I am not worthy

[mgaut051]

http://www.tonycochranguitars.com/guitars-for-sale.html

Steampunk guitars? Some of these are over the top, but I love the concepts of some of them.

Ever so slightly reminiscent of Dismal ax: http://www.dismalax.com/pictures.html  and http://www.destroyallguitars.com/dismal-ax
And
Spalt instruments totem series: http://www.spaltinstruments.com/instruments/totem-resintops/totemguitars/
I find these fascinating as expressive pieces, I'm sure most of them are fully functional, they're surely great conversation pieces, and very interesting. But not strictly players. And I would never fork out what they ask for them. If I decided to copy / make a guitar inspired by one of these, it would probably stay on my wall more than anything else, not that there's anything wrong with that.

Interesting for me that guitars, which are a tool for ...musical... expression in my mind, are used also as an artistic canvas. I guess the choice of wood, body shape and pickups is a form of artistic (visual) expression, although much simpler that the above. Not that simple is bad.

What do you find cool / interesting and that when you see it you say "Hey, I would love one of those" but that on second thought you're like... "then again, I don't know what I would do with it". (e.g. leathertop guitars, etc.)

Also, what other builders are innovating in a good way or doing something particularly creative, without being Kitsch. 

Finally: Guitars - practical, or artistic?

 

[Jcurl02]

To me, those are way over the top.  I think they look cool as wall hangers, and I'm not even a "real" player.  I just play for myself. 

I'm more into the classic beauty.  I'm actully working on getting my first real burst (and I have 9 guitars).  I'm an engineer by degree and find the idea of guitars (and any musical intstrument) interesting.  Do't get me wrong, I want them to be beautiful.  I'll spend the extra on a good flame or quilt etc. but putting rusty old license plates and paarts froma junk yard don't excite me.

Similarly I've taken a liking to guns.  They are a fantastic machine.  pull a small lever and launch a projectile for great distances. 

I also RESTORE believe in restoring cars and not chopping them up.  SOme customer are beautiful, but give me a restored classic.

All it comes down to is personal opinions.

 

[Cagey]

Well, the guy's persistent, you gotta give him that.

Outside of a wall hanging, I can't imagine wanting one of those units. But, that's almost certainly the object of the exercise. It's functional artwork for the guitar fanatic with a sense of humor and a taste for the bizarre.

Kinda like motorcycles made out of watch parts...

Or, Hard Disk Drive parts...

Or, aliens made of car parts...

 

[SixString]

I definitely see them as more art than practical use.  Almost like something out of a Tim Burton movie...
I'd definitely hang one up for display in my house.

 

[swarfrat]

Someone at a farm down the road has a cow welded up out of scrap metal parts - it's about 1.5x life size, and I'm guessing weighs on order of a 3/4 ton or so, even with all the empty space in it, due to the material and sheer size. And of course, a month or so ago, someone tipped it.

Those are sorta cool, in an OCD sorta way, but to be truly steampunk, one should build a sequencer/steam organ where the sequencing is driven by hydraulic logic.

http://hydraulicspneumatics.com/other-technologies/book-2-chapter-2-air-logic-circuits

 

[Torment Leaves Scars]

Those guitars are horribly ugly, but the motorcycle and "Aliens" display are awesome!