The Guitar With Unlimited Pickup Options | 2019 Somnium Vision | Review + Demo

[@Trog]

Rules + Download Link here: troglysguitarshow.com/2019/07/03/troglys-somnium-guitar-contest/ Playlist of All the Entries - kzbin.info/aero/PLeoEqQBb7GoYtnlz_eJJBdVG5bkEw6xLl&disable_polymer=true (If your entry isn't added by me to this playlist within 24 hours of uploading - please email me a link) This Contest is Open to Everyone! Good luck! Episode Guide: 0:05 - Contest Rules 2:08 - Somnium History 3:30 - Unboxing / First Impressions 7:36 - Inside Look / Specs 9:36 - How The Pickups Work 11:11 - Installing a New Pickup 13:23 - Inside Look Continued 14:52 - Tone Samples / Using It 21:36 - Somnium Signature Pickup 24:05 - Final Opinions 26:09 - Who is this Useful For 28:08 - Improvements I Would Suggest

[@Oliver-ex3cs]

Are we allowed to change the tempo of the track? also is there a set amount of entries per person?

[@DDE_ADDICT]

perfect studio guitar

[@ziggylayneable]

Please God no Glarry......

[@stepvanjoe3469]

C.C. Deville would be proud! Btw the royalty bill is in the mail. Now if an import model was created $750-$1000 if not made by Glarry, if Glarry was involved I would not pay more than $350-$450

[@joshualoveless20]

Heres my entry, thanks fpr the opportunity to win this Trogly! Keep on Rocking in the Free World! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gH6sdHaDaayWnLs

[@dextrodemon]

"it's called _The Vision_ but they should have given it a cooler name like ＬＯＧ"

[@gianpocopello]

Interesting guitar, what a practical tool for session musicians. And it's such an interesting tone by the lack of wood in the pickup area. I'm participating into this contest

[@jgodin312]

this is a pretty great concept, honestly, and the ability to put in your own pickups is a great part of the design that other ideas like this never got right

[@gordonpenny1842]

Really enjoyed the video thank you. Somnium, like you pointed out, is a young company and I believe they are in the precipice of becoming THE go-to guitar for most people. Sounds really good in all aspects and is visually striking in its own way. I would not hesitate to purchase one if I was in need of something different. Good luck to everyone in the competition. What a prize!! 😁

[@karelnohejl9133]

I have just uploaded my 3 entries, the tracks are nothing groundbreaking but I had so much fun with them...I LOVE summer guitar contests :)

[@TrollsAndScrolls]

Karel Nohejl me too

[@johnm3152]

The log is taken, maybe "The Plank"

[@johnm3152]

I've got a soft spot for fugly guitars. From Mosrites to Futuras [firebirds & Parker Fly's etc.]. The exceptionally functional, yet versatile ones. Shapes (plus woods varieties and/or composite materials) mean so little in modern electric guitars. Seems they went out of their way to design an ultra utilitarian (read:ugly) but pragmatic guitar. Glorious cosmetics were clearly not what the designers were looking for. I admire that. From a marketing stance, the neck could use cosmetic work, for 2 grand. Give us a 3 piece. This axe is basically a cobbled parts vessel for any (non-emulated) pup around. IDk, I enjoy the concept of plug & ,play electronics. Still could use a midi port ala' Godin. An internal effects loop would be so easy to employ as well. Modular extremus electronics. *Now I gotta submit ua crude demo and try to win this beast. I like longshots too. Sorry backyard BBQ gig rained out. Waiting on the call.

[@gavenc673]

@@johnm3152 how dare you call the parker fly fugly. The parker fly is the most magnificent guitar ever made.

[@gibsonphillips6347]

It's like that Swiss guitar everyone else is raving about (relish I think?) But you can personally swap in your own pickups instead of sending them out to the company to be fitted. Neat.

[@sohamsengupta6470]

This is definitely my favourite among the two... Sending things out to get em fitted would be a pain in the butt and also cost a ton. Plus this is even easier to swap than the Mary 1... That had a back which needed to be opened but this is just pull out and push in

[@richardsveum8452]

Kind of a Swiss army guitar if you think about it, a bunch of different tools in one convenient package.

[@JoeR203]

Around 2009 I came up with the idea of a guitar with interchangeable body parts so you can have a Steinberger GT, Les Paul, Flying V, Strat, SG and Telecaster bodies. I still have the diagram on an old computer that would have the date the file was created. I posted my idea in a guitar players chatroom on PalTalk. I wonder if someone ripped off my idea.

[@michaeladamcaira9174]

I like it alot,I'm a big Kahler fan,a bit pricey,and your right,the DiMarzio sounds great

[@jared305]

Waking up one day with this guitar: Hmm... I’m not feeling too EMG single coil, why not a Tele setup? And for the gig, I could throw in that EMG humbucker in the bridge.

[@wadeguidry6675]

I would like that 6 way toggle switch on a Les Paul for coil splitting and/or phase. It could be like Fender's S1 switching.

[@melvins1992]

You can buy one! They're known as a free-way switch, though I call them a six-speed switch.

[@ravecaster]

StewMac sells them.

[@alexandershugayev]

if soldering is not your thing then have somebody do it for you - I ruined one and then asked a pal to do the job with another one got.

[@wesleyAlan9179]

That axe really does look cool,like you said,its unique! Thanks Trogg!

[@ImBatman4u]

Thanks so much for the opportunity!!

[@calvinlee8103]

I love ugly guitars, this is great! The pickup swapping capability is so awesome; I want to enter the contest so if I win I can put a Tele bridge pickup in each position. Just trying out new combinations would be so much fun.

[@eti313]

Going through all the entries has been very interesting; everyone's personal take on what constitutes a riff, and and all the different approaches to accompanying the same rhythm has been mind expanding. I think I've grown as a musician/composer just by listening.

[@miamha]

i would adore something like this if i could afford one

[@UmVtCg]

Get a Relish

[@miamha]

@@UmVtCg lol mate i need tae save up for a £200 squier, nae chance am getting a relish

[@leroynance2855]

I'm definitely going to enter. That thing is pretty sweet looking

[@izzomctorro]

Good luck!

[@blastedmusic3812]

There are some really good entries! Would love to hear some more, jump in the pool!

[@leroynance2855]

the real legend kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3yWlqp-rLSYqZY Here's my entry if you wanted to see or cared. A little late but still on time

[@KaoswareMetal]

Really amazing guitar, I really hope I can get my hands on it ! Thanks for the contest and good luck to all the other participants !!

[@KaoswareMetal]

Great choice of hardware as well, I'm a huge fan of Kahler tremolo bridge so it's really cool to see this here :)

[@quetzal996]

Really interesting guitar. I personally only liked their signature pickup and the Dimarzio from your own collection. Glad you swapped it out with a more vintage pickup. I was a lot more skeptical before I heard that.

[@ronnieDshman18]

Woah, first time i’ve ever seen Troggly

[@MaxOstro]

I'm gonna try it!

[@scottbogfoot]

I don't like the guitar but I like the idea and I'm very impressed by the hardware used, they didn't cheap out in any way! Maybe some day I'll send you an original tune but not for a contest. They missed out on doing a very unique pickgaurd.

[@hkguitar1984]

Good Point. Some careful thought into a nice pickgaurd would go a long way to adding some beauty and hiding some of the clunky-ness of it's appearance.

[@eddiejr540]

EXCELLENT REVIEW....Trogly....all manufacturers should send their guitars to you to critique...absolute fantastic job...and your insight into improvements is almost sixth-sense like....and i love the way you tear things apart to see how they're made....AWESOME job....rock on my brother!!!!

[@ryanrogers8923]

Ok. So now I need this thing, I love the concept. But with a fresh surgery on my hand, no contest for me. I'll have to wait and buy one. And maybe lear how to play too!

[@ryanrogers8923]

Got it in one buddy

[@mikemadden2729]

My left wrist joint disintegrated & had to be removed, permanently ending guitar playing. I switched to pedal steel but I have to play that with a finger slide on my left thumb & an amputated left foot & a prosthesis. It's that or nothing at all! The left wrist was broken in 1966 but held together for 50 years.

[@marcusvarella2945]

Man, it's genious! What a great idea and project. Really amazing. Who said electric guitar doesn't allow further development

[@lukeabrahamsen-collins6115]

I'm so exited to try this! Thanks so much for this awesome opportunity. I subscribed btw.

[@shawndavis5725]

Can't wait to make some riffs for the contest! That guitar is the coolest thing for a pickup collector.

[@Racquetballerkevin]

That "Log" grew on me throughout the video, i kinda like the look now.

[@BenRobsonMusic]

Just uploaded my entry...really enjoying hearing all the creative ideas people had for this contest!

[@eesh.ash.]

Far out it is a beast. Totally get what you mean about being a log. But freakin' great loophole for exceeding my guitar limit I've been given

[@filippodeboni5261]

I love the swapping system, you have a lot of pickup combinations!

[@joshualoveless20]

I wish I would have read the rules and made more than one enty! Oh well! Good luck to everyone and thank you Trogly, for the Opportunity to win this amazing looking Guitar!

[@try_altf4422]

Love the idea of easy to swap pickups.

[@awhsick5525]

That's one of the most wicked guitars I've ever seen, mostly whenever I think of a guitar is just the same pickup/model but no; It has transformers abilities!

[@richardsveum8452]

Love it, It looks like an extremely versatile guitar. Instead of carrying around a tour pack with a half dozen guitars a couple of those, a primary and a backup could handle most tour duties. Throw an acoustic into the mix and you have all bases covered.

[@e.scotthancock664]

we cant wait to enter the contest

[@lunaleonem3378]

The idea of the pickups is really good. Makes easy to get a lot of different sounds.

[@ivanvicente9633]

The 6 way toggle switch just blew my mind

[@jamesgarcia7034]

Yeah, funny, I've never heard it mentioned, seems like a great way to quickly get more sounds...

[@matdee2116]

Good luck to everyone in this Contest. Remember its all in fun win or lose.

[@guyfromnj]

It's nice to see a American company innovating. The idea itself is fantastic. I agree with a lot of trogly's points. 1600 is a bit too much for me. If they started at 900-1000 I would probably be interested but for 1600 bucks I could get a lp studio or a American fender. Ibanez prestige too. It's hard to justify the cost just for the ability to play around with pickups. I mean honestly once you mess around a bit your gonna settle on a pickup combo you like and that will be that for the most part. Unless you have a legitimate reason to swap. For a session or something but idk. I will say that the import idea is a good one but hopefully it will be a world music type factory out of Korea instead of China. I doubt glarry would do this design justice.

[@TSoneonetwo]

I agree, you could have three different guitars, three different shapes, different wood choices, hard tail and tremolo, locking nut, different tunings, and more. all for less than 1600. the idea of one guitar doing it all is a fool's errand.

[@michaelangeloclaudiadarrig4221]

Im reminded of the Dan Armstrong guitars of the 70's. Very intriguing. Thanks

[@kadenisgr8]

the next episode of cooking with kaden will feature a full tutorial on how to cook and eat this instrument.

[@lukeabrahamsen-collins6115]

can we speed up the backing track by any chance?

[@rizzhizzle2695]

About to post my video! Thanks for the chance! Look at my setup, this is exactly what I want haha. Good luck everyone! I hope your audio quality is better than mine.

[@joshuahartman1821]

I am absolutely IN LOVE with this thing. Looks like it plays like a dream!

[@Aarlog]

The only design choice I'm gonna question is why they went with the Hipshot UMP system on a brand new production guitar rather than just screwing the tuners straight into the headstock. That seems a little odd to me.

[@colesnyder7821]

This guitar is actually so cool like you could have one body and play a tele, strat, Les Paul, and so much more its crazy.

[@orvilfarley7861]

appears to me like the only benefit we're expecting from this is the modular features of exchanging pickups? I'm waiting on the Boaz One modular. Do a video on that one PLEASE! Not in production as of yet but looks to me like the Boaz is gonna have much more bang for the buck.

[@supertravdoggy]

I started designing a guitar just like that years ago, I drew plans but never built it. Magnetic hot swap pickup contacts but mine had a swappable control section and a magnetic cord connector.

[@markkozielec2200]

I’m happy you limited it to 3 entries. I was ready to write one for every day😂🤣. Thanks again, for the great contest, and awesome channel

[@Trog]

Once I had the playlist idea - I had to impose some sort of limit haha

[@TheJeffcurran]

This is one of the most innovative guitars that I have seen in may years. Realy cool concept.

[@clarkbabin9799]

This guitar reminds me of some of the guitars that the guy on Guns and Guitars builds. This is really nice.

[@Will.Schnicke]

I agree with the assesment of who this guitar is for: people who want to test pickups. Honestly doesn't make much sense to really need to swap pickups that much when you should really find what works for you and run with it. That said, I would love to have one, since it's wild and unique and I do love testing pickups!

[@DeadShred9]

I would like to see all Guitar companies go to that plug in style pickup function no more soldering making it easy for those of us who have the ability to swap out pups , but dont wanna buy all the tools this makes to much sense in this day and age !!!

[@triplesevensix291]

You know Austin means biz when he's wearing his MC Hammer trousers!! Lol. ;)

[@gordonpenny1842]

His baggy shorts! Lol

[@joseislanio8910]

I'll try to come up with a riff. Loved the idea of this guitar

[@samphd6461]

I posted my entry 3 days ago and waited for it to show in the playlist. It never showed up but I sent it to you yesterday. 🤷‍♂️

[@sonsauvage]

They really should consider comfort carving the body, extending the cutaways, and shortening the body length though I know the electronics system makes that tough. That would really make this a more visually striking instrument but I love the concept regardless. Kind of reminds me of the US Masters guitars. And really, it is it's own thing.

[@no_sleep_yx3]

I’m gonna do this wish me luck boys!

[@izzomctorro]

Good luck!!

[@kongandbasses8732]

The Block reminds me to a MusicMan Albert Lee. This came to my mind because I owned a Big Al 5 Bass in SSS configuration.

[@richardbinder9662]

You beat me to it. Yes, almost exactly.

[@hkguitar1984]

You nailed it, sure does look like an Albert Lee MM.

[@xXblueflamesNBZ]

For sure gonna do this!

[@davegreeley]

The more I watch the more I am liking the concept. Interesting.

[@jordanmayer5932]

I really really like their signature pickup in coordination with the gain. Nice sounding, and like you said a good break up. Nice classic rock pup

[@Guitaraffinity2023]

This guitar is amazing good luck to everyone who takes part in the contest :D

[@robbyclark6915]

I never enter contests just because it’s really hard to win anything, but.......that guitar is soooo cool I absolutely have to at least try to get my hands on it. And if I don’t win I’ve found the next guitar I’m in the market for. I am loving that guitar. Btw, as far as an import model: no thanks!

[@alten2122]

Looks similar to the body shape Tim Sway does with his reclaimed wood guitars.

[@YTOxygenLess]

Eyyyy a fellow Tim sway viewer!

[@saarjochum9349]

tbh at first I thought this was one of his vids, till I saw the brand

[@tavicotavio]

Thats the ugliest guitar i have ever seen i need it

[@Trog]

You have my vote haha

[@tavicotavio]

@@Trog already working on my entry

[@tavicotavio]

@@Trog its done

[@williamgainford9332]

fucking brilliant lol

[@MaxNafeHorsemanship]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. OK, it's ugly, but I would own it.

[@jerryfraker377]

That guitar is seriously cool. Amazing Tones! Really like there humbucker pickup that uses the gain control. Great demonstration Trogly. Pretty authentic there somnium. I like being made in usa.

[@somniumguitars858]

We like being made in the USA too. God bless America and have a great Independence Day!

[@wilhelmtheconquerer6214]

A perfect guitar for session musicians and pickup demos!

[@victorhugobednarczuk2987]

One nice idea to play with would be to put some kind of video recording device (even a phone would work) on these "holes", i wonder what could be done with that.

[@lichkrieg4898]

My early 2000's bc rich bronze series may not sound jaw dropping, but it plays damn good. Especially since I beat it mercilessly.

[@johnm3152]

They should really have a midi interface option

[@tavicotavio]

Now that would be a real mess of a tone demo

[@ResoBridge]

They may deal with this in some way, but those top plates look like fairly thick aluminium. It is generally not a good idea to mount single coil pickups in metal plates because the plate acts as a shorted single turn around the pickup. Induced eddy currents damp the pickup response causing it to lose output and sound muffled. You can get away with thin plates and may even find that a touch of this effect improves the pickup sound. Thicker plates above 1mm or so are usually not a good idea. This is not a problem with humbuckers because the effective shorted turn is around the outside of both of the coils. The effect can be defeated by making a cut through one side of the plate to open circuit the turn.

[@somniumguitars858]

The aluminum plates are thick because we want those cartridges to be durable. Players are going to drop them now and again or knock them off of their amp, so we need them to be solid. We haven't found any dampening effect or muffled sound on single coil pickups, and we've tried quite a few. There is a KZbin video of famed producer Joel Hamilton playing one of our guitars with a variety of single coil pickups and it sounds fantastic. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpS7fXWZfqijfbc

[@bee-ex2cs]

the somnium pickup sounded really good

[@Sabrinathefishinggirl]

I like the gear shifter. Manual transmission.

[@joshualoveless20]

I would have called it the Transformer or The Clone, or The Mimic, Because you can transform its sound into any brand of Guitar out there.

[@oxygenriot7805]

I entered right at the end wire! Hopefully it gets accepted into the judging!

[@benoitducon9851]

Why he doesn't talk about the bridge, i think it's a kahler trémolo ? It's very interesting bridge so why he loses his demo like this ?

[@KYSMO]

Wow, what a great concept! Not that unique, but this seems like the best result so far. I would love to test them.

[@spinnywise]

I just uploaded a last-minute riff entry. This should be fun!

[@helenarose4294]

That's honestly the most coolest way to build a guitar.

[@valkyriesaddlebreds2806]

Haven’t seen a guitar I wanted this bad since the Would You Rock Or Not Green SG currently sitting in my man cave back home.

[@McOuroborosBurger]

Imo they should do the headstock lacquer up to where the playing part of the neck starts like a music man.

[@jeffaguilar4790]

Trogman, that's a beautiful guitar. You've got Les Paul vision bias. It sounded great. I think it's also good for those us us who like to tinker with things.

[@mhsandifer]

That's why neck pickups should stay in the neck position

[@gryzew]

There's no such thing as a "neck pickup". In a modern high gain set a neck pickup is stronger than a vintage bridge pickup. A neck pickup is a neck pickup when matched with a bridge pickup so there's a desired volume balance between them. Strings vibrate less near the bridge so the bridge pickup needs to be stronger for them to balance out. More coil windings remove a little bit of treble (of which there's a lot near the bridge) and emphasize mids and bass, which is why the bridge pickup of a set can be overwound in comparison to the neck pickup, they also balance out tonally better. There's also sometimes the question of polepiece spacing (ie. in a guitar 50mm can be more in line near the neck, 52mm near the bridge) or magnet polarity for hum-less operation in some positions, but vintage pickups didn't care about neither of these aspects -- same polepiece spacing and same coil polarity for singles. Know why things are the way they are usually, but don't be afraid to experiment. If you play country or Rolling Stones style rhythm but want to play leads with a fat saturated sound, there's no reason not to have a vintage low output pickup in the bridge but and an overpowering boomy high gain pickup in the neck.

[@gryzew]

Also when he mounted that particular pickup with that switching assembly, it was extremely close to the bridge, closer than the bridge pickup normally on the treble strings side. Any single coil that close to the bridge will sound thin and nasal. An inch further towards the neck it would play with less output than near the in the neck position but still reasonably alright.

[@hkguitar1984]

A neck through visual would go a long way as far as improving the looks, some of their other models do use this visual design concept. As for import models, yeah sure. I think having a lower price point for entry level would allow more people to try them. The more people that try them you'll have more people that might someday upgrade to a more expensive Domestic manufactured instrument. Lots of possibilities with this guitar and it's very interesting. Out of all the different styles they currently offer the one reviewed has the least inspiring design, in my opinion, it's also the most original design.

[@paulshort9381]

This would be a good option for the growing number of people out there who are building their own home recording studios. Instead of having to invest in a bunch of guitars just get one of these and you have a ton of hot-swappable tonal options in one platform. $1600 - $3k may seem like a premium for a slab of wood but that's low compared to the $10k+ you'd have to spend to have several guitar and pickup options available for recording clients. Not a bad idea.

[@Ogrelord5150]

Ok, I missed what the model or name of the DiMarzio pickup used. That sucker sounds awesome, thinking of getting it for one of my guitars.

[@gregorybarnier709]

Hey. I love the way it looks. Cool shape. That wood is beautiful.

[@AMSOfficial79]

Heck yeah... I'll submit something for sure!

[@joshualoveless20]

I love the shape of that Guitar.

[@ethanballard7627]

I came across a thing called an "Epiphone Jupiter", never seen it before, and it kinda looks like a Jackson. I hope you'll be able to review one soon.

[@guruzini1971]

that is the AXL jacknife mayhem headstock

[@shaunw9270]

Something about the shape looks familiar .. the 1960's Electro / Rickenbacker kit guitar body style? Very well executed concept , much more convenient than Dan Armstrong's slide in pickup guitars of the late 60's too. I like it and hats off to the guy for wanting all American parts & construction. All that considered, is $1600 expensive for such a leap forward in versatility combined with quality ?

[@andrewt369]

Totally gonna enter. That's a sick guitar!

[@siircodyy]

Great idea, I'll be getting in on this.

[@Dallen9]

if they made an overseas version at $500 - $700 for a base model they'd rule the world. Get the Pickup cases to about $50 for the single pickups and then $150 for the Triple combinations(no pickups included) then add a discounted rate for the preinstalled pickups in the cases. The only thing I can think is missing in that exact Guitar is coil splitting capability. Cause Everyone wants a solid American made guitar but they need to make the money first so having a cheap entry is paramount. And a single cut Les paul Tribute in the mix is also handy to add to the roaster.

[@hkguitar1984]

I agree, a cheaper overseas version and I might try it. I'm not gonna pay $1600 for a guitar that has a scarf-joint in the neck. The money they are saving with the scarf-joint manufacturing isn't much. At least paint the neck a solid color if they must manufacture it with the scarf-joint. Here I go again Arm-Chair quarterbacking!

[@somniumguitars858]

This guitar (and all of our guitars) do have coil-splitting capability, we could easily add the switches. There simply wasn't enough time in this review to cover everything out guitars are capable of, features like the ability to run active and passive pickups simultaneously (can have one of each). In fact he was playing a mixture of active and passive in the demo.

[@hkguitar1984]

​@@somniumguitars858 Very interesting. When I didn't see the coil tap option mentioned I went straight to the website as I figured these guitars would have to have them considering they are built to accommodate different pickups. I give you a lot of credit for the design as the resistance of the potentiometers required for single coil verses humbucking pickups are critical to the guitars voicing. Good Job in that department.

[@shaft9000]

Awesome concept, and some nice jangley crunch sounds. Rather drab cleans, though. I have the same amp. My guess is that our esteemed Sir Trogly may not have dialed in a good level into the pre to get any of the 'boogie bounce'. So this *might* be why it was only able to give that underwhelming 'flat strat' clean sound here.... also would hope that the top pickup face-plate could be optioned with a headstick-matched wood laminate over the metal :)

[@somniumguitars858]

The tones in the video were not as representative of the guitar's true sound as we would have liked. Producer Joel Hamilton plays one of our Tele-style models in a Nashville studio and you can hear the different tones much better. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpS7fXWZfqijfbc

[@tonegeek1962]

Great idea for a contest! I'm in!