Guitar Direct Coupling

The Advantages of Direct Coupling

by Ed Roman

Direct Coupling results in full contact with the wood,
No glues, no dampeners, no springs or other fillers!
These will serve to cause you to lose resonance, sustain & tonality.

Most guitar companies don't even address this.
There are 3 major things to do to achieve direct coupling.

  1. Super-Tight Neck Fit. No Glue Or Paint In Neck Cavity!
  2. Pickups Bolted Directly To The Body & Neck! No Springs!
  3. Bridge Directly Bolted To The Studs, No Movement Possible!

You Really Can Hear The Difference !!!
If You Care About Tone Read This Page !!!!

Soon Everyone Will Copy Us. Remember You Saw it Here First!

 

Direct Coupling Is Standard on Ed Roman Guitars!!!

If you want to install it on your existing guitar.
Order "Ultra/Tone DCK-1" Direct Couple Kit

Specify 1"    1"1/4   or  1" 1/2

These kits come complete with hardened steel bolts & brass inserts.
Works incredibly well on Fenders, PRS, Ernie Ball, G&L, Washburn, Charvel, Hamer's etc etc

Direct Coupling will add tremendous sustain to your guitar, It will also give you up to 25% more audible overtones.  You can really hear the difference!   See Neck Mounting Myths. The pictures above show a small part of the process. Ed Roman is always trying to come up with new & better ideas to stay several steps ahead of the corporate cookie cutter guitar companies. 

"I have done at least 20 Blindfold tests and even non guitarists can hear the difference. "

Direct Coupling defined would be the process by which direct contact is made between all the parts on a guitar that could either add or subtract from the tonality and/or sustain.

It has been said, that if a guitar is directly coupled, it will most likely be neck through body construction, a solid mounted Tone/Pros Bridge & solid mounted pickups.

I will state for the record. You can also achieve direct coupling with a bolt in style neck like a PRS or Quicksilver. To do so you must adhere to several strict rules.

1. No paint, finish lacquer or glue can be present anywhere in the neck-pocket.

2. The neck pocket has to be extremely tight and 100% stable.  (Not an easy thing to do)

Another way to achieve Direct Coupling would be to use a deep set mortise & tenon like a Centurion

 The rules to apply here are as follows;

1. The pickups need to be hard mounted to the actual neck wood.Quicksilver Guitar, Quilted Maple Top,

2. There must be no glue on the top of the deep set neck, and it must be a tight fit, there has to be a way for the bottom of the top plate to come into direct contact with the deep set neck.

3. The tenon must extend at least to where the bridge is located. There must be direct contact with the studs in the bridge through the top and into the deep set neck itself.

"Ultra-Tone DCK-1"  Direct Couple Kit  
Specify 1"    1"1/4   or  1" 1/2  For LSR Guitars they are 5 Bolt 
These kits come complete with hardened steel bolts and brass inserts.  Once installed correctly the tone & sustain of your guitar should increase noticeably.

Works really well on Fender Guitars, PRS Guitars or Tom Anderson, John Suhr, Original Charvel's, Wolfgang's, BC Rich, ESP, Ernie's Balls  etc etc

Direct Coupled Pickups

The Quicksilver pickup mounting system employs forcibly pressing the neck into the body mortise 
There is nothing between the pickup & the neck not even paint.


The heel of the neck is press fit tightly in the neck cavity
 So tightly you can actually pick up the guitar by the neck.

There is no paint or filler anywhere in the neck cavity.
Solid wood to wood mount.

Notice the lip on the Quicksilver neck on the right, the picture doesn't show the back lip very well but the body of the pickups is bolted down tightly so that it actually makes an indentation into the lip.  Full contact with the neck has simply got to sound better. The pickup will add mass and increase resonance. The laws of physics are absolute. The reason the tongue appears longer in the PRS neck is because that is the 22 fret neck and the Quicksilver in the picture is a 24 fret model.


Quicksilver Guitars, The worlds most versatile sounding guitar since 1999


 

Deep set neck tenon also makes for a good direct couple
Click Here


This Abstract Guitar is only partially direct coupled.
The neck is in super tight and the pickup is bolted directly to the body
But The Floyd Rose Speedloader Tremolo is floating.


Notice the shorter angled heel on the Quicksilver
The PRS Neck in this shot is the old original shorter one!!!
Read About The Newer Model PRS "Heel From Hell"


The Bridge

The Third Item To Consider When Designing A Direct Coupled Guitar

See Tone Pros Bridges

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