User:Blaisealan/Patch2000System

Often incorrectly referred to as the "Swede Patch 2000," Hagstrom's 'Patch 2000' System consisted of an analog synthsizer, foot controls, and a specially-designed guitar or bass - comprising the first production instrument with a built-in synthsizer interface. While Hagstrom's "Swede" model was used as the platform, price lists from the time (see insert), indicate that it was a separate product line. Ampeg's advanced electronics group was brought in to develop the guts of the system - which included wiring throughout the body and neck - transforming the instrument into a tone selector for the analog synth. Pressing the string to the fret completed the circuit and sent a separate, individual signal to the synthesizer, which could be blended - using the foot pedals - with the standard signals "picked up" by the instrument's coil-and-vibration electronics.

While innovative and very much "cutting edge" for its time, the Patch 2000 system was very expensive for the day, and the analog technology upon which it was based was basically dufunct with the introduction of modern digital technology. Still, the system remains a wonder of its age, with very few examples - and none of those still functional - remaining.