Katayama Guitar | Developing innovative Electric Acoustic Guitar

This project is carried out in response to the Gifu Prefecture Regional Revitalization Fund project cost.

独自技術SMPUシステム搭載

Surface Mount Pick Up System Natural Sound

Guitar players all over the world are excited by this Acoustic Sound Enhancer.

Acoustic Sound Enhancer

Our original Surface Mount Pick Up (SMPU) technology creates the most natural sound ever heard.

Pick up devices are conventionally placed under the saddle (Under Saddle Pick Up (USPU)). The SMPU system however creates a totally different sound by placing it on the surface of the guitar body to reproduce the genuine natural sound when plugged in.

Steel strings guitar SMPU Steel strings guitar SMPU

Surface Mount Pick Up System Features of SMPU What’s SMPU system

1

By placing a piezoelectric pickup device on the bridge of a guitar instead of under the saddle, it creates an electronically reproduced sound that is very close to the natural sound, as the vibrations from plucking the strings are transmitted by air.

2

Because a conventional pickup is placed under the saddle and enclosed inside the bridge, the reproduced sound is affected by the strings’ vibration and echoes inside the body of the guitar. As with the USPU, the SMPU uses the tension of the strings to fix the pickup device, however, as it is attached to the surface, it mainly picks up the sound character the guitar creates outside the body. Also there is only a minimal time lag between the natural sound and the reproduced sound.

3

You can’t avoid adjusting the saddle, so simply changing strings can cause a contact failure within USPU devices. This problem rarely occurs with the SMPU system.

4

Conventional pickup devices are placed under one saddle (sometimes divided into two pieces) so that the 6 strings are touching 6 pickup elements separately. This causes the saddle to be pulled forward by the tension of the strings, making the supporting surface less stable and results in a poorer quality of reproduced sounds. The SMPU system allows it to gain a good volume balance corresponding to each string, and replicates the sound of an acoustic guitar.

Surface Mount Pick Up System Product Lineup SMPU mounted Guitars

Ground-breaking idea creates uncompromising sound

Product Lineup SMPUシステム搭載ギターラインナップ 製品ラインナップ SMPU開発秘話 SMPU生産工程

Our products were introduced on the channel of Iwahashi Music Academy.

KE -13model|105,000yen
Play by HIRO

<About "9notes"> E-mail:9notes@huni.enat.jp TEL:0573273246
Owner:Susumu Katsuta Add:1538-1 Kasagicho Kerokubo,Ena-shi, Gifu-ken 509-7209 Japan

【MV】Katayamaguitar

NATSUKAGE / HIRO

ICO / HIRO

SMPU System DEMO

2016 FAIR

2018/7 at BAMBOO

2018/7 at BAMBOO

Guitar performance 1

Guitar performance 2

Guitar performance 3

Guitar performance 4

Guitar performance 5

Guitar performance 6

fujinraijin concert

片山一朗
Katayama Guitar

Ichiro Katayama


Acoustic electric guitars appeared on the scene and became well-known, thanks to the ceramic pickup device placed under the saddle and inside the bridge.

Since then, speaking of sound quality, sticking-type piezoelectric pickup devices have been the only method to use the device outside of the bridge and no other method seems to have been introduced.

Weʼd like to introduce this Acoustic Sound Enhancer, the SMPU system, as an achievement of our career and hear the input of the market.

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