In 1968 Ron Hoag invented a new pickup system for any string instrument (patented in 1970), the optical pickup. The system works with LEDs that emit a flickering light, transmitted to a photo transistor that converts it to electric signal and send it to the built-in instrument preamp. The last step before the amplifier is a mode selector-power supply module. The string is between the LED and the photo transistor and the system captures its vibrations. This new concept of pickup might change a lot the actual electric guitar, bass, violin,… factoring process. According to Hoag: “you don’t need exotic woods to create the proper sound”, maybe some day we might purchase high-quality sound guitars with inexpensive prices.
Recently, Ron Hoag presented two hand-made string instruments featuring the optical pickups, Kinetic-MAX and Kinetic-MAX-b, electric guitar and bass respectively. Advantatges of this system are: playing until 36th fret, can use any kind of strings (steel, nylon, etc.), instrument can be made to sound like any other instrument directly on instrument, and many others we can’t imagine now.
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