The Electra Forums

http://www.mercurioguitars.com/mg/

Have any of you tried this?

Matthew

Haven't seen one in person, but there was discussion of it in the Guitarnuts forum (guitar wiring).

http://www.guitarnuts.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1592&highlight=mercurio

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It's a way cool guitar, with the ability to swap pickups in & out on demand, and change the wiring of the guitar with onboard dip switches.

It raises the same question as the MPC guitars do, only more so: what's the advantage over several guitars (and stomp boxes) for the same or lower price? The overwhelming cool facter, of course, and the ability to plug 'n play... but I think there are a lot fewer people who really need this compared to the number for whom it's just cool... then the question becomes what price cool?

Let's see, how many Matsumoku guitars could I buy for that 3000$? Let's see, one for every style and sound, no doubt!

Not knocking it, I think it's creative and envelope-pushing, and that's cool.

The fact that it's noticeably heavier than a Les Paul would probably turn a lot of people off. Also, it seems like having that much metal in a guitar body must have a conspicuous effect on the tone of the guitar. It wouldn't be exactly like being able to switch different pickups out of your favorite guitar, although it offers that illusion.

Matthew

No, look at the docs. You can switch pickups- pull your humbuckers and slap in some P-90's for a hot session!

They have these cartridges, and you can mount any pickup in them you like- they have a list of supported brands, and it's pretty much all of them. Then you just remove one cartridge and slap another one in... the active electronics also offer a ton, but the pups definitely are switchable.

which is such a way cool idea! whether it's cooler than an excuse to get out another guitar though, I'm not so sure about.

Whoops - I can see how my last post could have been misread, but I meant that it wouldn't be like switching pickups in and out of your *favorite* guitar, the implication being that the Mercurio probably wouldn't be your absolute first choice. More like if APII could suddenly swap numerous pickups out of his favorite Aria Pro II without any added weight and all that metal affecting the tonality of the body.

Hope that makes more sense!

Matthew

Oh, I see! Yeah... it's so versatile it could be your only guitar, but if you could only have one guitar, would it be that one?

I have to admit, the concept of swapping out pickups on the fly is still cool after 35 years or better. Granted, technology today is light years ahead. One of my first American guitars was a Dan Armstrong Lucite, with two different interchangeable pickups. If I remeber correctly mine was a 1968. It was cool, but the drawbacks soon wore away at the novelty.

I'm not too sure I would want to go quite $3G for a single guitar same as I'd likely not go $20G+ for a single bike. However, if I were of that mindset, and liked the overall tone of the Mercurio I imagine it would likely end up part of my arsenal (granted I had the $ to match the mindset).

I am horrible about experimenting with pickups, and more often than not prefer alternate pickups to stock. Normally, if I'm not happy with stock pickups in a particular guitar I will try several until that magic combo is hit. Usually a guitar will tell me what it likes and what it wants to play, and I'm inclined to let it.

For many years my only working guitar was my first PE-R80 which had an ORIGINAL Bill Lawrence Blade (XL500) in the bridge and the stock bridge moved to the neck position to balance the overall output. I tried MANY guitars with my rig during that time but that combo always came out on top.

I will say if I had the chance to play one for a while I don't think much would hold me back just to see what it's all about.

I wouldn't hold out much hope for them staying around for long. A company called Player released a guitar with swapable pickup modules back in '85, but it didn't stay in production very long.