The 100-megabit guitar

Headline on a fascinating Wired story about what Gibson’s CEO wants to do to the venerable electric guitar — plug it into Ethernet. Quote:

“The technology inside the electric guitar has been set since the 1930s: Magnetic pickups convert string vibrations into electrical impulses. Gibson’s new Les Paul, with proprietary Magic technology, does something else altogether, something no other guitar does. An audio converter inside the instrument’s body translates string vibrations into a digital signal that can travel over a standard Cat-5 Ethernet cable. The company will continue to sell traditional Les Pauls, but Juszkiewicz thinks it won’t be long before all guitarists go digital. “We’re improving the electric guitar for the first time in 70 years,” he explains.”