Favorite unique & unusual guitar design

[StogiePatriot]

The out there designs have always fascinated me; creativity with the skill to pull off truly beautiful work has awed and made me green with envy.

What design in your opinion captures the essence of this side of the guitar world (basses too... don't' wanna leave them out)

My contribution

It's the Scattervarius; the build blog can be found on the Les Paul forums here

 

[Cagey]

I'm not really a fan of banjos, but there's no denying the unique qualities and craftsmanship of Eric's Banjitar...

Built from scratch (how else could this be done?), the build thread is here.

 

[mrpinter]

I've always liked the Music Man Albert Lee guitar. It's not all that radical or different, but it is unique.

 

[StogiePatriot]

Built from scratch (how else could this be done?), the build thread is here.

With an active EMG in the neck!  Super cool Cagey

 

[D-rock]

Always been a fan of Chuck Schuldiner's guitar. Minimalism at its finest.

 

[swarfrat]

I'm not into wierd for wierdness sake (which covers most carving, IMO) But I can appreciate unconventional design in an attempt to innovate, successful or not.

I'm not a huge fan of tapping as a way of life - it's a neat idea, I'm just not real impressed with the impact the technique has on the results. That said, the Chapman Stick was innovative, and interesting.

And speaking of Ned, his designs are usually innovative without giving a lot of thought to tradition, except as required to actually sell instruments. (Which is still an engineering design requirement, since most engineers like to eat.)

Klein also has some interesting designs.

I find it odd though, that a lot of guys in attempting to do something unique, and usually doing so in the name of being 'functional' try so hard to eliminate the upper horn - aka weight distribution balance lever. Lop the lower horn if you want, but the three most important functional surfaces on an electric guitar body are 1) the forearm support (stub can argue about sharp radius tele's if he wants, but he's not really disagreeing about this point - just about what KIND of forearm support surface is desirable) 2) the strap attachment, and 3) the knee support. As far as I'm concerned, you could mount these three surfaces on a sticks drilled into the neck-through-nobody beam and call it an electric guitar, but they must be there in some capacity to be functional.

 

[stubhead]

Yeah, I like the forearm support. I also like guitars with a place to put the electronics. And it helps if the upper horn can extend out enough to help with balance, and that there's some sort of notch for the leg sitting down... wait a minute... does that describe the Strat/VIP/Soloist/Superstrat?Jazzmaster? uh-oh...

And when you try to eliminate that slab of wood in-between all those somewhat-necessary parts, you come up with something like the Teuffel Birdfish:

Yuk.

There's about a half-dozen things "wrong" with the original Strat design, but they're all minor, tweakable stuff - knob location, neck radius etc. How do you fix a Teuffel Birdfish?

 

[Patrick from Davis]

I always thought that Pagelli had some interesting designs.  Don't know how they played or sounded, but they were very interesting from the artsy perspective.

Patrick

 

[anorakDan]

Jim Backlund is making some really cool electrics:
http://www.jbacklund.com/

 

[t.coyle]

At first I didnt really like the Ola Strandberg EGS guitar shape, but it has grown on me alot.

If I ever could afford one I would order different woods and a different finish but I like the shape and the ergonomics of it.

 

[stubhead]

OK, so BITE ME, Rick Nielson
- just BITE ME

 

[swarfrat]

At least Rick Nielson's guitar casts shadows. This must be a vampire guitar - although it doesn't look like any of those necks have two holes in them near the headstock.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Needs 12 Floyds.

 

[JonatanOTG]

:kewlpics:

Many interesting designs here! I saw a pic on Pat Metheny playing a guitar I believe is called a Pikasso 42-string. I'm not sure whether it's playable at all and I'd certainly not be the one to tune it up before a show (poor guitar tech...  :help, but I believe you could create some intersting music on that guitar.  :icon_thumright:

 

[crash]

Co-designed by Steve Via and M.C. Escher?

 

[bagman67]

The  Pikasso is indeed a playable instrument - I caught a Metheny show in L.A. in 98? 99? and he brought it out for a number.  It was designed and built by Canadian luthier Linda Manzer.  Check out her website - she makes a lot of beautiful and unconventional instruments.

Here's Pat Metheny doing a solo number on the Pikasso:
http://youtu.be/Wp1wHZfZz9s

 

[JonatanOTG]

Co-designed by Steve Via and M.C. Escher?

Haha, good one!  :laughing7:

(Have to admit I didn't get it before googling/google-ing (?) for mc escher though...  :doh

 

[JonatanOTG]

The  Pikasso is indeed a playable instrument - I caught a Metheny show in L.A. in 98? 99? and he brought it out for a number.  It was designed and built by Canadian luthier Linda Manzer.  Check out her website - she makes a lot of beautiful and unconventional instruments.

Here's Pat Metheny doing a solo number on the Pikasso:
http://youtu.be/Wp1wHZfZz9s

Nice, thanx for the info!

 

[StogiePatriot]

Co-designed by Steve Via and M.C. Escher?

Haha, good one!  :laughing7:

(Have to admit I didn't get it before googling/google-ing (?) for mc escher though...  :doh

With Frank Lloyd Wright as the structural engineer....  Good grief the bracing in that thing must be hyper intense to withstand the pull pressure....  Eek!

These are wicked y'all - what about designs that are unusual but in semi-traditional ways of kicking the can down the road... That Strandberg does it for me as well as does the Chapman Stick and a few others...  One thing that always gets me 'fizzy' (I thank you James May) are guitars that are a surprise - you look at them and it's almost like a hologram - in one light it looks like a standard whatever (LP) but it also looks like a classical stringed b@stard child got into the mix.  Things that make you go - hmmmm!

 

[SustainerPlayer]