Gizmodo: Gadgets, Musical Instruments

Blackbird Rider Nylon Guitar Actually Carbon-Fiber and Nearly Indestructible

Kit Eaton — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:50:34 EST

Blackbird's Rider Nylon guitar is actually not made of nylon—ok its strings are—but instead it's far more highly-tech'd and its body and neck are actually carbon fiber. It may not be bullet-proof, but Blackbird says its "nearly indestructible," making it perfect as a travel guitar. The material has meant a few design tweaks over a traditional shape: it's far squarer, and the sound holes are now a single hole moved up to the neck, and dubbed a "soundscoop" instead—apparently this makes for a better sound response. The other side-effect is that it's light enough at 3-pounds to fit into an aircraft overhead locker. High-tech costs though—the nylon string model is $1,900, a smaller steel-stringed version is $1,600. [Product via GadgetLab]

BodyBeat Metronome Keeps Beat Silently, Forgets Musicians Need Their Fingers

Elaine Chow — Sat, 03 May 2008 19:20:00 EDT

The Peterson BB-1 BodyBeat attaches to your finger/random appendage, sending tiny rhythmic pulses that you can feel on your skin. The non-aural stimulation will give you a silent way to count measures while playing the piano... and since you have to use your fingers to do that, you will have to clamp this to somewhere else. The question is where?

Available for $99.97. [Sweetwater via UberGizmo]

Stylophone, Scourge of Seventies Britain, is Back, Back, BACK!

AddyDugdale — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 06:34:00 EDT

Rather like the kazoo, the Stylophone is what you might term a "musical" "instrument." The farty-bontempi sound was a feature of school playgrounds up and down the land—and even David Bowie used one on Space Oddity. And then, suddenly, rather like white dog poo, and "I choked Linda Lovelace" T-shirts, the Stylophone disappeared from view. Until now.

And now it's back! From outer space! I'd love to say that it walked in here with that same look upon its face, but I would be a lying cow and you would all pay a midnight visit to Gawker HQ, flaming torches clutched in your paws, shouting, "Burn the witch." Ahem.

Anyways, Stylophone. The 2008 version has two sockets, one for headphones, and one to connect your MP3 player to, which will enable you to really murder your favourite songs, as well as, for the first time, volume control and three different sound modes. Costing a smidgeon under $30, the Stylophone runs on three AA batteries and there are a schwazillion clips of people doing hot Stylophone action on YouTube.
I couldn't decide between the Star Wars Death March, the William Tell Overture, something by Michael Jackson, or the Stylophone Orchestra of Great Britain, (relax girls, they're married) so I plumped for Bowie. [Firebox]

Gibson Powertune Automagically Tunes Up Guitars, Tin-Eared Guitarists Rejoice

Charlie White — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:15:00 EDT

Thanks to Gibson's Powertune system, now even tin-eared guitarists can push a button, strum the guitar a few times, and then it's as if a ghost has taken over the machine, turning the tuning pegs until the guitar is accurately tuned. It tunes each string to within .02 cent, which is pretty damn close to perfection. It can tune to the default A440, or it can tune the strings to pitches that are relative to a note of your choice. You can also store a variety of tunings and quickly call them up. Hey, this could really be useful.

It works by using piezoelectric pickups rather than the usual magnetic pickups used on most electric guitars, and these pickups are able to isolate the sound of each individual string. Underneath the pickups is a processor that senses the pitch being played, and sends a signal to the tuning pegs at the top of the guitar's neck to change the pitch until it's all tuned up.

Even though this machine may be perfectly accurate, turning a guitar can be a subtle art, where you can slightly change some of the notes to fit the key in which you're playing. However, for musicians who like to play various songs with the guitar tuned in completely different ways for each song, this technology could be extremely useful. In fact, the $899 it adds to the price of the guitar might seem like a bargain compared with buying two more guitars, each tuned in a completely different way. [Technology Review]

Yamaha PSR-S900 Keyboard is Not Your Grandpappy's Player Piano

Charlie White — Fri, 25 May 2007 10:26:24 EDT

This Yamaha PSR-S900 keyboard bridges the gap between musical instruments and the Interwebs, and it can play music and connect to the Net at the same time. It has an Ethernet port that gives you a direct connection to the Internet without even using a computer, and that lets you download thousands of compositions and 7,000 karaoke arrangements. It's pretty much a computer unto itself, with a 5.7-inch 320x240 color display. Have pianos come a long way, or what? What else can it do?

For starters, it can make a tremendous variety of sounds and noises, and has a full range of synthesizer functions and recording capabilities. It can also hook up to your PC via USB, letting you send and receive MIDI and digital audio signals, record digitally onto your PC and interface with sophisticated digital audio workstation software.

This is not your basic tinkertoy piano/synthesizer, it's a highly sophisticated digital musical instrument aimed at musicians and gearhead amateur musician tinkerers. Too bad you can't just rent one to play around with it for a while, because this PSR-S900 costs $1815. Expect to see it shipping in the US sometime this summer. – Charlie White

Yamaha PSR-S900 keyboard [Software Headlines]

Spec List

Blackbird Rider: Carbon Fiber Guitar Waited for this Moment to Arise

Charlie White — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:28:13 EST

The Blackbird Rider is a guitar made out of carbon fiber that was designed using 3D CAD software. It's 2/3 the size of an ordinary guitar but makes up for that by being hollow throughout—even in its neck and head—making the entire guitar a sound box. The goal of this design was to get the sound of a big acoustic guitar in a smaller form factor that's easily portable.

More pictures, info and pricing:

Notice the sound hole is next to the guitar's neck rather than underneath the strings. Then, there's another opening called the stereo sound hole (the company calls this SSH, making it sound all scientific-like) on the guitar's head, in an attempt to maximize the resonance of this instrument.

There will be just 100 of these axes available, and pros taking this carbon fiber jewel on stage will certainly elicit the awe of any geeksters in the audience. But this Blackbird is going to have to do a lot of singing in the dead of night to make up for its $1599 price tag.

That price is not too bad, though, considering that the gold-standard Martin D-28 guitar costs at least $500 more than that. – Charlie White

Product Page [Blackbird Guitars]

Hottie Amplifier: Burnin' Sound, In the Slot

Charlie White — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 12:30:57 EST

That's right, that's a real guitar amplifier inside that toaster. It's a Hottie Amplifier, available in a variety of toaster styles for $149.

There's a solid-state amplifier shoehorned inside there, powered by a 9-volt battery, and the sound comes wafting out the vintage American toaster's slots courtesy of a 6-inch Jensen speaker.

Who could resist the idea of first getting toasted, then having a hot jam session, laying down some smokin' licks until your ears turn to toast. It's distorted, but sometimes that's a good thing. – Charlie White

Product Page [Hottie Amplifiers Inc., via Red Ferret]

Hello Kitty Stratocaster Guitars

Travis Hudson — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 16:15:30 EST

So, today I realized it has been almost two months since our last Hello Kitty related post, which happens to be two months too long. So here is a Fender Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar. It is available in pink or black and features the famous Hello Kitty head. If bass guitar is more of your bag, there is always the Bronco featuring that son of a bitch penguin, Badtz-Maru. Either guitar will set you back $200 from Musicians Friend with optional Hello Kitty accessories also available. – Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Popgadget]

Roland's Karaoke Music Keyboard / Digital Hub

Travis Hudson — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 15:08:52 EDT

Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Nintendo, and others want to turn your living room into a Web-enabled entertainment center. Roland wants to make it into a full-featured karaoke parlor. Their new "VIMA" keyboard is a bizarre mash-up of digital piano, digital media hub, and karaoke machine. Plug in your iPod, hit center cancel to remove vocals, plug in one or two mics, and the keyboard transforms into a karaoke workstation. The keyboard can even store digital audio, photos, and videos for making custom music videos or karaoke accompaniment, with full support for lyrics display. It's either the perfect way to start your own karaoke bar, or, if you believe the Roland press release, to create "customized family entertainment." Coming hot on the heels of the do-all entertainment center / DJ-VJ station / Windows PC synth MiKo, the VIMA is a further sign that music keyboard makers want in on the battle for the living room. But will it catch on outside Japan? (Hint: large quantities of your favorite alcoholic beverage might help the customized family entertainment.) – Peter Kirn

Roland's VIMA Concept Keyboard: Digital Media Hub and ... Karaoke Workstation? [Create Digital Music]

Hohner Six-Sided Harmonica Plays the Blues Six Ways to Sunday

Charlie White — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:27:28 EDT

Blues harmonica players, or harpists as we like to be called, play the blues for a number of reasons, but one of them is that our diatonic instruments are so limited. When the band changes keys, we have to go rummaging around for another harmonica. Not any more with the Hohner Six-Sided Harmonica made by the company that's been supplying blues harmonicas to the stars for way over a century.

Good thing these harps can be detached from their central hub, because it would be hard to hold that harpists-favorite Shure Green Bullet mic up against this multi-headed contraption. The sextet of harmonicas (heh heh, he said sex) are tuned to the keys of C, D, F, G, A and B flat, and might make you sing the blues when you see their price tag, $299.95. – Charlie White

Product page [Hammacher Schlemmer]

Crystal Roc Instruments Lined With Swarovski Gems

Gizloco — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:00:54 EDT

Swarovski crystals (you know, the same kind that every Tom, Dick and Harry company uses to line their products) line a series of musical instruments from Morten Schjolin, the man who helped bring us such useful members of society as Jennifer Lopez. Given the name Crystal Roc, these instruments— microphones, drums and guitars—are also just as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside, with audio circuitry provided by the likes of Technics and Shure.

Like other faux-luxury items, these Crystal Roc items aren't cheap (well, they are cheap, just not inexpensive), with the Retro Mike, the microphone I gather, costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,770 when it comes before the end of the year. – Nicholas Deleon

Crystal Roc Home Page [Crystal Roc via Gadget Candy]

Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1: DJ and Musician-Friendly Audio Interface

Travis Hudson — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:48:13 EDT

It doesn't take long for DJs and musicians to figure out that internal audio cards are crap for any real work, when it comes to sound quality, features, and performance. So, with a mind-numbing array options, how do you choose a replacement? Native Instruments' new Audio Kontrol 1 could be a good choice, with a $300 list price. It's got a slick-looking, honking-huge knob on the top you can use to control sound level easily, and controls that are neither ugly nor confusing as with some of its competitors. Low-latency (4ms) USB 2.0 audio drivers let you can run your instrument through it or play software instruments without a noticeable delay, specially important on Windows. And a dedicated headphone jack lets you cue through headphones, which is handy not only for DJs, but when you want a separate headphone mix for recording or performing. There's stiff competition in this field from other terrific, cheap interfaces, but the Audio Kontrol 1 ought to be on the short list. – Peter Kirn

Native Instruments Launches Audio Interface: Big Knob, Low Latency, Headphone Out [Create Digital Music]

The Breath Car

Travis Hudson — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 13:05:56 EDT

I may not have a musical bone in my body, but I can understand how difficult it is for beginner musicians to train the mouth to handle horn instruments. Matthew Brown is trying to help the beginner musicians train their controlled breathing with the Breath Car.

The car is controlled by a mouthpiece. When the person blows hard it will steer to the right, and softer blowing will result in the car turning to the left. Much of the skill behind playing wind instruments requires good controlled breathing. The skills required for this gadget can significantly improved the controlled breathing, therefore improving musical abilities and filling the world with more ~~waiters~~ aspiring musicians.

How does it work?
The controller contains a MIDI breath controller which converts breath pressure to MIDI data. This is sent to MAX/MSP which converts MIDI to serial data. Serial data is sent via Bluetooth and PIC chip to a servo on the car which controls the steering. The forward and backward controls are hacked from a cheap toy car.

Check out the video here to see the breath car in action. Pretty damn cool, if I do say so myself. – Travis Hudson

The Breath Car [WWMNA]

USB One Man Band Keyboard/Guitar/Vocal Box

Travis Hudson — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 13:32:53 EDT

You sing, you play guitar and bass, you record and play live, you play keys, and now you want a single USB device to handle everything in a single box. First, you're more talented than us. Second, you might want to check out Line 6's upcoming TonePort KB37. Announced at the summer music equipment trade show this weekend in Austin, this small keyboard includes controls for your fingers, inputs for footpedals for your feet, and uses software to model amplifiers, mic preamps, effects, and stompboxes, with processing options for vocalists and guitarists alike. Line6's equipment has plenty of competition, but it tends to be affordable and reliable. You may need to grow two extra feet and two extra arms to take full advantage of the thing, so Zaphod Beeblebrox, your audio gear has arrived. – Peter Kirn

Line6's KB37 Guitar/Vocal/Bass-Processing Keyboard [Create Digital Music]

Bizarre Fish-Themed Technology

Travis Hudson — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 14:07:07 EDT

Do you feel attached to your carp? Perhaps you'd like to dip it in ink, rub it on paper, and create a special "memento" of your fish. If so, the Japanese performance-art-manufacturing group maywa denki has the complete kit for you. They've also applied their fish obsession to musical instruments, with a carp-shaped glass armonica (the 18th-century instrument invented by Benjamin Franklin), a beat box in the shape of a carp (look out, Roland), and a "winged" musical device with electronic finger snappers, in case your thumb is tired. These appear to run on batteries, but you can plug in your traditional, non fish-themed hardware using a fish bone extension cord. And if you actually can't stand fish, there's even a fish swatter. – Peter Kirn

Bizarre Fish-Themed Gadgets, Musical Instruments [Create Digital Music]

Guitar Picks From Space: Meteoric Sound, Astronomic Price

Charlie White — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:00:00 EDT

Guitar players will search far and wide for the perfect guitar pick, looking for one that will give them just the right bite to their sound. But few guitar players have scoured the entire solar system for that ideal strumming implement, until now. These astronomically-expensive Meteorite Guitar Picks are each unique, and are priced as if their purveyor had to personally go out into space to retrieve every one.

The Astrotone ($110) is the most popular model, shaped like a traditional guitar pick. The more triangular Enterprise ($120) is also touted as suitable for playing either guitar or bass. Then there's the odd-looking freeform "Custom Monulista Pick from Sweden" (aren't they all from space?), for a cool $135, holding the distinction as the most expensive guitar pick in the universe.

Wonder if they make the guitar sound any better. Sheesh, for half that price you can get a snazzy LED-flashing Light Pick that lights up your hand like a disco ball. Forget it—I'm a finger-picker myself. – Charlie White

Product Page [Meteorite Guitar Picks, via Music Thing]

Datasound: Music for the 23rd Century?

Charlie White — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 10:41:25 EDT

We're still scratching their heads over this one, the Datasound, a device that takes digital bits and turns them into music. On the left side of the "deck," there's a turntable-like device that plays old-fashioned 5.25" floppy disks, letting you scratch its sounds similar to a vinyl record. On the right is an odd kind of sampler with various objects inside that generate data and electronic noise. Under the glass, there's a hard disk, neon light, the innards of a flatbed scanner and some other unnamed electronic objects. All of this is fashioned into an enclosure that resembles a museum case.

Try as we might, we couldn't find an example of the sounds made by the Datasound even though the site teased us with the promise of downloading and hearing its ~~noise~~ music. Anyway, we're under the impression that you're able to perform musical songs by adding your own personal rhythm to the sounds coming out of it. The concept was created by Troika Design, a London-based group of artists who apparently have lots of free time on their hands. – Charlie White

Design Page [Troika Design, via OhGizmo]

Blue Man Group Musical Noisemakers

Charlie White — Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:41:00 EDT

If you've ever experienced the Blue Man Group, you've probably wished you could get your hands on one of their other-worldly musical instruments. Now noisemakers patterned after the group's PVC monstrosities have been licensed to toy company ToyQuest, where you can get a Keyboard ($80), Percussion Tubes ($70), a Drum Suit and an Air Pole.

These music makers, available next month, use proximity sensor technology, responding when you wave your hand over the tubes. Plus, you can plug in your iPod and play along, generating a variety of musical (and nonsensical) sounds. Looks like fun. – Charlie White

Blue Man Group's amazing range of musical toys [Music Thing]

Tritare: Guitar 2.0

Charlie White — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:40:36 EDT

Even though we think the guitar is near-perfect the way it is, inventor Sophie Léger is trying to improve upon it with the Tritare, a guitar with triple-ended strings. The Y-shaped instrument has one normally-fretted neck, and two others that don't have any frets and resonate the sound. You can see the two fretless necks in this picture — they're the ones upon which the guitar is standing.

The result is a highly unusual sound that's downright ethereal. It's more resonant than a conventional guitar, and the notes can be bent upwards or downwards for a slide-guitar effect. Best of all, the instrument is no more difficult to play than a regular guitar, and it can plucked and strummed, or even be bowed, or hit with sticks like a drum.

The instrument was first built in 2003, and there's a marketing effort going on at the website of the Tritare here.

Take a listen to this short composition played on the Tritare. It's like music from another world. – Charlie White

A New Family of Stringed Musical Instruments [ASA Meeting Paper, via Music Thing]

BCD2000 Mix & Scratch DJ/VJ Controller Reviewed (Verdict: Good, Mostly)

Travis Hudson — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 18:34:54 EDT

What with these kids today carrying around their laptops for DJing, live visuals and VJing, and live laptop music, there's a surprising dearth of physical controls for playing laptops live.

The Behringer BCD2000 B-Control Deejay would seem to cover all the bases on the cheap (US$200 street). For DJs and laptop music, there are 4 channels of audio connected to your computer via USB, with 2 phono preamps, headphone out, and mic in. (So, yes, you can do that whole "two turntables and a microphone" thing.) But this isn't just a DJ mixer: every knob, button, and fader sends MIDI, so you can use it to control whatever music or visual software you like. There are even jog wheels for simple scratching.

Australian VJ Jaymis Loveday reviews the gear, and concludes that it fits the bill, as a cheap entry in digital DJing or a do-all controller for music and visuals. The bad news: MIDI assignments are fixed, meaning some software will need some tricky workarounds. – Peter Kirn

BCD200 Review [Create Digital Music]

Schizoporotica Turns Crappy Bands into Sweet Melodies, Kind of

Travis Hudson — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 17:01:00 EDT

Remember the olden days, before Myspace became the latest trend for bands to get their name out? That was the time you would get bombarded with fliers all over town to go check out a show by another crappy band who was destined for poverty. The shows sucked, period. Schizoporotica has the ability to turn the tore up fliers into melodies. It will create the tune based upon the highs and lows of the torn patter of the flier. This ingenious device was the work of Troika and Evangelos Kaimakis and it will be on display at the Cybersonica festival in London on May 8-26.

Schizoporotica [Via WMMNA]

Monome MIDI Controller

johnb — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 09:59:14 EDT

This may not look like a musical instrument, but it is—and a whole lot more. It's a grid of 8x8 buttons that light up when pressed. A USB interface connects this thing to almost any sequencer or MIDI system and allows you to simply press the buttons to get a sound, change a setting, or tweak audio. Because this isn't a formal interface, it can be anything you want it to be—a drum tracker, a keyboard, or even a very frustrating Tic Tac Toe game.

It's currently in beta and the company is making about 500 trial units right now. It's all open source and a 16x16 unit will also be available.

Product Page [Monome via MusicThing]

MIDI Sword Keytar

Travis Hudson — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:27:03 EDT

A keytar AND a wooden sword combined in one? Are my eyes deceiving me? This eBay oddity is an instrument that combines a small MIDI keyboard with a carved wooden Kung Fu sword. Bidding begins at $249 and this beauty is well worth it.

eBay [Via Music Thing]

RKS Wave Guitar has Interchangeable Skins

Charlie White — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:48:36 EST

If you and your glam rock bandmates go through a few costume changes during every performance, now your guitar can join you with its own wardrobe malfunction. Here's the Wave Guitar from RKS Guitars, the first ax with an interchangeable pick guard and body shell. Just unscrew the old skin and replace it with the next color, and you're good to go in just a few minutes. The handmade-in-the-USA guitar is $899. Wonder what it looks like naked?

Product page [via GadgetCandy]

Samchillian Keyboard Concept

Charlie White — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:01:04 EST

Here's an experimental musical keyboard which is a MIDI controller based on relativity. Israeli industrial designer Eitan Shefer has created the Samchillian keyboard, taking a novel approach to a musical instrument where you don't play specific notes but select how they relate to the ones before them. For example, if you're playing a C and then want to play a D, you just push the +1 key. There are two directional keys, 16 relative keys and eight finger positions, and when you want to bend the pitch or manipulate the filters, you tilt the unit from side to side. It's also customizable for large or small hands. Check out the beautifully-produced video, and you'll quickly understand how it works. Wonder how difficult it is to learn?

Curvy experimental keyboard from Israel [Music Thing]

Digital Trumpet

Travis Hudson — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 07:22:29 EST

Trumpets may be something that primarily goes out of fad with high school graduation, but this may be the perfect gift for your little tyke to see if they can handle the likes of a big brass beauty. This trumpet is able to generate a wide variety of sounds including eight brass instruments, five woodwind and even a synthesized human voice. Best of all, it comes preloaded with 10 teaching songs that are learned via illuminated LEDs. Don t fret, parents. There is even a headphone jack. Now if only brass instruments could include one of those. This high-tech trumpet retails for $400.

A digital trumpet for beginners [Gearlog]

Specs and pricing on musical instruments [Amazon]

Toilet Seat Guitar for Only the Most Discerning Guitarists

Charlie White — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 11:36:39 EST

There's a shitload of toilet news today for some reason, and here's a guitar joining the chorus, made out of a toilet seat complete with toilet paper neckstrap and, uh, a poopy pickup. And look—there are toilet paper holders for both ends of the neckstrap and the bridge, too.

You ve got to admire the whimsical workmanship of this instrument, but we would question what wielding such an ax would do for a guitarist s self-esteem. Perhaps it beats wearing a toilet seat around your head. There's no price or availability information for this rare instrument, but we have an inkling that this is probably one-of-a-kind.

The Toilet Guitar [BunnyBass]

Hard Drive Noise Mixer

Travis Hudson — Fri, 03 Mar 2006 08:00:55 EST

Valentina Vuksic has taken one out of the Gizmodo book and has created a sound mixer that gets its beats from dying hard drives. If you recall, Gizmodo had a Hard Drive Dying Track Contest back in January.

Vuksics project, called Harddisko, involves special microphones being attached to the heads of decased, defective hard drives. The microphones are then connected to a mixer. When the drives are powered they conduct initialization tests that involve the heads moving in a specific pattern that creates the noises. Each noise is different depending on the hard drive manufacturer, model, firmware, etc. Vuksic rigged up a system of different, fully-controllable power circuits for interval timing. This project is on display at Aarau in Switzerland through April 2.

Raw hard disk sound [We-make-money]

Orla PK-400 Accordion Monstrosity

johnb — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:47:16 EST

I used to play accordion as a kid, but I'm sure that I'd have stuck with it to this day if I had had the Orla Pk-400. It looks like a crazy Casio keyboard/concertina mash-up with hundreds of buttons, strange piano keys, accordion bass buttons, and weird organ draw bars. It even has a disk drive for recording your renditions of Lady of Spain in real Reggae Style.

Why, you ask? Because it can.

Product Page [Accordians.com via MusicThing]

The Cat Piano

Travis Hudson — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:00:08 EST

Chill out, PETA. The cat piano was the work of a German scholar over 350 years ago. Athanasius Kircher designed the cat piano and documented it in the Musurgia Universalis in 1650. The piano was designed to raise the spirits of an Italian prince who was too stressed out. The musician would select cats whose voices were at different pitches then arrange them in the pens accordingly. The piano delivered sharp pokes into the tails of the cats. Cruel? Definitely. Funny? Yeah, a little bit.

The Cat Piano [We-make-money]

Electric Masterpiece

Charlie White — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 16:44:32 EST

Step back for a moment and admire the craftsmanship of the electric guitar sculptures from Carver Doug. After carving wood for over 40 years, sculptor and woodcarver Doug Rowell claims that he can carve anything, out of anything. He proves his point with an astounding collection of hand-carved guitars, some which he salvages from old broken-down axes no one thought would ever see the light of day again. Case in point, the hand-carved guitar above, which he calls "Golden Girl Telecaster," a 1973 Fender Telecaster that was left for dead after being run over by a car. Rowell carves guitars for the stars, and dozens of examples of his fine art are now serious collector's items. If you think about it, electric guitars are essentially made of wood, so carving them up in an eye-catching way is a natural. Amazing. Follow the link to Doug s product page for lots more examples.

Product page
Monday Linkdump [Music Thing]

Fender, Intel to Make "Surf Guitar"

Travis Hudson — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 09:59:01 EST

Probably my two most favorite things in life are jamming out to a guitar and watching pornographic movies on the Internet. My life has been rough because I couldn t possibly do both at once. Intel and Fender have answered my call by developing this Telecaster that has a HP TC1100 tablet integrated into it. It features Intel Centrino technology for wireless sharing and downloading of your favorite tunes. I can't wait to try out some pornography on this baby. It will give a whole new meaning to "rock out with your..." erm...

Fender and Intel's "surf guitar" [Popgadget]

Specs and pricing on traditional Fender guitars [Shopping.com]

Six-Man Guitar Orgy

Travis Hudson — Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:27:31 EST

Gil Kuno has designed an instrument to be played by his band—composed of six musicians—each of which responsible for their own sound. It is just a big-ass guitar and each musician has one string to play. It does create a new and unique sound that could be appealing to people in certain drug-induced trances. Follow the linkage for some video and mp3 samples and decide for yourself.

Six String Sonics, The [We-make-money]

Rumor: Inexpensive Mono Keyboard from Synth Design Legend

Travis Hudson — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 15:29:25 EST

Just how different are the traditional music hardware manufacturers from, say, Apple? Here's an example: while Apple sues and subpoenas bloggers for repeating an internal leak about a product that never shipped, legendary music synth maker Dave Smith Instruments casually throws a description, price, and color photo of its upcoming mono keyboard on a heavily-trafficked user forum. At least, we think they're different; haven't checked the fax machine for legal documents yet today. Expect a phat, real analog sound, mono operation (we don't need no stinkin' polyphony for our synth leads), and a street price somewhere around $1000.

Rumor Mill: Dave Smith Mono Evolver Keyboard, Revealed? [Create Digital Music]

The Performer: Self-Tuning Guitar

gizmodo.com — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 14:45:21 EST

Before you stroll into Sam Ash with that alimony check to buy a 1972 Les Paul, maybe you should consider this $3000 technological masterpiece. The Performer from TransPerformance features built-in one-touch tuning. Twelve buttons on the body of the guitar allow you to instantly tune your guitar. A built-in LCD will let you know which tuning you're using at all times and allows for easy playing. How's it work? TransPerformance's website says it all:

"A small computer mounted inside the self tuning guitar controls motors that are linked to each string. The bridge and tailpiece are replaced by the self tuning system, allowing your imagination to run wild.
At the touch of a button or footswitch, motors are activated to adjust the tension of each string."

The Performer comes with over 144 built-in tuning settings allowing for endless creativity on your end...provided you can play guitar. Instant built-in pitch shifting also allows you to match a singer's vocal range for beautiful melodies. So like we said, use that alimony check wisely, buddy.

The Self Tuning Guitar [Red Ferret]

Musician's Holiday Gift Guide

Travis Hudson — Sun, 04 Dec 2005 13:47:54 EST

Our blogging cohorts over at Music Thing have put together a nice little list of gift ideas for the music connoisseur in your life. Items range from $10 T-Shirts and electric kazoos all the way up to expensive amps, violins and even the drumometer we mentioned a while back.

Still shopping for loved ones? Be sure and check out the Gizmodo Gift Guide.

Music Thing Xmas Gift Guide [Music Thing]

New Music Keyboards from Korg, Yamaha

johnb — Fri, 02 Dec 2005 15:03:18 EST

Good news, New Wave wannabes: Korg and Yamaha have relatively inexpensive new keyboards, just in time for the holidays. Korg's TR workstation feels a bit like a 1990s flashback with 64 MB of sounds (not quite luxurious), but both look like fun to play. The Yamaha MO keyboards connect to flash drives and hard drives via USB and integrate with your music software of choice. There's even an optional 88-key, hammer-action model for you skilled pianists out there. You might love them more than your first Casio. And at $1500 or less street, they cost about the same price as an Xbox 360 with accessories. -PK

New Music Keyboards from Yamaha, Korg [Create Digital Music]

Pricing for Yamaha keyboards [Amazon]

Inside an $8,000, Linux-Powered Luxury Synth

johnb — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 09:38:17 EST

Korg is announcing it will add cutting-edge physical modeling synthesis to its OASYS synth, for reproducing everything from acoustic stringed instruments to far-out experimental sounds and, yes, realistic amp feedback. So why is this synth $8,000—and why is it running Linux on a Pentium PC? Gizmodo regular Peter Kirn went to Korg for behind-the-scenes details, and got answers so geeky they were a natural for O'Reilly developer sites:

Inside a Luxury Synth: Creating the Linux-Powered Korg OASYS [O'Reilly Digital Media]

Korg Adds Physical Modeling, Software Upgrade to OASYS Synth [Create Digital Music]

In Your Face Bass: 9 Strings Of Fury

gizmodo.com — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:54:44 EST

This custom made bass from Conklin packs a whopping 9 strings and a bitchin' Pac Man logo on the fret board. The Ziricote 9 string bass is custom made with a neck-through-body design and Bartolini split pickups with custom switching electronics that allow the player to send the 4 low strings to a bass amp while the upper 5 strings go to a guitar amp or all 9 strings to a bass amp. That's pretty hardcore and allows for some real creative playing. I'd like to see Geddy Lee from Rush or Chris Squire from Yes take on this bad boy. How much will it run you though? A lot. The base price for this custom work of art is $5100 with the ability to go much higher. Better start saving.

Ziricote 9 String Bass

iGuitar.USB Connects Directly to Computer

Travis Hudson — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:27:57 EDT

We keep hearing about direct guitar-to-computer connections, but respected custom guitar maker Brian Moore is actually shipping one that works, right now: the iGuitar.USB. Plug a single USB cable into your computer, and you've got instant audio: no external power, breakout boxes, or drivers needed. Gibson's not-yet-shipping "digital" Les Paul can't do that. Better repaint your PowerBook so it doesn't look too dorky onstage. -P. Kirn

Brian Moore USB-Based Guitar Shipping [Create Digital Music]