7 ms·

On a side note, think how conservative music world is, if people are still manufacturing and successfully sell guitar designed in 50s. You can probably take a 5

On a side note, think how conservative music world is, if people are still manufacturing and successfully sell guitar designed in 50s. You can probably take a 50s guitar and connect to a modern amp, or take a modern guitar and connect to a 50s amp and it will work. Compare this, for example, to smartphone chargers or headphones and their compatibility.

sampo 3mo ago
> You can probably No need for "probably". That absolutely works.
- Rendello 3mo ago
  "Who says you need to buy a guitar?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_F7aiOvdwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_F7aiOvdwE (technically a "diddley bow": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow)
vitally3643 3mo ago
Smartphone chargers had legitimate reason to change. Higher power, faster data, and we learned the hard way that micro usb and all the proprietary connectors before it were fundamentally physically flawed. Audio hasn't changed at all in the last two centuries. An analog audio signal is fundamental physics and there's nothing to gain or change or improve in any meaningful sense. TRS/phono jacks likewise are just so brute force stupid and rugged that there was never a reason to change. The connectors and interfaces never changed because the underlying signals never changed because there's nothing to change. Digial electronics on the other hand legitimately have gone through real and worthwhile changes, and been radically redefined many times in the last 60 years.
- wink 3mo ago
  Mini USB was clunky, but how was it flawed? Unless you count data transfer rates as physical. Never seen one break.
nemomarx 3mo ago
why would the connector need to change? nothing has come out that's really better for analog signals
- zokier 3mo ago
  xlr?
  - recursive 3mo ago
    It's not really better. And no, it's not inherently balanced. TRS can carry a balanced signal. I've seen a mixer that had TRS balanced mono outputs.
- vitally3643 3mo ago
  I do find it hilarious that the phono jack appeared fully formed and hasn't changed in a hundred years. We got the smaller flavors of TRS sure, but the big honking quarter inch phono jack has stayed exactly the same. Perfect design in one go, no notes.
  - kevin_thibedeau 3mo ago
    They were originally ball-ended. Some refinement has happened.
- jcarrano 3mo ago
  If signals were based on low impedance current loops as opposed to voltage-based like they are today, interference could be much reduced. This would break phantom power, so power to preamps would have to be send through another set of conductors, which would make the design of the electronics easier as well as safer. Of course, none of this will ever happen.
BigTTYGothGF 3mo ago
Consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius
- analog31 3mo ago
  As an amusing aside, Stradivarius could not have known how his fiddles would sound today. Most of them have been modernized, with new necks and bass bar, and some other tweaks. Most are played with metal or synthetic strings, and modern bows.
quickthrowman 3mo ago
Sometimes engineers find the optimal or near optimal design early on in the life of a technology. Jet airplanes haven’t changed much since the 1960s.
HardwareLust 3mo ago
Oh yeah, you can plug a guitar made in the 50's to an amp that was made yesterday and vice versa with zero issues.
ben7799 3mo ago
This is completely true, and there's a good reason. Almost everything anyone has tried to do to modernize electric guitars in a non-compatible way has had big downsides. Almost any guitar with a pre-amp or whatever built into it that would allow it to use a cable like an XLR cable ends up needing batteries in the guitar, which then introduce a maintenance/failure point. And very often efforts to introduce this stuff haven't sounded great. The only place this has kind of changed is super high gain guitars for metal. They are more likely to use active pickups, they'll have a battery, but they still use standard cabling for compatibility. Anything that is modernized ends up being more expensive and harder to work on yourself. A basic guitar like a Strat or Tele has incredibly simple electronics and is super easy for any guitar player to learn to fix themselves, and most of the parts inside are super cheap. And it all just works really well. And the audience never cares, they care about the notes you choose to play and the message the musician cares to get across.

sampo 3mo ago

> You can probably No need for "probably". That absolutely works.

Rendello 3mo ago
"Who says you need to buy a guitar?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_F7aiOvdwE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_F7aiOvdwE (technically a "diddley bow": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diddley_bow)

vitally3643 3mo ago

Smartphone chargers had legitimate reason to change. Higher power, faster data, and we learned the hard way that micro usb and all the proprietary connectors before it were fundamentally physically flawed. Audio hasn't changed at all in the last two centuries. An analog audio signal is fundamental physics and there's nothing to gain or change or improve in any meaningful sense. TRS/phono jacks likewise are just so brute force stupid and rugged that there was never a reason to change. The connectors and interfaces never changed because the underlying signals never changed because there's nothing to change. Digial electronics on the other hand legitimately have gone through real and worthwhile changes, and been radically redefined many times in the last 60 years.

wink 3mo ago
Mini USB was clunky, but how was it flawed? Unless you count data transfer rates as physical. Never seen one break.

nemomarx 3mo ago

why would the connector need to change? nothing has come out that's really better for analog signals

zokier 3mo ago
xlr?
- recursive 3mo ago
  It's not really better. And no, it's not inherently balanced. TRS can carry a balanced signal. I've seen a mixer that had TRS balanced mono outputs.
vitally3643 3mo ago
I do find it hilarious that the phono jack appeared fully formed and hasn't changed in a hundred years. We got the smaller flavors of TRS sure, but the big honking quarter inch phono jack has stayed exactly the same. Perfect design in one go, no notes.
- kevin_thibedeau 3mo ago
  They were originally ball-ended. Some refinement has happened.
jcarrano 3mo ago
If signals were based on low impedance current loops as opposed to voltage-based like they are today, interference could be much reduced. This would break phantom power, so power to preamps would have to be send through another set of conductors, which would make the design of the electronics easier as well as safer. Of course, none of this will ever happen.

BigTTYGothGF 3mo ago

Consider: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius

analog31 3mo ago
As an amusing aside, Stradivarius could not have known how his fiddles would sound today. Most of them have been modernized, with new necks and bass bar, and some other tweaks. Most are played with metal or synthetic strings, and modern bows.

quickthrowman 3mo ago

Sometimes engineers find the optimal or near optimal design early on in the life of a technology. Jet airplanes haven’t changed much since the 1960s.

HardwareLust 3mo ago

Oh yeah, you can plug a guitar made in the 50's to an amp that was made yesterday and vice versa with zero issues.

ben7799 3mo ago

This is completely true, and there's a good reason. Almost everything anyone has tried to do to modernize electric guitars in a non-compatible way has had big downsides. Almost any guitar with a pre-amp or whatever built into it that would allow it to use a cable like an XLR cable ends up needing batteries in the guitar, which then introduce a maintenance/failure point. And very often efforts to introduce this stuff haven't sounded great. The only place this has kind of changed is super high gain guitars for metal. They are more likely to use active pickups, they'll have a battery, but they still use standard cabling for compatibility. Anything that is modernized ends up being more expensive and harder to work on yourself. A basic guitar like a Strat or Tele has incredibly simple electronics and is super easy for any guitar player to learn to fix themselves, and most of the parts inside are super cheap. And it all just works really well. And the audience never cares, they care about the notes you choose to play and the message the musician cares to get across.