HYBRID ROUND-UP
Acoustic guitars with ‘electric’ sounds, or maybe an electric guitar with ‘acoustic’ sounds? The technology is out there…
Best-buy guitars with both acoustic and electric tones on tap
The long-running Canadian company has led the way in popularising the hybrid-guitar concept mixing piezo acoustic, magnetic electric and synth access on numerous acoustic and solidbody platforms. Currently in short supply, Music Street has the A6 Ultra on pre-order so you might be lucky. Expect an electric feel to the neck, paired with a chambered silver-leaf maple body with spruce top. With the magnetic sound provided by the neck-placed Godin humbucker and with dual acoustic and electric outputs you can easily run a two amp set-up. www.musicstreet.co.uk While PRS has long offered both solidbody and hollowbody ‘hybrids’ with onboard piezo acoustic sounds designed in conjunction with LR Baggs, its prices can be prohibitive for many. However, this SE version of the hollowbody is Chinese-made to PRS’s exacting specs, and pairs a hollowbody design, with bridge block, and a pair of 58/15 ‘S’ humbuckers, plus a new PRS/LR Baggs piezo design. It’s a laminate construction, like the classic ES-335, and is a great way to add some acoustic flavour into your electric work. www.prsguitars.com Another well-established hybrid, the T5Z Classic is the down-sized version – more electric-like – of the original T5. It’s a thinline acoustic guitar first and foremost, and uses three pickups – a magnetic acoustic body sensor, a concealed neck humbucker, and a visible bridge humbucker – plus five-way switching and onboard tone control. Different versions using flamed koa, curly maple, spruce or mahogany – as here – tops are available. The guitar has a mixed mono output, so unlike other hybrids you can’t run ‘acoustic’ and electric sounds simultaneously. www.taylorguitars.com
This American Acoustasonic Telecaster started a now three-strong range, which includes Stratocaster and Jazzmaster versions. In basic terms, it’s a smallbodied acoustic guitar (that feels like an electric) with a selection of Fishman-created digital-acoustic guitar recreations, plus a magnetic bridge pickup with its own tone-stack for a little grit. It’s fast in use with a volume control and Blend control that can mix the five sound pairs selected by the five-way Voice Selector (offering 10 sounds in total). www.fender.com
Few guitars are as forward-thinking as Emerald’s Irish-made carbon-graphite creations. Aside from the moulding materials, here’s an acoustic guitar with a full 648mm (25.5”) scale and 24 frets. It uses a Graph Tech Ghost Acoustic-Phonic system, which allows the piezo acoustic sound to be mixed with the magnetic humbucker at the neck and MIDI output to hook you up to a synth. Emerald offers a dizzyingly large range with plenty of options for custom order. A glimpse of the future, here, right now. https://emeraldguitars.com
This hugely progressive guitar is, of course, one of four current Music Man John Petrucci signatures. It’s a solidbody with a neck-through-body design, alder body wings and very figured maple top, but includes a piezo-loaded bridge (Fishman Powerbridge saddles) for acoustic-like sounds. The magnetic side is handled by DiMarzio Dreamcatcher and Rainmaker humbuckers, and includes some complex pickup switching, with mono or stereo outputs plus a 20dB gain boost. Oh, and if six strings aren’t enough there’s a seven-string version too! www.music-man.com