signal2noise - GuitarCross


Long ago in a far away land lived a musician named Blair, who played lead guitar in a funny theatrical trio called Run 21, playing original music and touring all around the Northeast US, seemingly endlessly. When Blair would take a lead on his axe, the bottom would not fall out because, revering the Canadian power trio Rush, Blair had long before built and used foot pedal systems to control synthesizers--albeit very crude at first--that were programmed to make cool sounds and chords which sounded very much like a fourth member hiding in the back(a great drummer and bassist didn't hurt either!) This worked well for eons, until one night deep in a dream, Blair got a crazy but spectacular new idea. The next day, he went to his local Daddy's Junky Music store and there, hanging on the wall, was the first GuitarCross waiting to be born! He purchased the mid-80's Kramer something-or-other bass for a measly $189 because pointy-headed instruments were long out-of-style. Ordering a Schaller 8-string bridge and scrounging up 4 mini guitar tuning gears, he proceeded to convert the 4-string into a fine 8-string by modifying the nut(sliding it over, adding slots), and fitting the tuners, new bridge, and 4 octave strings which resided right next to the bass strings just like a 12-string guitar. But this was only the beginning... Blair dreamed of his bassist, Jimmy(who also always handled the synth. pedal work while playing bass and singing lead!) being able to turn off the bass strings to play guitar parts with him, or playing both bass and guitar at the same time on this new 8-string!! How would this happen? How could it be so?? Well, Blair found out about these crazy Bartolini 'Quad Jazz Bass' pickups made ages ago that actually had 4 seperate pickups in them!! And he had always known about Mike Christian peizo guitar pickups that had a single output per string! Whazzamm, his answer flew out like a giant light bulb in the sky! The very next day he had somehow already fit the new Bartolini pickups into the body, and the peizo pickups into the bridge, replacing the octave string saddles. Alignment of the Bartolinis' pickup 'coils' was critical to get seperation for each bass string, while a 'summing mixer' had to be employed to balance the outputs of the peizos. But, by using two preamps--one for the bass circuit, and one for the guitar circuit--Blair was able to get two seperate outputs to two seperate amps: bass and guitar! His dream had come true and it was dubbed: GuitarCross. Like a 12-string guitar, Blair fretted and plucked or strummed the strings seperately, as pairs or in groups. He could play unison lines or chords, or leads! Yet, with the individual amplification, an insane sound emerged! He could easily play just guitar parts...or just bass parts...or both in a massive Zep/Rush conglomerashment! Blair was in heaven! Run 21 lost their great drummer Stet to 'W.A.S.P.', and the group slowly grew apart. Blair found himself entertaining a position working near Boston, which he took. The GuitarCross now had only one person who knew what to do with it...and the power duo signal2noise was born with a new great drummer named John. The original Kramer 'GX' evolved to posess 3 bass strings and 5 guitar strings to expand its range, and welcomed new Bartolini and Fishman preamps. Its Strat shape was modified into a Tele shape, after Blair was inspired by the way cool Hamer 'acoustic' 12-string that Pearl Jam's bassist played. He was also inspired by King's X's Doug Pinnick and Big Wreck's bassist's use of wicked Hamer 12-strings! And for better lead playing, Blair scalloped the fingerboard under the top strings from the 14th fret up!! While the original GX has always been tuned a half-step down to Eb, with the twin E strings tuned to dropped-D(dD aA dD g b), the sophmore GX is tuned to either aA or bB, eE aA d g, because it is built on a 5-string bass platform. A beautiful transparent black Dean bass was procured, and its wide neck and sculpted body screamed 'I wanna' be a GX!!' Sperzel locking tuners were squeezed between the 5 bass tuners, the nut re-cut, the pickups and electronics replaced, a new output jack fitted, and the bridge replaced with the peizo-equipped Schaller 8-string--the only bridge that will work! With its extra-long 35-inch scale length, this thing is a WALL OF SOUND like none other!! Oh, yes--and it is scalloped also... The youngest GuitarCross is an extremely rare find--and more easily converted by Blair, now an expert at the process. A 1984 Salmon Pink(yuck!!) Hamer short-scale(32") LP Jr.-style 8-string, custom-built for J. Geils(J. Geils Band) was had for $650 USD in Cambridge, MA and swiftly brought to the bench. Already an oct-string, nut nor headstock need be modded--but the humbucker pickup holes were filled and new Jazz Bass slots routed in. Bridge, pickups and electronics were swapped, fingerboard scalloped, output jack added, and lower cutaway and heel sculpted for better high-fret access! Blair also painted the top gloss black to match the headstock and hide the color...and had his fave DJ 'Mistress Kerrie' from WAAF Boston sign the edge. This thing is quicker to get around, with tighter string spacing and smaller guitar-like feel. It's also tuned to Eb with the usual dropped-D, and used for instrumentals like Rush's 'YYZ' and original excursions. Blair continues to dream, of Les Paul-looking GX's bowed with magnetic violin bows called GX bows, and walls of Mesa-Boogie gear, and touring the world with his 2-piece power duo. The future sees two matching already-discontinued and destined-to-be-extremely-rare Yamaha semi-hollowbody Billy Sheehan(wait 'til he sees these GX's!!) BEX-BS models being converted with gold harware on their lavender bookmatched figured-maple tops...and maybe whammy bars for the top strings??? For now, the sore arms and twin-indented fingers from the paired strings will be constant reminders, alongside the rubbery feeling of prolonged exposure to all frequencies guitar and bass at once, of the power and potential of the end result of a long-lasting dream: the inception and continual maturing of the GuitarCross as a new instrument, its player(s), and its music. dbl 2007 Mesa-Boogie GuitarCross rig up and kickin! After months of fitting, wiring, screwing, testing, tweaking, swearing, smashing and apologizing, the new GuitarCross rig consisting of many new Mesa-Boogie major components is up and rockin'! The Edens and G-Ks are on Ebay, and the volume level has doubled. Not to mention the prestige index... The 6x10 bass cab and the M-Pulse bass head just CRUSH, and the tube power amp and 4x12 RoadKing cab make the clean and dirty guitar FAT and sizzlin'...and the shock-mount rack houses the guts in an impossibly unliftable array that'd make John Petrucci blush with delight. With cord looms fore and aft, the idea is to be able to roll the pieces into place, take the covers off, make a minimum of connections, and be playing the GuitarCross in all its perverted glory within FIVE MINUTES. Likewise on teardown...five minutes and 'outta' there' for the next chumps to have their say! Now it's time to roll this rig into the studio for some new tracks, then onto many a stage for some payin'-the-dues road wear! First, we'll take some pictures...
The GuitarCross has eight strings: 5 guitar strings--which correspond with the lower 5 of a regular 6-string guitar, and 3 bass strings--which likewise correspond with the lower 3 of a regular 4-string bass guitar. Additionally, these 3 bass strings are paired--as found on a 12-string guitar--with the lowest 3 of the 5 guitar strings. So, to go from the bottom to the top--in pitch--you have the first guitar/bass pair(guitar e/bass E), then the second pair(guitar a/bass A), and then the third pair(d/D). After those pairs, the two guitar strings(g and b) are alone. Again, the layout is as follows: e E a A d D g b The three bass strings have their own Bartolini bass pickups which are routed to their own volume/tone/mix controls onboard, and out to a 1/4" output jack. Likewise, the 5 guitar strings have their own seperate pickups, controls and output jack also. There is a 3-way selector switch to mute either bass or guitar formats--or leave them both operational. To play the GuitarCross, you can approach it from a number of perspectives: you can look at is a bass guitar with octave strings to utilize when you choose the extra sound. Or, you can look at it as a guitar with bass strings to supplement. You could see it as both instruments--to played alone or together in an entirely new manner--or as neither...the best way is as a completely new instrument: the GX! The strings are spaced in a distance that allows the fretting and the strumming/plucking/slapping/whatever hands to easily emphasize one or both of the formats' strings. They are close enough to press down both strings of a pair, or more than one pair, or all 8 if you want--yet far enough to fingerpick chords, play leads, or play bass lines while 'missing' the guitar strings altogether. And like when Jimmy Page left the upper neck of his Gibson 6/12 doubleneck 'on' while playing the lower neck, many interesting possibilities arise when experimenting with manipulating the two formats in various ways, physically and electronically.
3/26/08--Newburyport, MA: Hamer GX Variax retrofit completed The complicated Variax 300 circuit retrofit has been successfully completed, and now the learning curve looms ahead. The unit runs(for a certain time...) on a single 9VDC battery onboard, sounds very good, and will be refinished eventually to cover and blend the new body contouring. It will be played with standard eE aA dD g b tuning as well as 'dropped dD.' See photos in 'visuals' section. 8/22/07--Newburyport, MA: ongoing GuitarCross tweaking Hamer short-scale GX modified with deep waist and forearm contours in the maple body; as well as deepening of the lower horn cutaway, and reduction of the neck heel size--both to facilitate easier upper fret access. Previous Fishman guitar preamp being replaced with a Variax 300 modeling preamp circuit/ assembly, requiring enlargement of main control cavity and output jack area, as well as repositioning of controls. Instrument will weigh a pound or so less, but will now have a miriad of modeled electric and acoustic guitar sounds to add to its Bartolini pickup/preamp bass sound. Paint job will follow fitting of all new controls and switches. Two Yamaha BEX-BS Billy Sheehan model semi-hollow body 4-string long-scale basses are in process of retrofitting to GX operation. Additional tuners have been fitted on the 4/4 headstocks and dual locking 1/4" output jacks have installed. Bartolini 94J quad-coil Jazz Bass pickup sets, last produced in the late 1980's are still sought. Schaller 8-string bridges are to be fitted with peizo pickups and Variax 300 or 700 electronics will likely be added for guitar sound modeling.