Glidetone inventions come from a passion for musical instruments and electronics. We love to invent things that lend to the creation of great sound and live performances. Basically the gear we want to play with. We are inspired by classic inventions and obsessed with how we can push them forward without losing their simplicity.
The Glidetone sliding pickup system is a fascinating innovation in the world of electric guitars. This system allows the pickups to slide along the body of the guitar, giving players the ability to adjust the pickup position on the fly. This means you can achieve a wide range of tones and sounds without having to switch guitars or pickups.
The sliding mechanism is designed to be smooth and easy to use, allowing for quick adjustments during a performance. This can be particularly useful for musicians who want to experiment with different sounds and styles, as it provides a level of versatility that traditional fixed pickups can't offer.
If you're interested in seeing the Glidetone system in action, you can check out a [demonstration video] It's a great way to get a feel for how this innovative system works and the kind of tonal variety it can bring to your music.
Glidetone Tube Amplifier Project - Totally customizable tube amp project that is built for flexibility.
 |
We don't think it's too much to ask for a tube amplifier to have all the following features... |
Expand your tonal dimensions with Glidetone sliding pickups
There are so many great playing electric guitars, but it's a shame that their tonal range is limited by the pickups being in fixed positions. Imagine if you could move your pickups to capture the different harmonics available along your strings. Enter the Glidetone sliding pickup system, which allows you to slide and rotate your pickups to multitudes of positions between the neck and bridge of your guitar.
Get a multitude of new tones at your fingertips. Not only do the sliding pickups provide infinite tonal variations but with the three push button switches or a four position blade switch and polarity switch you can get six distinct tone sets; Single Coil Neck, Single Coil Bridge, Parallel Humbucking, Series Humbucking, Parallel Phased, and Series Phased.
The schematics below show how to wire the pickups to take your electric guitar or bass sound from a bridge humbucker to a single coil neck - and everything in between.
Glidetone sliding pickup patent
There are five track colors to choose from...
• Antique Gold
• Silver
• Black
• Red
• Blue
One advantage to having only two single coil sliding pickups is the reduced magnetic pull on the strings as opposed to three single coil pickups or two humbuckers with four total coils. Reduced magnet pull on the strings can result in better sustain.
The other advantage to having two single coil sliding pickups is diverse switching options you can get with fairly simple wiring. With two DPDT (double-pole double-throw) or a single Fender 4-position Telecaster switch you can get single, parallel, and series coil configurations.
Adding one more DPDT switch to switch the polarity of one of the pickups will provide additional parallel-phased and series-phased configurations.
The schematics below show how these wiring configurations are done. There are three wiring options shown for the Fender 4-position Telecaster Pickup Selector Switch.
Fender 4-position Telecaster Pickup Selector Switch
Glidetone tube amplifier
We've had a lot of fun developing our Glidetone tube amplifier. Originally developed for electric guitar, this amplifier packs loads of features into a small but robust package. With the right customizations this amp works great for bass, harmonica, and other electric instruments as well.
So if you ever wanted to build a great sounding tube amp then take a look at the schematics and PCB layout below for more info.
Before you start building your own amp though, you should check out the Valve Wizard page for loads of great info about how to design and build tube amplifiers.
Glidetone Amp Cabinet Parts |
Glidetone Amp Schematic |
Glidetone Amp PCB |
Click images to enlarge.
Pay with your Credit Card or PayPal account:
 Click image to enlarge. |
Glidetone sliding pickup track with two pickup slides $175 |
Some of our Glidetone creations:
 Click image to enlarge. |
 Click image to enlarge. |
Indio Cali Classic guitar retrofit with Glidetone sliding pickups • Two single coil pickups. (8K Neck) (9K Bridge) • Custom pickguard • Gotoh 15:1 machine heads tuners • Controls and pickup cavity fully copper shielded • Push-on/off volume control switch enables pickup phase • Four position pickup switch 1 Neck 2 Neck+Bridge Parallel 3 Bridge 4 Neck+Bridge Series |
 Click image to enlarge. |
 Click image to enlarge. |
First Act Overtone guitar retrofit with Glidetone sliding pickups • Two single coil pickups (8K Neck) (9K Bridge) • Custom pickguard • Controls and pickup cavity fully copper shielded • Push-on/off tone control for standard tone or variable treble bleed control • Push-on/Push-off volume control switch enables pickup phase • Two push-button pickup switches 0-0 Neck+Bridge Parallel 1-0 Neck 0-1 Bridge 1-1 Neck+Bridge Series |
 Click image to enlarge. |
 Click image to enlarge. |
Ibanez GSR100 bass retrofit with Glidetone sliding pickups • Two Seymour Duncan single coil pickups • Controls and pickup cavity fully copper shielded • Three push-button pickup switches 0-0-0 Neck+Bridge Parallel 0-0-1 Neck+Bridge Parallel Phased 1-0-X Neck 0-1-X Bridge 1-1-0 Neck+Bridge Series 1-1-1 Neck+Bridge Series Phased |
 Click image to enlarge. |
 Click image to enlarge. |
Glidetone custom red oak body with sliding pickups • Two single coil pickups. (8K Neck) (9K Bridge) • Controls and pickup cavity fully copper shielded • Three push-button pickup switches 0-0-0 Neck+Bridge Parallel 0-0-1 Neck+Bridge Parallel Phased 1-0-X Neck 0-1-X Bridge 1-1-0 Neck+Bridge Series 1-1-1 Neck+Bridge Series Phased |