2008 Woodie Awards
Fretting over that vintage sound
Students use technology to bring classic sound to modern guitars
Chris Yu
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: News
There are rock fans who play Guitar Hero all day. And then there are fans who take their passion to the next level.
That's where Tim Babich and Justin Ahmanson come in. Teaming up with a university professor and a graduate student, these electrical engineering seniors are establishing their own guitar brand called Coil Guitars, prototypes of which include customizable sound choices and the option for a "vintage" tone.
The team said their guitars feature new technologies that their competition doesn't have.
"There's always the slight fantasy of, 'Oh well, what if we end up being the next Fender?'" Ahmanson said.
The team's guitars are designed by Bruce Jacob, a computer engineering professor and the company's founder. Each instrument features an ebony fret board, a neck that runs the breadth of the instrument's body and a programmable switch that allows the guitar to mimic the sounds of famous guitar brands, such as Gibson and Fender. Users can open up the back of the guitar and choose different combinations of 14 sound options. Jacob said the switch's programmability can't be found on any other brand.
Coil Guitars will also feature a new type of preamp, a device that gives guitars a higher quality sound, Babich said. The preamp, designed by Babich and Ahmanson, allows guitarists to choose between a modern or "vintage" sound - think Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix. Babich said as far as they know, no other preamp has that option.
"Basically a lot of guys that play guitar, we found that all of them like this kind of vintage electronic sound," Ahmanson said. "What we did is took some modern electronics and kind of imitated the sound that the guys liked."
The team plans to begin selling the guitars this summer.
At first, Babich and Ahmanson hadn't planned on becoming involved in the guitar business. It started as a research project for school credit.
"Since we got into the research and actually started producing, we came up with this plan for this preamp and decided it was cool enough that, what the hell, let's try to make some money off of it," Babich said.
That's where Tim Babich and Justin Ahmanson come in. Teaming up with a university professor and a graduate student, these electrical engineering seniors are establishing their own guitar brand called Coil Guitars, prototypes of which include customizable sound choices and the option for a "vintage" tone.
The team said their guitars feature new technologies that their competition doesn't have.
"There's always the slight fantasy of, 'Oh well, what if we end up being the next Fender?'" Ahmanson said.
The team's guitars are designed by Bruce Jacob, a computer engineering professor and the company's founder. Each instrument features an ebony fret board, a neck that runs the breadth of the instrument's body and a programmable switch that allows the guitar to mimic the sounds of famous guitar brands, such as Gibson and Fender. Users can open up the back of the guitar and choose different combinations of 14 sound options. Jacob said the switch's programmability can't be found on any other brand.
Coil Guitars will also feature a new type of preamp, a device that gives guitars a higher quality sound, Babich said. The preamp, designed by Babich and Ahmanson, allows guitarists to choose between a modern or "vintage" sound - think Led Zeppelin or Jimi Hendrix. Babich said as far as they know, no other preamp has that option.
"Basically a lot of guys that play guitar, we found that all of them like this kind of vintage electronic sound," Ahmanson said. "What we did is took some modern electronics and kind of imitated the sound that the guys liked."
The team plans to begin selling the guitars this summer.
At first, Babich and Ahmanson hadn't planned on becoming involved in the guitar business. It started as a research project for school credit.
"Since we got into the research and actually started producing, we came up with this plan for this preamp and decided it was cool enough that, what the hell, let's try to make some money off of it," Babich said.
Submit a letter to the editor or post a comment below.
Be the first to comment on this story