Design a mind blowing guitar...

[ash]

So, lets say you find a book; "The History of the Electric Guitar"...

It starts with electrified archtops and lapsteels, then Teles, Les Pauls, Strats, basses etc...

Moving up to superstrats, Steinbergers, PRS, Warwick etc in the 80s and 90s...

When you get to the section on current/modern guitars, the state of the art if you will, what do you expect to see?

In a line up from the last 90 years, what stands out as being representative of the latest and greatest and characteristic of this time and no other?

(No I'm not writing a book. I already have this book, although it was probably 20 years out of date the day it rolled off the press in 1996 But there is something afoot and I want to guage public perception of the "state of the art". And I hope, that doesn't mean a 50 year old design with a robot-tuner built in )

[IkeKrull]

[Lawrence]

couldnt resist this Ash

The state of the art in my world looks a bit like this:
small headstock
neck - 12" radius - 25-1/2 scale, not too thin and skinny
Gearless tuners, self trimming
straight string pull thru a Graphite nut
cam based trem with straight pull fine tuning, adjustable tension and arm tension.(minimal routing)
NO plywood, minimum number of pieces of wood.
chambered body
thin finish
smallbody with great access and low weight

in fact I would love to see a carbon fibre neck/core with ebony fingerboard and figured wood top and back....like the best features of steinberger, parker, rainsong , PRS and gibson all rolled into one....

[r4nd0m]

Personally the ESP/LTD F-series is modern to me. http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electr ... tars_f.htm

I know. Someone is going to yell GOTH! I like them. I play a LTD F204 bass in church. I would like a F series guitar with a floyd rose. My kid would suggest that modern guitars should have something like the Pandora built in.

For a mind blowing guitar? Any thing with very light strings (or none) and optical tracking (no more magnetic pickups - like the lightwave stuff). No truss rods, no tuning to scale, but rather tune to the string tightness that you are comfortable with. iPod cradle or MP3 input is a must

[r4nd0m]

Oh, oh .. it should be made of "Mimetic poly-alloy" The one guitar that can be all guitars and more!

[Lawrence]

Personally the ESP/LTD F-series is modern to me. http://www.guitar.com.au/guitars/electr ... tars_f.htm

do you have to wear chain mail to protect your body?

[thehenderson]

I actually agree! I don't think that any of those pointy metal guitars are particularly important in pop culture, but that game controller is much more fitting! The kind of amateur uptake of previously professional stuff

[slash-ed]

Oh, oh .. it should be made of "Mimetic poly-alloy" The one guitar that can be all guitars and more!

But then all it would play is "Have you seen John Connor", after which it would form a stabbing weapon and kill you.

[MetalAcoustic]

i thought leo did pretty well with the broadcaster?


an improved saddle for the tele would be awesome.

Kinman pups. maybe with middle pup as well.

slightly thinner body, with mild ergo-contours.

compound radiused fretboard. buzz feiten would be a bonus.

one of those vintage gotoh tuners.

butterscotch with black PG.

[hamo]

Oh, oh .. it should be made of "Mimetic poly-alloy" The one guitar that can be all guitars and more!

But then all it would play is "Have you seen John Connor", after which it would form a stabbing weapon and kill you.

That. Is. So. Metal.

[Tsuken]

Design a mind blowing guitar...

I thought that was what we've been doing...

[ash]

Yeah, your design has crossed my mind for this little project. So has Johhny Mullet's future design.

Basically I need to design a guitar for an exhibition that represents the current state of the art in some way. Now to me that sure as hell doesn't mean rehashing Telecasters and Les Pauls for the millionth time. There are plenty of real teles and LPs representing their own time of newness. Its a really tough question because most of the things that are "modern" in the world of guitar are not that new. Floyd Rose trems and EMG active pickups are already 30 years old. PRS guitars have been around that long too. Carbon fibre showed up in Ovations in the '70s. Onboard effects = late '60s. Crazy body shapes and pointy headstocks = 1958.

When it comes to breaking out of the same old rut, that Guitar Hero controller might just take the prize!!

Things like those nutty fanned fret, extended range bass instrument bristling with piezo/midi capability and Kaos pads speak to my sense of "2008 is not 1958". Even if they are a bit goofy and impractical. At least they show some imagination.

[DaNextSlash]

What about a glass/perspex neck with leds that light up the fingerboard as you fret?

Then solos will be like a techno party

[raz]

Yeah, your design has crossed my mind for this little project. So has Johhny Mullet's future design.

Basically I need to design a guitar for an exhibition that represents the current state of the art in some way. Now to me that sure as hell doesn't mean rehashing Telecasters and Les Pauls for the millionth time. There are plenty of real teles and LPs representing their own time of newness. Its a really tough question because most of the things that are "modern" in the world of guitar are not that new. Floyd Rose trems and EMG active pickups are already 30 years old. PRS guitars have been around that long too. Carbon fibre showed up in Ovations in the '70s. Onboard effects = late '60s. Crazy body shapes and pointy headstocks = 1958.

Bit like motorbikes in a way. If you look hard you find most of the "new" innovations that aren't electronic first turned up on old English bikes in the 30's - 50's.

and as far as guitars go, I've got a '57 Supro with a primitive bridge contact pickup (and conventional pickups) - 30 years before a Parker Fly.

[raz]

What about a glass/perspex neck with leds that light up the fingerboard as you fret?

Then solos will be like a techno party

Some of the early Guitar Synths had electronics up the neck, like a Hagstrom Patch 2000 and I remember seeing the guitar the Ernie Ball factory made for Spinal Tap in Live8 had a huge LED thermometer going up the neck. Marry the two concepts and you've got DaNextSlash's light show.

Actually have you ever seen a pic of a Rickenbacker Lightshow - had like disco lights in the body?

Ain't nothing new under the sun. Not true, but it's hard to come up with a new innovation that hasn't been tried in one form or another in the last 50 years. Especially after the 60's cosmic weirdoness.