Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

I like the idea very innovative. For people who don't like to bust out the iron this seems perfect.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

ratherdashing said:
Folks, keep in mind this is the Deluxe Strat Plus, i.e. not intended for the vintage purist.

It's also obviously not intended for the crowd who is already comfortable with modding their own electronics.

If you fall into these two categories, it's pretty much okay that you don't like this system. You're not the intended audience. Fender has other models for you.

I can see this being a big win for a studio guitarist who wants to be able to dial in a specific tone without permanently (or even semi-permanently) altering the guitar.
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Yes, but how does this setup affect tone? Pickups are soooo very sensitive, I find the extra stuff to be suspect in terms of affecting the signal. And in studio recording usually you want the ugly thing that sounds the best rather than the pretty thing that has the versatility, right? I mean in a high budget recording session - of course us with home studio setups want the versatility to get all the tones in our heads with one AxeFX or Kemper, for example.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

Jolly_Rancher said:
Yes, but how does this setup affect tone? Pickups are soooo very sensitive, I find the extra stuff to be suspect in terms of affecting the signal. And in studio recording usually you want the ugly thing that sounds the best rather than the pretty thing that has the versatility, right? I mean in a high budget recording session - of course us with home studio setups want the versatility to get all the tones in our heads with one AxeFX or Kemper, for example.
Click to expand...

Ironic that you mention the (hypothetical) impact a PCB card has on tone, and talk about using an AxeFX or Kemper in the same post.

I'm seriously getting tired of trying to debunk all the voodoo witch doctor science that seems to surround guitars. If you think one of these cards is going to affect tone (in any way other than the intended mod would), go ahead and think that.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

Jolly_Rancher said:
Yes, but how does this setup affect tone? Pickups are soooo very sensitive, I find the extra stuff to be suspect in terms of affecting the signal. And in studio recording usually you want the ugly thing that sounds the best rather than the pretty thing that has the versatility, right? I mean in a high budget recording session - of course us with home studio setups want the versatility to get all the tones in our heads with one AxeFX or Kemper, for example.
Click to expand...

Well, what if the pretty thing has every tone you need, but you have to switch out the card? It's completely passive, so I don't really see it affecting tone that much, no more than a permanent mod. For a studio musician, this is a perfect piece of gear. They can get nearly every pickup switching, and I'm sure Fender isn't going to leave this system unattended after they release the three cards that come with the guitar. The possibilities are endless for this one.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

I wonder about long term reliability of those contacts, especially in the proverbial "smoky bar".
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

PFDarkside said:
I wonder about long term reliability of those contacts, especially in the proverbial "smoky bar".
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I suspect if you buy it and leave the first card in, then you won't have to worry about it, and can sell it in 40 years to some collector, or something. Probably not.

My gut tells me that these are something just being used to increase interest, and not really a fundamental shift in how people wire guitars.

I mean, how difficult is a soldering iron really? If you're going to get started like I did, pretty quickly you realize what kind of sounds you want out of a guitar, and plan accordingly.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

ratherdashing said:
Ironic that you mention the (hypothetical) impact a PCB card has on tone, and talk about using an AxeFX or Kemper in the same post.

I'm seriously getting tired of trying to debunk all the voodoo witch doctor science that seems to surround guitars. If you think one of these cards is going to affect tone (in any way other than the intended mod would), go ahead and think that.
Click to expand...

I don't believe that AxeFX or Kemper nail their emulated amps, nor would I want one. So, I don't see your point.

There is no voodoo witch doctor science, wires next to one another can change the way the electrons interact. That's fact. Can we hear the difference and does it matter? Maybe.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

you got that circuit board with the dip switches? oh yeah! I could hear it man... when you played that one lick :laugh:
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

One of my most recent purchases was a (SMC) Xotic SL Drive. Another most recent purchase is an Analog Man Prince of Tone (assembled in China with DIP switches)
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

It's a great idea. And it DOES beat a soldering iron, even if you prefer to sit around breathing in the fumes, because it's instant.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

First you had Toneshapers, then Gibson and now Fender using printed circuit boards for the primary wiring. You can be pretty sure that all parties have spent the time and money to make sure that tone quality is not impacted.

I have to say that while Gibson stayed vanilla with their version, Fender is listening to their customers on the forums. Questions about using a treble bleed (volume kit), modern vs vintage (50's / Fezz Parka) tone wiring, which tone capacitor values or pot value to use, blender wiring, treble and bass cut controls are always being discussed all the time in this forum. Most of these mods are offered by most point to point wiring vendors, so what Toneshapers and Fender is doing are the same thing. While Toneshapers concept is about upgrading and fitting into existing guitars, Fender has taken a proprietary approach. Fender has solved the most common Toneshapers request which is to be able to access the dipswitches from the outside of a stratocaster. That is what the personality cards provide by having the dipswitches mounted onto each card which can be easily accessed.

From what I could see at Namm, they have a proprietary CTS (not Electroswitch/Oak-Grisby) superswitch with all 24 contacts going to the 50 pin personality card connector. The same for each proprietary CTS pot (standard and new dpdt pushpush pot), 3 contacts per standard pots and 9 contacts per pushpush pot for a total of 24 connections (using 2 pushpush pots) to the personality card connector. So all the connections needed for wiring a Strat are there at that one location with the personality cards making the final connections to give you the wiring it is specified for. In keeping with their proprietary nature they also have a small connector on the pickups for this system which makes swapping out a pickup very user friendly.

I have to say Fender used their deep resources to create this 60th anniversity model. This model is not about gimmicks since it is a based on tried and true passive wiring schemes used by just about all the other point to point wiring kit vendors out there. It's also not about producing a cheaper mass production product since the tooling only was very expensive. While I do not agree with the proprietary nature of the product I do believe they are on the right track. With the elimination of hands-on trade classes in high school, the percentage of musicians willing to solder will continue to drop. Add this to the fact that most component manufactures have their products as surface mount devices and you can see the trend. This maybe the time for pickups vendors to consider "What if all future Fender guitars use this system"?
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

I'm just speaking for myself - but I like my Fenders simple. This really is a non-starter for me, but I can see it being of value to another.

But I can see the next marketing push for this product -
Get Vernon Reid to endorse and offer a special card called....








"The Cult of Personality" card.


:p
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

santellan said:
First you had Toneshapers, then Gibson and now Fender using printed circuit boards for the primary wiring. You can be pretty sure that all parties have spent the time and money to make sure that tone quality is not impacted.

I have to say that while Gibson stayed vanilla with their version, Fender is listening to their customers on the forums. Questions about using a treble bleed (volume kit), modern vs vintage (50's / Fezz Parka) tone wiring, which tone capacitor values or pot value to use, blender wiring, treble and bass cut controls are always being discussed all the time in this forum. Most of these mods are offered by most point to point wiring vendors, so what Toneshapers and Fender is doing are the same thing. While Toneshapers concept is about upgrading and fitting into existing guitars, Fender has taken a proprietary approach. Fender has solved the most common Toneshapers request which is to be able to access the dipswitches from the outside of a stratocaster. That is what the personality cards provide by having the dipswitches mounted onto each card which can be easily accessed.

From what I could see at Namm, they have a proprietary CTS (not Electroswitch/Oak-Grisby) superswitch with all 24 contacts going to the 50 pin personality card connector. The same for each proprietary CTS pot (standard and new dpdt pushpush pot), 3 contacts per standard pots and 9 contacts per pushpush pot for a total of 24 connections (using 2 pushpush pots) to the personality card connector. So all the connections needed for wiring a Strat are there at that one location with the personality cards making the final connections to give you the wiring it is specified for. In keeping with their proprietary nature they also have a small connector on the pickups for this system which makes swapping out a pickup very user friendly.

I have to say Fender used their deep resources to create this 60th anniversity model. This model is not about gimmicks since it is a based on tried and true passive wiring schemes used by just about all the other point to point wiring kit vendors out there. It's also not about producing a cheaper mass production product since the tooling only was very expensive. While I do not agree with the proprietary nature of the product I do believe they are on the right track. With the elimination of hands-on trade classes in high school, the percentage of musicians willing to solder will continue to drop. Add this to the fact that most component manufactures have their products as surface mount devices and you can see the trend. This maybe the time for pickups vendors to consider "What if all future Fender guitars use this system"?
Click to expand...

I really hope more than Fender begin using this system. I think it's a fantastic idea.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

Guitar players tend to be pretty conservative gear wise - its going to take time to catch on. Probably not my generation (Gen X)either.

Seems a compatible system to use the Fender cards can be developed.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

The reason you haven't heard any talk of it here before this thread is that as members of the SDUGF, we are automatically not the target demographic for this product.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

I'm pretty much a traditionalist, but I'm open to guitar technology as well. I'm pretty sure Seth Lover and Les Paul would perk up and take notice of this technology, as they lived their lives with the pioneering spirit.

Nobody will be forced to buy this guitar, but I'm sure a lot would, if they saw it on the wall at the music store, along with an envelope full of cards that go in the case. They'd sell if the price wasn't more than a couple hundred more than the same model without the 'personality cards.'
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

When I want my strat to have a different personality, I will just pick up my Les Paul....
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

Fantastic idea. Analog, modular, passive, smart. Regardless of being a fender lover/hater and all political fanfare aside, this is just a brilliant idea. Bring the modding outside the guitar. A superswitch would not do *all* possible combinations. However personality cards would...
Wandering what would be the pin out and if it wound be much different/compatible for HSH guitars with the 4 additional wires.
 
Re: Nobody's talked about Fender's personality cards yet?

I don't see these coming with a handful of cards. You buy the guitar and pick the one card you want, then buy the others for $30-$50 each, depending on the dealer and complexity of the card.

While I've only read the comments and not watched the video for the full description, it does present an interesting concept. I can also see a simplification, whereby instead of any sort of computerization, you simply swap in a "contact card" which changes the connections any particular set of jumpers makes. Turn your SSS 5-way into a H-S 3-way (though you still have a 5 pos switch unless you go with a touchpad).

I can also see the session player angle where you need to go from a 50s Strat tone to a more modern Strat tone. Can't see anyone doing it live, though. "Oh wait, for this next song, I have to swap out my card." vs "for this next song I have to put down my red strat and pick up my black strat". While swapping guitars on stage doesn't look all that professional either, it's much better than screwing with your phone.

These types of systems are simply trying too hard to deliver what the Variax was capable of. That's something that needs to be looked at seriously again to make it much more flexible - stop focusing on the "vintage guitars you'll never own" angle and focus on the "distinct tones of various guitars" aspect.
 
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