Author Topic: LED's in a guitar? (Read 14021 times)

Kilokk · « **on:** January 01, 2009, 08:53:59 PM »

i am thinking about putting LED's in my guitar... thought it would look cool if some turned on when i plugged it into the amp but i realized that i have no way of knowing where to solder them on... can anyone help? there are 1 red (leads to the volume knob) and 1 black wire coming from the amp cable input 1 red (leads to the volume knob) and 2 black (one to the pickup and one to the volume knob) from the tone knob 2 black (one from the tone knob and one to the pickup selector switch) and 3 red (one from tone knob one to the amp input and one to the switch) and two thicker wires (one red and one black) that have two smaller wires in them (from the black is a white one and one without a casing and from the red there is a red one and one without a casing) that lead to the pickups.

any help would be appreciated greatly ^_^

FreeK · « **Reply #1 on:** January 03, 2009, 05:47:27 PM »

pics?

Kilokk · « **Reply #2 on:** January 04, 2009, 04:54:16 AM »

alas... no camera... looks like this is on hold till then

Mr. Corpsey · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2009, 04:53:04 PM »

The easiest thing to do would be to throw a 9v battery in the cavity and just make a different circuit, the Pickup circuit won't generate enough electricity to power the LEDs not to mention the gain you will create unless you have active pickups which I don't know a whole lot about, I use passive. I've wanted to do this, but I don't have a guitar it will look good on, I want to make a ring of light around a strat's pickguard.

Kilokk · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2009, 10:30:25 PM »

good point... i never thought about the gain... alright i will get started and i will let you guys know when i get it finished ^_^

ryan0 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2009, 01:21:48 PM »

If you ahve pickups on an active circuit (e.g emg 81's) then you could power led's off that,or you could use an op amp and a 9v battery to amplify the signals from the pickups.

Mr. Corpsey · « **Reply #6 on:** January 17, 2009, 04:55:54 AM »

couldn't that fry the amp if he has another amp in the circuit because the amp normally takes in an unamplified signal, and amps are fragile things voltage/signal wise.

ryan0 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2009, 06:21:50 AM »

Wtf are you talking about mr.corpsey?
You are drawing a tiny part of the unamplified signal from a pickup,sending it through an op-amp in one direction,and the other direction it goes into the guitar amp,the two amplification circuits don't cross.
I know what I'm talking about,hence my r&d status.

tripsalot · « **Reply #8 on:** January 17, 2009, 07:57:30 AM »

what kind of guitar is it?different companies use different colors for different things,.i personaly would go about it by getting a push pull volume knob and use it as an on off switch for just constant light and if you want it sound reactive,you should be able to use the 1/4 jack outputs and an op amp.the only thing i see as a problem is finding a easy to get to place to put the battery if you dont have a guitar with a tremelo tailpiece.
you might be able to find ideas on how to wire it up at seymore duncans website they have alot of different diagrams for different guitars

ryan0 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 17, 2009, 01:02:45 PM »

Quote from: tripsalot on January 17, 2009, 07:57:30 AM

the only thing i see as a problem is finding a easy to get to place to put the battery if you dont have a guitar with a tremelo tailpiece.

I have active 81's wired into my les paul and I have the battery tucked in the cavity on the back that houses the electronics for the pots.
And also,the brightest colour is always positive,e.g red= positive black=negative,white=positive grey=negative etc. etc.

Kilokk · « **Reply #10 on:** January 20, 2009, 07:06:14 AM »

well atm i have to put the project on hold >.< my budget isnt gonna let me even buy one LED... gotta wait till my situation gets better (DAMN YOU TARGET AND YOUR 9 HOURS A WEEK FOR ME!!!) plus the fact that my soldering iron just died (its from the 80's... should have known it would die soon...) so thanks for all the help guys but i am boned in the area of modding atm...

btw i own an epiphone SG special, in case you were wondering ^_^

ironcobra570 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 21, 2009, 06:50:18 PM »

ive had the same ideas and i think i got it, held up by one flaw...power, and were to put it the sorce.
i have the original gh3 guitaurs that came with ps2 (im tryin on ps2 ones first so i dont ruin the ps3 ones) and for the ring of light on the pick gaurd...take the gaurd off trace it on a pice of clear plastic (thats the hard part, finding the plastic to use) or plexi (i think id look best if it was frosted so u can hide wiers more) then leds in the buttons...robly have to be like 0603s but ive never taken the buttons out to see the room in them
ill have a pic tut soon as i get my camera from my crazy ex gf

and then a youtube tut in good time but if any one has a good power sup. idea leme know

ryan0 · « **Reply #12 on:** January 29, 2009, 08:48:34 AM »

Quote from: ironcobra570 on January 21, 2009, 06:50:18 PM

ive had the same ideas and i think i got it, held up by one flaw...power, and were to put it the sorce.
i have the original gh3 guitaurs that came with ps2 (im tryin on ps2 ones first so i dont ruin the ps3 ones) and for the ring of light on the pick gaurd...take the gaurd off trace it on a pice of clear plastic (thats the hard part, finding the plastic to use) or plexi (i think id look best if it was frosted so u can hide wiers more) then leds in the buttons...robly have to be like 0603s but ive never taken the buttons out to see the room in them
ill have a pic tut soon as i get my camera from my crazy ex gf and then a youtube tut in good time but if any one has a good power sup. idea leme know

Uh dude,we're talking about real guitars,not guitar hero.....

TheZap · « **Reply #13 on:** February 15, 2009, 01:11:44 PM »

I would do this to my guitar too, but Im afraid that ill screw up the sound or something, I wonde if you can make it sound reactive :P, that would be sick man

5th-axis · « **Reply #14 on:** April 13, 2009, 10:31:27 AM »

I am thinking I saw a Yamaha guitar with LEDs on the fret markers for playing on dark stages. I want to say I saw this in the late 80's or early 90's. I will try to dig something up on it.

~:Dhruv:~ · « **Reply #15 on:** April 13, 2009, 10:56:26 AM »

i too have seen one by ESP with leds on the fret markers but i think it was a custom

TaSlAyEr · « **Reply #16 on:** April 13, 2009, 11:18:58 AM »

i would sooo put leds in the fret markers

i did a googled it and here you go
http://www.auroraproject.co.uk/fret%20lights.htm
google led guitar inlays

arkgirlgeek · « **Reply #17 on:** April 19, 2009, 12:14:43 PM »

would be very intresting to see if you can do this I have never seen one with LED's so let me know if you have achieved this goal it sounds intresting

wetfusion · « **Reply #18 on:** May 23, 2009, 11:04:59 PM »

the project stop already???
im also on this project. waiting this to arrive at my home.

i want to do this mod. sound reactive led

My Custom LED Guitar - One of a kind!

from what i know. it can be done by just using LM386, same as the 1 that we use on PSP sound reactive mod. but instead of using 5V from the mobo, use a 9V battery, and the resistive value need to be calculated.

so the question is where to solder the stuff?

PhenomenalDesigns · « **Reply #19 on:** May 26, 2009, 04:41:35 AM »

Guys....

Try this

http://www.instructables.com/id/Acrylic-Guitar-LED-mod/

~:Dhruv:~ · « **Reply #20 on:** May 27, 2009, 09:08:09 AM »

That guitar is a :censored:in beauty man !!!!!

ProperBritish · « **Reply #21 on:** May 27, 2009, 01:03:37 PM »

my mate has done LED inlays, he did them with filed off 3mm green ones. wires went down the side of the neck. epoxy'd in.

PhenomenalDesigns · « **Reply #22 on:** May 30, 2009, 01:44:08 AM »

My mate wants to get me into electric guiater, i might buy a fender strat and then do the acrylic mod i posted above (And make it sound reactive if I can)

~:Dhruv:~ · « **Reply #23 on:** May 30, 2009, 01:49:41 AM »

the mod you posted above involved an acrylic guitar so you'd have to get one of those.... Where do you get those transparent guitars ??? I've never seen them here in India...

Kilokk · « **Reply #24 on:** May 31, 2009, 07:22:41 PM »

who the hell revived this thread? i gave up till i can get another guitar. dont wanna

up my only one...

PhenomenalDesigns · « **Reply #25 on:** May 31, 2009, 11:14:23 PM »

Quote from: dhruvrock2000 on May 30, 2009, 01:49:41 AM

the mod you posted above involved an acrylic guitar so you'd have to get one of those.... Where do you get those transparent guitars ??? I've never seen them here in India...

He replaced the big block (Which im not sure what its made of) with a peice of acrylic (I think)

However ive seen mods online to do it

~:Dhruv:~ · « **Reply #26 on:** June 01, 2009, 01:40:56 AM »

mine is made of metal , its pretty solid + heavy stuff, i dont think i wanna mess it up ........

Kilokk · « **Reply #27 on:** June 02, 2009, 10:43:42 PM »

while that guitar looks nice it probably sounds like

.

PhenomenalDesigns · « **Reply #28 on:** June 03, 2009, 02:04:51 PM »

Im a noob to electric guitars, depending on what its made from does it affect the sound?

Kilokk · « **Reply #29 on:** June 03, 2009, 04:58:37 PM »

very much so. for example my epiphone sg special has a basswood body, a mahogany neck and a rosewood fretboard while the gibson sg '61 reissue has a mahogany body and neck and a rosewood fretboard. VERY big difference.

ryan0 · « **Reply #30 on:** June 17, 2009, 09:07:51 AM »

Sorry if this is bumping an old topic,but this is actually pretty easy,heres how to do it:

place your led's wherever you want and hook the positive up to a 9v battery
for the negative of the led's,solder it to the negative pin of the amp lead jack
that would be if you wanted the led's to turn on when you plug in the amp lead.
Hope it helps.

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Author Topic: LED's in a guitar? (Read 14021 times)