Faking acoustics with piezo bridges

I have tried out various solutions to this problem. These have included using an acoustic (or electro-acoustic) guitar for one section of a song and then adding an overdrive pedal to simulate the sound of a driven electric guitar. This doesn't work that well to my ears for two reasons: you can never achieve a true electric guitar sound from an acoustic, and the feel of an acoustic guitar (often with heavier gauge strings and a wound third string) is not the same as an electric, particularly for lead work. In a similar vein, I have also tried using an electric guitar and then simulating acoustic guitar with a clean electric sound. This works better for me, and although it will not sound like a true acoustic, I feel that it is a better compromise.

The third option is having a separate acoustic guitar on one of those fixed guitar stands that holds the guitar at the correct height and in your normal playing position. The disadvantage with this method is the time it takes to position your arms and hands on and off the stand-held acoustic, and in reality you often do not have that time available.

Ultimately, none of these attempts really satisfied me, so I decided to search for an alternative hybrid option. Would it be possible to play both parts using a single instrument?

Another hybrid option is the Line 6 Variax range. This offers a range of tones from their modelling algorithms, some of which are very impressive. The Variax has no conventional pickups, so all the sounds that are available are modelled from the signals picked up by the piezo sensors set into the bridge saddles. The disadvantage of both the Variax and the Taylor is that you are unable to play two sounds together. But Fender have recently addressed this very issue with the launch of the VG Stratocaster. Unlike the Variax, this is a real Fender Stratocaster with all the sounds you would expect from such a guitar, but with the addition of a Roland GK2A pickup fitted to the guitar, offering acoustic tones and alternate tuning. In my opinion, Fender's VG Stratocaster offers the best solution to date, but only if you are willing to spend the asking price of around £1200.

At the end of my research, I wondered if it were possible to achieve my goal using a guitar I already owned and loved. This would obviously be a lower cost option and I wouldn't have to own yet another guitar (although many guitarists, including me, would argue you can never have enough guitars!).

The X-Bridge kit is supplied with the replacement bridge assembly, tremolo arm (where appropriate) and a replacement Strat jack socket. This jack socket is stereo so that the output from the acoustic pickup can be sent to a different amplifier to the regular Strat electric pickups. Fitting the X-Bridge was relatively straightforward and it wasn't long before my Stratocaster was converted. The standard five-way selector on the Strat is unchanged, so the standard pickup configurations remain. This is also true of the standard Strat volume pot. The compromise comes with the tone controls. The upper tone pot becomes a volume control for the X-Bridge acoustic pickup, and I chose to disconnect the lower tone pot completely from the circuit. The resulting configuration allows you to independently adjust the volume of the electric pickups and the bridge transducer and mix them in whatever combination you desire. (Note that since purchasing my X-Bridge, L.R. Baggs have launched the Control X preamp/mixer to allow onboard mixing of the acoustic and electric sounds.)

It is not just the ability to play both sounds and style from the same guitar, but having the capability to blend a mix of acoustic and electric is fantastic. Using mainly the acoustic sound, but with a bit of overdriven electric underneath is very effective in recreating double tracking techniques live. This is particularly impressive with slight panning of the two parts.

Last year, I played a gig of Who music, where my X-Bridge-loaded Strat really came into its own. Pete Townshend regularly uses a similar setup with his modified Strats, and if you listen to and watch any of his recent live work (such as 'Who Are You' at Live 8), you'll notice this technique at work. Other Who tracks where this is used are 'Behind Blue Eyes' and 'Bargain'.

So if you fancy the versatility of an acoustic sound from your Strat and don't mind making minor reversible alterations to your trusty guitar, I would definitely recommend the L.R Baggs X-Bridge (www.lrbaggs.com).  0