I was playing with this guy the other day, and his guitar (a strat) had a built in drum machine. I didn't want to ask him a million quesions and look like a fool infront of 6 ppl so i bit my tongue and thought i would ask the brain trust here. Anyone ever seen or hear of this, was it factory or aftermarket? It was in the lower corner between the input jack and the end of the body it had 2 or 3 knobs and a big white button you could hit like mid strum. Anyways just thouhgt i would ask, any info is great.

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"Up and down that road in our wornout shoes talkin bout good things and singin' the blues"-SRV

Well, personally I've never heard of a stock Fender coming with built in effects...with one acception; The Roland Ready Strats. Did this person have the guitar going in to a Roland foot controller of some kind? If it is a Roland Ready, that means that it's MIDI capable and you can get basically any sound out of it you want (with a MIDI controller of course).

Now if that wasn't the case, it's kind of hard to say. I do know that a number of companies (especially Cort I think) had made some guitars back in the 80's and such with built in effects but I don't recall Fender being one of them...it was mostly your cheaper brands. Most of them were pretty....errr...junky. Gimmick thing really. Most of them burned out pretty quick...not exactly quality effects units. I also know that I've seen one or two after-market "micro" plug in effects over the years...basically you plug it in to your guitar jack and plug your cable in to the effect and there's a micro switch to turn it on and off. Never tried one of these myself but I've heard they are also not really all that great and either way I've never heard of one as a drum machine.

That said, unless someone around here comes up with something better, it really could be anything. With the revolution in micro-miniaturization and all of the "digital" effects out there now a days, it could have just been something the person added himself.

Lastly I will say, the next time you run in to something like this, -ASK-! I really don't think there's any shame at all in saying "hey...what is that?". Personally I've been playing for close to 30 years and I know that I certainly don't know everything (although I may come off sounding otherwise around these forums, LOL!)...if I see something unfamiliar to me, I ask...after all, ya never know until you ask! If nothing else, I'd rather be an "informed" fool as apposed to being an ignorant fool simply because I was afraid of what others might think. -NEVER- be afraid to ask questions .

Peace,
Jim

lomitus is dead on, I also would of just said hey what ya got in there-end of story. Believe me if you add up all the years of experience on the forum that is something probably 90% of us could not give a definitive answer to what it was. Not like you were asking hey what is that plastic thing you are striking the strings with.lol

I've never heard of a built in drum machine in any guitar.

Could it have been his amp (or mixer to amp) with a drum machine
and he was just joking with you?

As mentioned, you should have asked. That's not a dumb question.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

If you can fit it in you can have it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeU6RbfC-S8

Drum machine would be good for Pseudo Echo songs.

I have one of those multi-processing footpedals that also comes with a drum machine

great for making riffs and stuff, just wish it had a loop so I can work on soloing and improv more.

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Kid: "Hey Smokey! Where did you get your name?"
Smokey the Bear: "Well..."
(former user jimbo612)

It wasn't a roland ready or his amp it was all controled by knobs and one button on the front of his guitar. I am playing with some of the same guys Monday evening and will hopefully get all the details. Thanks for all the help and ideas though.

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"Up and down that road in our wornout shoes talkin bout good things and singin' the blues"-SRV

i agree with the others. you should ask questions. i like when someone asks me a question and i can actually help them. i'm sure this guy would feel the same way. being old and crusty, i've never seen anything like this. you can bet i would have said something like this. "hey dude, what the heck is that"? with a southern drawl of course.