Fiber Optics and Electric Guitar

[BlockInlay]

curious, put on your thinking caps. What roles and what potential roles can fiber optic cable play in the electric guitar/pedals/amps/misc world?

 

[rickenvox]

Bringing more efficient electronic technology to acoustic open mic night at the local coffee shop in front of ten people?

 

[rickenvox]

But seriously, guitarists and audiophiles are the only people in the world still using tube technology. And guitarists still use cords when they could be using wireless. Everything about live and studio music involves instruments playing out of amps or into consoles from short distances. I thought the main advantage of fiber optic cable was using it to replace miles long cable and phone land lines because of the speed it can travel over those distances.

 

[jp_nyc]

I might be wrong, but it seems like the signal would have to be converted to digital and back again. So nobody would use it because they would insist it sounds cold and sterile.

 

[dodgechargerfan]

I might be wrong, but it seems like the signal would have to be converted to digital and back again. So nobody would use it because they would insist it sounds cold and sterile.

This.
Plus it’s not really worth the effort involved. You’d need powered circuits on both ends.
DACs are pretty good, but they are still just an approximation of the input signal.

One of my classmates back in college wanted to build speakers connected to a component stereo via fibre.
This was in the early 90s. Once he dug into the details, he changed his project into a study of why it was a bad idea.

The only thing I can think of as a use for fibre optics is to add some flash to a rig. Lighted fret markers. Lighted dials. Shit like that.
As a signal path, not so much.

 

[Honkridge]

There was a Hoag light guitar many years ago. Something about using light to sense the string vibration and it actually worked. I'm not going to Google it for you though.

 

[shoeless]

There was a Hoag light guitar many years ago. Something about using light to sense the string vibration and it actually worked. I'm not going to Google it for you though.

So an optical pickup instead of a magnetic one? Seems plausible, but would also fall into the category of being labelled "sounds sterile", IMO.

 

[rickenvox]

I might be wrong, but it seems like the signal would have to be converted to digital and back again. So nobody would use it because they would insist it sounds cold and sterile.

ba dump peesh

you just dissed every TC Electronic pedal