Guitar Full Wave Rectification
Added 2017-03-01 22:11:53 +0000 UTCI was just rebuilding an SG copy I own (Samick guitar, real bridge/tailpiece/pickups except the pickup baseplates were so worn out I had to put the Gibson pickups on Ibanez baseplates) when I discovered something. The Dan Armstrong 'Green Ringer' (or even a reissue, like the one I have) is far more significant to Frank Zappa's solo tone than I'd imagined, with instances built into his famous SG and also a Strat (I think I hear this effect on 'Watermelon In Easter Hay'), and here's the deal…
It's way more adaptable to any single-note-lead playing guitarist than you'd think. Or even some double-stops and chords. And it will not automatically make you sound like Frank… but it will mutate YOUR sound into a sort of hypercharged, octave-boosted version of your sound, with many similar effects.
Normal notes develop this packed-up, charged electricity to them. Muted or flubbed notes turn into octave-up notes (as do very high notes, a terrific result!). And as long as you can control the ringing of unused strings and play crisply and cleanly, this effect will work with just about any style and context.
It's a full-wave rectifier, much like any sort of guitar distortion is 'clipping'. And though you can get 'ring modulator' type effects out of a Green Ringer circuit, if you pick your notes wisely, nobody need ever know that you're using a full-wave rectifier and altering your tone hugely. They will only know that there's something distinctive about your playing, because the effect highlights elements of your touch and your sound, and ends up sounding like you… transformed.
