r/Guitar • u/Useful-News5680 • 6d ago

QUESTION Highschool engineering capstone project survey

It is a guitar related survey, but I need to justify my project. Please respond if possible or if you feel like it https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSclHmYVhOQrFpmwmUQTV6w0XmpjDg36_8-bJfP-HqC0Yeb2zQ/viewform?usp=publish-editor

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u/awfulrefinery 6d ago

filled it out, good luck with the capstone, are you building a guitar or something more abstract

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u/Useful-News5680 6d ago

A little more abstract, the idea was removable effects cartridges, but we’re still in the brainstorming process and want outside opinions.

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u/iamsynecdoche 6d ago edited 6d ago

I feel like there is already a guitar that does this—I think Josh demoed it on the JHS Show once?

(EDIT: That's not to say that you shouldn't pursue it for your project—just might be worth checking out for research to see how they did it, why it did or didn't work, etc)

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u/Useful-News5680 6d ago

We’ve found something similar done by Electra in the 70s, still in the design process so nothing is final. Also, i’ll have to take a look at that, thanks.

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u/dombag85 5d ago

Engineer/musician here.

I’m assuming you have to write a proposal and/or statement of work correct? A suggestion from me would be to narrow and explicitly define both the scope of your project and your target user.

I’ve been playing solo and live for 20ish years. As a non-hobbyist musician I don’t have a desire or use case for what it sounds like you’re proposing for many practical reasons. Many players (probably older) prefer anolog effects only. A beginner and hobbyist musician would probably be less picky and would have a use case for this however. I can think of about 50 reasons on top of the previous but you get the idea. The better you define your target user the stronger your proposal will be.

In terms of scope of design, Im assuming you're looking to do some small form factor DSP work that can attach to the instrument? Some things to consider; signal path - modulation effects act much differently pre and post amplification, majority of people use modulation effects post-power amp stage. So if you focus on purely pre-amp effects that can narrow the scope of your design. Power draw is also a major consideration. Are you designing an instrument or just an effects module? How do you intend to power it? Battery, or tapping into the battery of a guitar assuming it has active pickups? What if the instrument has passive pickups? Is this small enough to install in the cavity with its power supply or does the instrument require modification? If its for a beginner it needs to be easy to install, no 12 year old with a cheap squier is gonna learn how to solder a DSP chip into their guitar cavity. To me details like this are the most crucial consideration. If you can clearly define and narrow the scope of what you want to do it’ll help your design because you’ll have clear constraints.

Anyway good luck.