The problem with all of these guitars is not so much that you cannot select between the electric and acoustic sources, but switching requires fiddling with the controls. It is not very efficient. And to make matters even more challenging, trying to efficiently break out the two signals so that they can feed on-stage amps and the PA requires a complex set of break out boxes, DIs and Y-jacks.

One of the most exciting new players today is a fellow named Dave Martone. Dave is not only a very gifted player, but he is extremely innovative in his approach to his on-stage performances. Dave uses a Parker Fly and constantly switches between the electric and acoustic elements. We started working with David a few years ago, trying to develop a solution that would enable him to use a footswitch to choose pickups.

The first prototype was a passive true-bypass device. Although it worked, when you switched inputs, like other true-bypass pedals it would make a pop in his amp. The second prototype added a high performance Class-A buffer to solve the popping problems and this was fitted with Drag Control load correction. We also added an XLR output so that the piezo could feed the PA.  Now we were cooking!  You could get a pretty good ‘acoustic’ sound through the PA and still have a great sound going to the electric amp on stage. But the tuner was only connected to the electric guitar… so you had to be on electric mode to work. Another change was needed.

The final prototype added a separate internal buffer for the tuner so that it would always be on. This way, no matter what mode you are in, you can check your tuner for a quick adjustment. At one point we also added filters to tame the ‘squawk’ from the piezo pickups and this helped a lot in making the guitar sound like a nice warm acoustic. 

We are now shipping the final product after four iterations. Good products take time to develop. Thanks to Dave Martone for working with us on the development. We think you will enjoy it.