Dig it! Pole Position

Scott_Abene

Resident Noodge
This is not about supporting single mothers...


https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1165874210/the-pole-position-sliding-pickup-guitar


About this project
The patented Pole Position guitar was specifically designed to offer guitarists the greatest possible range and control over their tone. Whereas other guitars have a stationary pickup (or pickups) offering a limited number of tone choices, the Pole Position utilizes a single moveable pickup to offer unlimited choices.

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The player can quickly and easily slide the pickup to any position from the bridge to the base of the neck to achieve subtle or dramatic changes in tone as often as desired, even while playing.

Canavan Musical Products has been developing the Pole Position guitar over a period of two years, producing a series of designs which culminated in the current prototype featured in our video. With your help, we will move on to create the finished product.

The Pole Position Guitar: The goal is to complete the development of the patented pickup sliding mechanism and begin production of the consumer model Pole Position guitar. The guitar will feature:

  • Patented slider mechanism with humbucker pickup
  • Superior construction details, including 1 3/4" thick body
  • Natural wood finish, maple neck and fretboard, 3-ply (b/w/b) pickguard, and signature CMP headstock design
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The consumer edition Pole Position guitar is expected to be in production by the summer of 2016. Supporters who pledged at the level to receive a guitar will receive it then, and it will also become available to the public at that time. Supporters who pledged at lower levels to receive other CMP merchandise such as picks, stickers, and t-shirts will receive their rewards within a month of the close of the Kickstarter campaign.

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Canavan Musical Products: The amount being raised is the estimated cost of completing the development of the slider mechanism and producing the first limited run of Pole Position guitars. Any money raised over and above that amount will go towards increasing the initial number of guitars produced.

Going forward, CMP will also be developing other guitar models using the patented slider mechanism, and models which also feature other patented innovations, including:

  • Integrated vibrato systems
  • Tuner innovations
Follow us on Twitter (twitter@CMPGuitars) or Facebook (facebook.com/CMPGuitars) to get updates and learn about new products.

Risks and challenges
Having arrived at the ideal design for the Pole Position guitar's patented slider mechanism, the challenges now include:

- Having the slider mechanism fashioned to our exact specifications and
produced as needed.

- Designing a guitar body with a cavity of the correct depth and width
to incorporate the slider without modification.

- Determining the best brand and type of pickup and other materials
to use for this application.

In short, the challenge is to move from the current working prototype seen in our video (which was constructed by combining modified existing guitars with a working slider model) to a first rate, finished guitar made to our specifications by researching and finding the best vendors and materials.
 
Tiltsta beat me to it but...

The patent office lets so many things slip by...this is NOT original...it's been done several times over the last 80 years...

First one to come to mind was Dan Armstrong...

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But I want to say I've seen it back as far as the old Hawaiian guitar heydays of the '30's.

Framus...
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Hofner...
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My Gibson Grabber bass had this back in 1978 (note: bass pictured is not mine). Frankly, it really didn't do much to change the sound.

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I can see this being useful for a session player in the same way that custom boutique amps are. But I think most people would be happy with just two or three pups.
 
they really need to work on their aesthetic.

This^ if they are going to generate any serious interest.

Seems like an unnecessary moving part to me. If I wanted to position a pickup just so, I'd probably look at a Line 6 Variax or a Roland VG88 or equivalent system and do it in modelling. In reality I'm more of a Luddite and will keep using my guitars with their fixed position pickups.
 
Would rather have this configuration with multiple coils that get cooler towards the neck.
 
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