July 13, 2011 08:00 am EDT

DiaForce film captures your virtuoso performance, could replace guitar pickups

Do you shred it up on the guitar and wish there were a way to capture your one-of-a-kind technique -- every bend, hammer and slide? Well then, get thee to the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering where a few musically-inclined scientists -- closet Hendrix fans, we assume -- have managed to translate every pluck of the string into a laptop-processed digital control signal. To do this the team layered guitar tailpieces (that part on the end with the knobs and strings) with a ten-micrometer piece of the powerfully named, piezoresistive DiaForce film and recorded string tension with absolute precision. The project, developed in conjunction with M3i Technologies and Thin Films IST, will eventually port its pressure-sensitive tech to other stringed instruments -- once engineers can figure out how to mass produce the stuff, that is. Research is also underway to replace the clunky, old world pickup cramping your electric axe's style with an extra-sensitive coating of this resistive film. While you wah-wah wait for this tech to make its way to a Guitar Center near you, make sure to check the full release after the break.

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DiaForce film captures your virtuoso performance, could replace guitar pickups originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Original Link: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/13/diaforce-film-captures-your-virtuoso-performance-could-replace/

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