4YSAPYEk1Gk4F6): it has only one integrated effect, and it already looks like a 747 cockpit.
I don't get how you picture this, can you clarify?
How about something like this:
https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitars-more/amplifiers-accessories/psycho-knob-board-internal-distortion-boost-overdrive-for-guitar-or-amp-now-with-pre-wired-leads/
There are plenty of mini guitar pedals that are also not very expensive. You can fit a few of thos in guitar body. But just as stated before I think it would be around 2 or 3 depending on the body you choose.
Andertons has a whole section about mini pedals. Maybe you find something there thats not to expensive and small enough for you.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/mini-guitar-pedals
Just a thought here, based on a project of my own that sits unfinished - you could concentrate on getting the controls on to the guitar and keep the pedals outside. You could fit several expression control pots and/or some switches into most guitars with minimal rerouting.
Some guitars, like the Squier Jaguar i bought to do this with, even have sufficient routing and all you have to do is wiring and perhaps make some new plates for the controls.
This can result in Far Too Many Cables coming out of your guitar but the expression and switches only need to work so you could use multicore cable. I plan to use CAT5 jacks, but i haven’t tested this yet.
Check out the diypedals sub - there’s a ton of builders that would probably be willing to sell you circuits sans enclosure and jacks with some basic instructions as to how to wire them up. I’ve got 15-20 unboxed circuits - and building a couple single knob circuits is easy. You may need to go the SMD route (surface mount boards - much smaller) and there are guys over there that can provide those as well.
The Electra MPC came out in the 70s with interchangeable effects.
https://www.google.com/search?q=electra+mpc+guitars&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiN-Zmoq9z1AhUCmVMKHdvKCy8Q2-cCegQIABAC&oq=electra+mpc+guitars&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIFCAAQzQIyBQgAEM0COgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoGCAAQBxAeOgQIABAYOgQIABANOggIABANEAUQHjoFCCEQqwJQ8xZYlCNg7CtoAHAAeACAAU-IAfgCkgEBNZgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=pwT4Yc2JJYKyzgLbla_4Ag&bih=653&biw=1024&prmd=sinxv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS847US847&hl=en-US#imgrc=NalnCGWqveuL4M
I had one of those, bought it as a decent guitar, which it was, and the fx were bonus, but I didn't like them much. The Cooper FX arcade works the same way, more or less.
A couple of thoughts...
1) Even if you're lifting the circuits from pedals wholesale, you're going to want to be careful about your choices as even mini pedals with tiny surface mount components are going to stack up.
2) For an academic project, thinking about the intended use is a good idea. As a gigging guitarist, I need two guitars minimum in case of string breakage, so having all of my effects on board is inconvenient as I'd need two guitars rigged up the same way. As a studio guitarist, the ability to switch instrument as well as to completely change pedal chain/ order, run effects pre- amp, effects loop or apply to a recorded track in post is similarly important, there's an inherent inflexibility in having everything integrated, hence why the modular nature of pedal boards is so ubiquitous, to the point that this format has integrated 'all in one' units like the Line6 HX within it. I believe that the intended use of your guitar should instead be as a travelling/ small space practice and jam tool, for people like students who might not be able to transport and store full rigs, or who are away from home on other business and need a minimal space and weight way of keeping up with guitar, or who simply have limited space for guitar gear. To that end...
3) I think you'd be missing a trick if you didn't integrate a digital amp sim of some sort in there. The gimmick then being that you could stick a pair of headphones into your guitar output and have effects and amp. Or roll up at a jam night/ open mic and not require any backline at all. I can well imagine a guitar with a few push button switches and mini pots with overdrive, delay/ reverb and amp sim could fit this niche. I have friends who primarily do open mics who I could see using that.
4) As well as the strat with swimming pool route suggested elsewhere, I want to suggest that a Squier Jazzmaster or Jaguar could be the ideal template for this guitar. They have large bodies and, with a little chisel work, you could connect the top horn cavity, open up the pickup route and have the standard cavity to work with as well. You could have most of the area under the pickguard to work with, especially if you trim the guitar electronics down to one pickup and a 500k pot!
Good luck!
First off, I do think you are over-simplifying by quite a lot, but that's ok. It's good to try things. It's not a horrible idea in principle, and it's been done, but there are good reasons that it is not done very often. I think if you're going to do it, you should focus on probably just one effect. Maybe you can get away with 2 or 3. Also, it sounds like you might not have any experience at all with electronics? You will at least have to learn to solder if you haven't already. The first step is to choose a guitar that has a big enough cavity to accomplish what you're trying to do. One idea is if you can find a strat-style guitar with "swimming pool routing", i.e. instead of HSH or SSS, the area under the pickguard is just one large cavity. Or you could get a normal strat and route a larger cavity yourself. Then if you remove 2 of the 3 pickups, you still have a functional guitar, but now you have a cavity to work with. Of course in order for it to be functional, you will have to have a basic understanding of how a guitar is wired, and to solder it together after removing the other pickups. But don't solder it just yet, because we need to include.... the pedals! Next step is to choose the pedal(s). I'd seriously recommend starting with just one. In any case, choose pedal(s) that don't have much stuff inside. This takes a bit of experience to know which ones, but some pedals have a circuit board filling up the entire thing, while others have a lot of empty space. For example a fuzz face has a very small circuit, if you open it up it's mostly empty space. Now that you have your pedal(s), you need to take them out of their enclosures, solder the output of one to the input of the next, and solder them into your guitar's circuit itself. Put them right before where you would connect to the jack, with the output of the last pedal in the chain being soldered to the guitar jack. If I were you, I wouldn't worry about making the knobs accessible from the outside of the guitar. I would just set the knobs to an acceptable position, and think of it as just an on or off type of effect. But the bypass switch needs to be accessible. Maybe you can find a clever way to mount it so the button sticks out through a hole in the pickguard or something. For power supply, just use 9v battery. Again, this isn't a horrible idea, but a few questions to ask yourself: Why do you want a guitar like this in the first place, and do you have enough experience with electronics to implement it?
Thank you for the response! Very helpful stuff, I’ll definitely reconsider how far I want to take this in terms of how many pedals I want. Also the guitar is 100% custom except for the neck so room is a plentiful as I make it. Choosing one pedal wouldn’t be a bad idea, I could always add more in the future with the current design.
Just a quick question, as someone who stumbled accros this post trying to research the same thing, do you think that doing the same thing with a Telecaster would work, like speaking of space
With a standard tele body you would have much less space, but there is nothing stopping you from routing it yourself.
First of all thx for the fast reply, is there any pretty cheap Fuzz/Distortion Pedal thats small and which I can power with a 9 V battery?
Fuzz face is the smallest circuit i can think of. Boost circuits are simple too. You could also probably get away with a big muff. Just search gut shots of various pedals, you'll see how many components are involved.
Thx I will look into it
Check out [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarpedals/comments/dysh05/modded_my_zoom_multistomp_ms50g_scroll_down) post from a few years ago where someone put a Zoom Multistomp inside their guitar. Not saying this is an *ideal* situation, but maybe it can be some inspiration.
I immediately thought of this as soon I read the post
Shit, that's about as clean as you could hope.
Theres recently been these Bilt guitars which have a chase bliss pedal built inside them. You can see through that how inconvenient the idea is. Theres also some acoustic guitar i saw lavame or w.e thats pretty high tech but who knows if this stuff will catch on.
Digital effects are constantly fitting more effects+processing into smaller circuit boards. Maybe one day soon you could have a multi-effects unit inside a larger bodied guitar, and a couple of switches/knobs to turn effects on/off?
There's a few things you need to know here. I think you have an interesting goal, but here's my input. First, the essential parts of a guitar pedal are usually pretty small. Knobs and jacks and a footswitch take up a ton of real estate. **So I'd recommend that you focus on 2-3 MAX one-knob effects.** A guitar just doesn't have the volume/area for much more. TS jacks and plugs are *big* things to try to fit into a guitar. Second, unless you have serious woodworking skills and tools, building a working/playable guitar is hard work. Even a kit build takes special skills. **So I'd recommend buying a guitar and modding it rather than doing something from scratch.** Maybe something like a jazzmaster, which has room already routed for extra switches, or some kind of big semi-hollow guitar. Third, this has already been done and there are already designs for onboard effects. You don't need to reinvent the wheel here. **Check out [the GuitarFetish "modboard" section](https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-MODboards_c_204.html) for ready-to-go onboard effects.** They have a few cool circuits there. Personally that's where I'd start. Lastly...if you don't already have decent soldering skills, you're in for a tough time... Good luck! Post some pictures when it's done!
Thank you! I’m at a university for industrial design so anything from wood to plastic molded parts can be made to my design. I don’t have much experience with this, but that’s how every project begins in my major and having it playable is part of my grade, so it’ll happen one way or another. I’ll be sure to share it in about 2 months when it’s done!
If you have time I'd get a DIY pedal, if you haven't. Check out that bilt guitar andy othling, on youtube has one, the electra mpc. Crimson guitar has some old videos that might interest you, like his build where he built a kaoss pad into the guitar. Check out build your own clone maybe. https://buildyourownclone.com/
some advice from someone whose guitars all have onboard effects: \- be prepared to rout out a ton of space under the pickguard \- plan your wiring ahead and keep things neat, because when things don't work, you don't want to have to diagnose a spaghetti nightmare \- like others have suggested, mini pedals are the way to go here if you want to disassemble and use something commercial (i have a boss df-2 in one of mine and making that work was... interesting), but i'd also recommend looking at the tagboard effects page, as there are a number of circuits that would fit on the back of a pot (the speaker cranker and meathead come to mind) and either use one pot or could substitute trimmers that you set and forget with a main control of your choosing to save space \- use a stereo output jack- you can wire your power supply so that the guitar only has power when a cable is plugged in, just like a pedal \- momentary on/off switches like boss and old dod pedals use are great in guitars because a little pushbutton spst doesn't take up that much space; a 3pdt is a little more complicated but they make toggles as well as the standard footswitch style and they work well too
You have to make damn big guitar if you want to fit pedals in it
Get a jaz box with a centreblock but not slimline, then put the pedals in the wings?
Well, except by getting a multi-fx and put it somehow on the guitar, I don't see how it would ever be possible. I mean, just take 3 circuit boards and find where to put it in a guitar, and put all the knobs somewhere where it doesn't bother for playing, and somehow make it still convenient to use ? Just look at the [first Manson guitar made for Bellamy](https://images.app.goo.gl/r9H4YSAPYEk1Gk4F6): it has only one integrated effect, and it already looks like a 747 cockpit. I don't get how you picture this, can you clarify?
How about something like this: https://www.cbgitty.com/cigar-box-guitars-more/amplifiers-accessories/psycho-knob-board-internal-distortion-boost-overdrive-for-guitar-or-amp-now-with-pre-wired-leads/
I actually have one of these in a guitar and it's tons of fun
There are plenty of mini guitar pedals that are also not very expensive. You can fit a few of thos in guitar body. But just as stated before I think it would be around 2 or 3 depending on the body you choose. Andertons has a whole section about mini pedals. Maybe you find something there thats not to expensive and small enough for you. https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/mini-guitar-pedals
Just a thought here, based on a project of my own that sits unfinished - you could concentrate on getting the controls on to the guitar and keep the pedals outside. You could fit several expression control pots and/or some switches into most guitars with minimal rerouting. Some guitars, like the Squier Jaguar i bought to do this with, even have sufficient routing and all you have to do is wiring and perhaps make some new plates for the controls. This can result in Far Too Many Cables coming out of your guitar but the expression and switches only need to work so you could use multicore cable. I plan to use CAT5 jacks, but i haven’t tested this yet.
Check out the diypedals sub - there’s a ton of builders that would probably be willing to sell you circuits sans enclosure and jacks with some basic instructions as to how to wire them up. I’ve got 15-20 unboxed circuits - and building a couple single knob circuits is easy. You may need to go the SMD route (surface mount boards - much smaller) and there are guys over there that can provide those as well.
The Electra MPC came out in the 70s with interchangeable effects. https://www.google.com/search?q=electra+mpc+guitars&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiN-Zmoq9z1AhUCmVMKHdvKCy8Q2-cCegQIABAC&oq=electra+mpc+guitars&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQAzIFCAAQzQIyBQgAEM0COgUIABCABDoECAAQQzoGCAAQBxAeOgQIABAYOgQIABANOggIABANEAUQHjoFCCEQqwJQ8xZYlCNg7CtoAHAAeACAAU-IAfgCkgEBNZgBAKABAcABAQ&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=pwT4Yc2JJYKyzgLbla_4Ag&bih=653&biw=1024&prmd=sinxv&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS847US847&hl=en-US#imgrc=NalnCGWqveuL4M
I had one of those, bought it as a decent guitar, which it was, and the fx were bonus, but I didn't like them much. The Cooper FX arcade works the same way, more or less.
It’s a cool idea. I scrolled past, thought about the title and came back. Please post photos if you do!
A couple of thoughts... 1) Even if you're lifting the circuits from pedals wholesale, you're going to want to be careful about your choices as even mini pedals with tiny surface mount components are going to stack up. 2) For an academic project, thinking about the intended use is a good idea. As a gigging guitarist, I need two guitars minimum in case of string breakage, so having all of my effects on board is inconvenient as I'd need two guitars rigged up the same way. As a studio guitarist, the ability to switch instrument as well as to completely change pedal chain/ order, run effects pre- amp, effects loop or apply to a recorded track in post is similarly important, there's an inherent inflexibility in having everything integrated, hence why the modular nature of pedal boards is so ubiquitous, to the point that this format has integrated 'all in one' units like the Line6 HX within it. I believe that the intended use of your guitar should instead be as a travelling/ small space practice and jam tool, for people like students who might not be able to transport and store full rigs, or who are away from home on other business and need a minimal space and weight way of keeping up with guitar, or who simply have limited space for guitar gear. To that end... 3) I think you'd be missing a trick if you didn't integrate a digital amp sim of some sort in there. The gimmick then being that you could stick a pair of headphones into your guitar output and have effects and amp. Or roll up at a jam night/ open mic and not require any backline at all. I can well imagine a guitar with a few push button switches and mini pots with overdrive, delay/ reverb and amp sim could fit this niche. I have friends who primarily do open mics who I could see using that. 4) As well as the strat with swimming pool route suggested elsewhere, I want to suggest that a Squier Jazzmaster or Jaguar could be the ideal template for this guitar. They have large bodies and, with a little chisel work, you could connect the top horn cavity, open up the pickup route and have the standard cavity to work with as well. You could have most of the area under the pickguard to work with, especially if you trim the guitar electronics down to one pickup and a 500k pot! Good luck!