wireless guitar audio transmitter/reciever

 by garagegenius
IMAG0149.jpg
I've played guitar for a long time and ive always loathed all of these cords. I'd seen these wireless transmitters but they're always more than I'd like to spend so when i had a revelation on how to make one for $30 i just had to share it with the world.
 
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Step 1: Get the supplies

IMAG0147.jpg
you will need only a few things
1. a pair of cheap walkie talkies that dont have a timeout but do have noise cancelling
2.a guitar cord of decent length
3. a soldering iron/solder
4. universal screwdriver
5. knife
6. donut of your choosing
7. and, of course, DUCT TAPE
pogodike200!!! says: Jan 21, 2013. 9:34 AM
and the sound , is great ??
lllbenjolll says: Jan 6, 2013. 9:48 PM
Can I use 3.5mm for mp3 wireless instead of 1.4 jack? Ty
Trike Lover says: May 2, 2012. 9:01 AM
Interesting build. Another method of getting a "wireless" connection for your guitar is to use one of the cheap FM transmitters made to plug into IPods, etc. If you get one that just has the 1/8" stereo plug, just add an adapter - 1/8" stereo female to 1/4" male mono. Plug the 1/4" plug into the guitar. Set the FM IPod transmitter to a clear frequency. Turn on your stereo, set to FM radio, and find the signal being broadcast by the little transmitter. Presto! You new have a wireless connection from your guitar to your stereo system. Only problem that occurs is if your guiltar pickups have very low output, then there's not enough signal to drive the transmitter. There's probably a way around that already posted on here, about how to use a pocket mp3 player as a practice headphone amp. If you put that between the guitar and the transmitter, there will be plenty of signal to broadcast to your stereo system (naturally it helps if you have a decent stereo system). Worked for me; YMMv.
Trike Lover
garagegenius (author) in reply to Trike LoverJun 14, 2012. 12:47 PM
theres a good idea, ill have to try it, thanks.
thegeeke says: Jan 18, 2012. 7:16 PM
Will it work? Yes it will. Will it sound good enough to use for live use? Nope. 2-way radios are not meant to handle the frequencies that guitars use, they are meant to handle voices, and they don't even do that good for voice. Good concept, and if you are just building for fun, that's great, but don't try to use it for a concert or anything like that. Also, in the US, using this is borderline illegal. Not sure about elsewhere. Good idea, but I wouldn't waste my money, since you wouldn't be able to make it sound good. Save up and get an AKG wireless guitar system if you do any type of performance. (and for recording, don't use wireless even if you have a good system!)
garagegenius (author) in reply to thegeekeJan 19, 2012. 1:37 PM
First off you can use the noise canceller on any decent radio or any fx pod to cancelled it. Or you can just play metal. And I can see no way in which this is illegal. I his replaced a Mic with a guitar and a speaker with my amp.
thegeeke in reply to garagegeniusJan 19, 2012. 2:06 PM
The noise isn't what I'm talking about. It's the frequency range that the radios transmit. (I suppose that if you are playing heavy metal, then the distortion doesn't matter... you really can't make it sound any worse in my opinion.) This would not work for any other type of music, and you are really stretching it for even for heavy metal. I'm not saying that the process you did with it is illegal, it's what you are using it for. And that is borderline illegal. Reason being, as long as you are using that channel, no one else can. This could be construed as "harmful interference". If you are a consumer in the US, using consumer equipment, you are bound by part 15 of the FCC rules and regulations which states that "your device cannot produce any harmful interference, and it must accept any interference received." Now are you going to get in trouble? Probably not unless someone complains. Even then, any decent lawyer could get you out of it, but personally, for the quality you are getting out of that, I don't think it's worth the risk. By the time you pay for lawyer fees or a FCC fine, you could get a couple really nice wireless guitar sets.

In terms of quality, I do professional audio, so I am a perfectionist when it comes to audio. From my point of view, the audio coming from this would sound like c***, but from my point of view audio coming from "Beats" headphones sounds like c***, so I guess most consumers don't have a very high expectation for their audio. :(
jman 31 says: Jan 18, 2012. 4:44 AM
Nice job!
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