Wireless switching system for musical instruments and related methods

A method for wirelessly configuring a multi-position switch system for stringed musical instruments, comprising:

• providing a multi-position switch device configured for installation on a stringed musical instrument having a plurality of pickups mounted thereupon, the multi-position switch device having:
• a selector movable between a plurality of positions, each position establishing a portion of a signal pathway from pickup inputs to an output, the selector operable by a user to effect a change in the electrical signal pathway between the pickup inputs and the output;
• a multiplexer configured to provide multiple configurable signal pathways between the pickup inputs and the output;
• a control unit having a processor in data communication with a memory unit and a wireless communications unit, the control unit configured to determine the active signal pathway through the multiplexer;
• inputting pickup configuration data related to the wiring configuration that determines sound output of the pickups mounted on the stringed musical instrument into a computer system, the pickup configuration data comprising:
• selector position data that indicates the current position of the multi-position switch system in which the selector is positioned;
• pickup location data that indicates the location of each pickup mounted on the stringed musical instrument for the indicated selector position;
• and
• wiring configuration data for each pickup mounted on the stringed musical instrument at the indicated selector position;
• interacting, with a computer system providing, on a display device, an interactive presentation of the pickup locations and wiring configurations for each pickup for the indicated selector position, to:
• select a pickup at a particular location for the indicated selector position, and
• change the wiring configuration for the selected pickup for the indicated selector position;
• and
• wirelessly communicating the selected wiring configurations for the indicated selector position of the multi-position switch device to the control unit of the multi-position switch device so that the control unit effects a change of the active signal pathway through the multiplexer to implement the selected wiring configuration;
• wherein the interactive presentation includes a set of selectable color-coded display icons presented on a touch screen user interface of the display device, each of the selectable color-coded display icons representing a single coil of a pickup in a pickup location and configured to visually communicate to the user a phase setting of the represented coil in the selected wiring configuration, and
• wherein each display icon in the set of selectable color-coded display icons is configured to respond to a touch interaction with a user's finger such that a single tap of one display icon in the set of selectable color-coded display icons causes a change in the pickup configuration on the user's stringed musical instrument.

A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

• establishing a wireless data connection between a user's computing device and a multi-position switch device mounted on a stringed instrument, the multi-position switch device having a control unit comprising a processor, a memory unit, and a wireless communications unit;
• receiving pickup configuration data that is input by the user and related to the wiring configuration that determines sound output of pickups mounted on the user's stringed musical instrument, the pickup configuration data comprising:
• pickup location on the user's stringed instrument for a given selector position selected by the user;
• and
• wiring configuration for a given pickup at a given selector position selected by the user;
• providing, on a display device, an interactive presentation of the pickup locations and selected wiring configurations for each pickup for each selector position;
• and
• wirelessly communicating the user-selected pickup configuration data for each selector position of the multi-position switch device to the control unit of the multi-position switch device so that the control unit effects one or more signal pathways through the multi-position switch device to implement the user-selected wiring configurations;
• wherein the interactive presentation includes a set of selectable color-coded display icons presented on a touch screen user interface of the display device, each of the selectable color-coded display icons representing a single coil of a pickup in a pickup location and configured to visually communicate to the user a phase setting of the represented coil in the selected wiring configuration, and
• wherein each display icon in the set of selectable color-coded display icons is configured to respond to a touch interaction with a user's finger such that a single tap of one display icon in the set of selectable color-coded display icons causes a change in the pickup configuration on the user's stringed instrument.