More Acoustic Sounds for Electric Guitars

With the flick of a toggle switch, a guitarist can now have his or her electric instrument sound more like an acoustic flattop, courtesy of the ActoTone pickup system. The system is one of the latest products released by Lace Music Products, a division of Actodyne General in Southern California.

"It produces an acceptable acoustic tone and makes a Strat sound like an entirely different instrument," said Don Lace Jr., whose father started Actodyne General 20 years ago.

The ActoTone is a passive system, which piggy-backs off the electronics already in the guitar. Because of this, a guitarist never has to worry about a battery pack to achieve the change in tone.

The one-inch black cube is installed by replacing one of the tone pots on a three single-coil pickup guitar, a process that can be done in approximately 15 minutes, Lace said. Currently, the ActoTone is only available for guitars with three single-coil pickups and was so designed because approximately 85% of guitars are configured that way.

"You take off the pickguard, splice in the wires and you're all set," said Lace. "It's a very simple process and that allows the guitarist greater versatility."

Asked how the product works, Jeff Lace, vice president of engineering, smiled and said: "If I told you I'd have to kill you." The less whimsical answer is that the system shifts and redistributes the frequency of the guitar, causing amplifiers to read the electrical impulses as acoustic tone instead of electric.

The suggested retail price for the ActoTone is $109.95.