Guitar Noize

Damn this is one ugly looking guitar, especially with that price tag, you should see the back check it out here, yuck! I don’t want a mother of pearl 747 on my guitar thanks very much! And that rocket inlay, oh come on…

This guitar is the “History of Flight Custom Shop Guitar” with custom inlay work of famous moments in aviation history. There will be just one and it is only available through Guitar Center. The lucky purchaser will be flown in the Guitar Center jet to Nazareth, PA where C.F. Martin himself will take the lucky purchaser on a personal tour of Martin Guitars. Following the tour the guitar will be presented to the new owner, who will probably mugged 30 seconds later in the car park and later notice a very similar looking guitar appear on ebay for a few grand. Well it serves you right, it’s not like it it’s Blackie! Nobody has ever touched this guitar. Imagine the price if Robert Johnson had owned it!

I just came across a site that is based here in Australia called KMate that is an online factory outlet and one of the things they seem to specialise in is cheap acoustic and electric guitars by Karerra which I think is a Japanese company that makes cheap replicas. The funny thing is though that they seem to cater for a rather specific market with their crazy guitar designs. The image to the left is their “Triryche” guitar which is obviously based on this custom ESP guitar which was made for Queensryche I think back in the late 80’s (Operation:Mindcrime was it?). The Karrera Triryche is only AUD$235 or USD$202, bargain!. Other guitars include the Axe style guitar and M-16 guitar which looks very plastic and cheap! But your kids are going to love it…

After a recent comment thread on my Shredneck post I have been looking at alternatives for this device such as travel guitars, after all it would seem that the idea is to have a guitar or guitar substitute that can be carried around easily. At first I found the Traveler guitar which look great but are still pretty big, then I found the Soloette again, looks great especially with all the add-ons to make it a fully shaped guitar but still a bit on the large side to carry around. The same goes for the Martin Backpacker Acoustic.

Well today I came across another guitar that is not only revolutionary in its design but at its smallest, is only the length of the neck. The DeVillain Centrefold Guitar actually has a neck that unlocks and folds back onto the body, the strings are wound around the rotating bridge and apparently tuning is not affected during this whole process. Make sure you click on the continue button on the homepage and then the “Fold/Unfold the guitar” link which is rather stupidly hidden away thanks to the web designers deciding stupid javascript effects were more necessary than usability. If you don’t manage to find the link click on this link to go to the press room photos.

I think this is worthy of its own post rather than tacking it on to the last one. Gibson produced 25 exclusive environmentally-friendly acoustic guitars based on the J-45 using rainforest friendly, FSC-certified mahogany. The guitars will be auctioned off on eBay to raise additional funds for the Alliance for Climate Protection.

“Gibson Guitar, and its philanthropic arm, Gibson Foundation, are dedicated to supporting the cause for climate protection and the creation of these environmentally friendly guitars.’ - Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar.

Apparently the Live Earth events tried to make sure that the concerts were as “green” as possible, by using bio-diesel to run generators etc. I just found out that Wheatware, who make bio-resin products donated 3,240 compostable guitar picks.

“The Wheatware compostable guitar picks offer an alternative to the millions of plastic picks manufactured each year — without sacrificing performance.

Far from being fragile, Wheatware music products can withstand a musicians’ beating. And both products are ultra-functional: the picks come in an easy-to-grip design”.

Really? Is it? I think its pretty funny myself, now The Gripmaster is a simple portable device to strengthen your fingers and I get that… but the Shredneck is supposed to be for warming up (presumably backstage) and yet it’s almost the size of a full size guitar! Why not just take your guitar backstage, oh sorry they must be all set up on stage ready and waiting… if they are, you’re obviously pretty successful and therefore you can afford another one to keep backstage!!! What is even funnier is that there is an artists page with custom paint jobs for people like Jimi Bell where they expertly paint a cross on the headstock. Oh and it comes with a gig bag and a tuner… erm. ok.

Does anyone acutally use one of these? Answers on a postcard…

Ok so when I first saw the ESP Custom sword guitar I thought it was pretty weird (and a potential self-impaling accident in waiting) but that was until I saw this… erm well kind of disturbing guitar. It’s an AK-47 “Instrument of destruction”. No doubt it would be popular with the Metal crowd but I cant see BB King christening this one “Lucille 2″ any day soon!

Designer Rick Metz has created a series of guitar influenced furniture pieces. You can get a sunburst Gibson Les Paul chair or maybe you would prefer a black Strat chair? If you don’t want a guitar chair maybe you would prefer a guitar coffee table although the dimensions and shape look a bit odd?! In which case you may prefer the simplicity of a pick coffee table or pick clock. I wonder if you could get the pick table painted like the Joe Satriani signature picks?

Yet another great giveaway for US residents (grrr… what about those of us down-under?!). You could win a Fishman Loudbox 100 Acoustic guitar amp, a years supply of D’Addario EXP Strings, a Planet Waves leather strap, tuner and a Humidipak humidity control system!

All you have to do is go to www.ampyouracoustic.com and enter your details.

P.S. if you win and you read it here you can donate the Loudbox if you like!

I’m a little late on this one as this has already been running for a month (not that it even applies to me as I don’t live in the US!) but Ibanez are holding “Ibanez Dayz” at various Ibanez dealers throughout the US which is also sponsored by D’Addario. Ibanez techs will be on hand to restring your acoustic or electric guitar with a set of D’Addarios and give it a free set up. More info here.