The pickups assigned to the different positions on an electric guitar's toggle switch are preset by the maker, and tweaking them involves breaking out the soldering iron and lots of experimenting. The HyperSwitch uses the power of a smartphone and a Bluetooth connection to simplify the process.
The brainchild of renowned pickup innovator Seymour Duncan, and the "result of considerable research and development," the active 5-way blade switch is reported compatible with most passive pickups, and allows players to configure, store and recall custom pickup assignments using a companion mobile app running on a smartphone and wirelessly connected to the HyperSwitch over Bluetooth.
Before you can start to take total control of your tone, you may need to seek the help of a guitar tech though installation seems pretty straightforward. For the most part, connections are all via screw terminals but a soldering iron will be needed if any of the ground wires were disconnected during install.
The patent-pending HyperSwitch is powered by a 9-V battery and the mobile app not only allows players to assign pickups to any position on the switch, but also change the active coils in a humbucker and even change the polarity. Seymour Duncan boasts that a guitar rocking three humbuckers can be configured in hundreds of different ways.
Players benefit from intuitive onscreen visuals so won't need to follow wiring diagrams for custom reconfigurations, the tweaks are saved to the switch's memory so the Bluetooth connection can be severed once the assignments have been made, and the signal path remains all analog.
The HyperSwitch is available now for US$149, and the app is free to download from the Apple Store or Play Store. The video below has more.
Product page: Seymour Duncan HyperSwitch
