Zoybar Open Source Guitar

Find more videos like this on Zoybar

Inspired by the open source movement within the world of computing, Zoybar is a modular hardware platform for creating custom electric string instruments and effects (such as the Kaoss Pad).

In essence this would appear to be a modular guitar system. In the words of Zoybar founder and designer Ziv Bar Ilan, "The Zoybar components provide research and development tools as a sustainable, playable prototype platform. The same modular parts can be assembled as different instruments, can be changed during the performance and also be mounted with numerous special effects, just by adding and changing their position across the profile groves."

For more, see zoybar.net, check out the videos, and learn how you could win one of three limited edtion kits.

Acoustic Corporation Black Widow Guitars

This is a follow-up to Tuesday's post about a certain Hollowbody Fretless bass. What I hadn't realised from the original eBay listing was that where it said "Acoustic" was that was a brand name and not a description! (I thought it was a reference to the bass being a hollowbody!). The Acoustic in question was Acoustic Control Corporation who - while they were better known for their solid state amplifier range - produced a range of guitars known as the Black Widow. These were originally designed and built by Paul Barth and his Bartell company in the USA, but production moved several times, to the Matsumoko factory in Japan, back to Mosrite in the USA and then finally to the Hohner company. So, now the eBay listing makes sense!

For the full story and lots more pictures, see the Acoustic Black Widow Fan Page. Pictured above is probably the most famous guitarist to have played an Acoustic Black Widow, supposedly in the studio only. Does anyone have any idea on which recordings Jimi Hendrix may have played this guitar?

Disclaimer: I'm not sure where this photo originally came from and cannot make out the small print in the bottom right hand corner. Apologies in advance if I am using your picture without permission.

The Damned's Captain Sensible and his ESP LTD Viper 1000 Deluxe

A lot of guitarists (online at least) seem to be into heavy rock and those widdly widdly players that no-one except for other guitarists seems to be into. I have to confess that most this kind of music just leaves me cold. As I grew up in the late 1960s and 1970s my own guitar heroes include people from the punk and new wave era. One of my very favourites is Captain Sensible of classic punk band The Damned.

The Damned were reportedly the first punk band to release a single ("New Rose" in 1976), the first to record an album (1977's "Damned Damned Damned") and the first to tour America. All of this, I suppose, depends on your definition of "punk" but we're talking about the late 70s phenomenon primarily in the UK, the most famous protagonists of which were The Sex Pistols.

In their original line-up Captain Sensible started out as The Damned's bass player but when they reformed in 1979 (first punk band to split, first to reform...) he took over on lead guitar duties and occasional keyboards.

Over the years they have had numerous line-up changes but the funny thing is that whoever is playing somehow the songs always sound quintessentially "Damned". I think they've had something like six drummers, eight bassists, six guitarists but only the one vocalist in Dave Vanian (although he has been known to go AWOL over the years).

Their current line-up has been in place for about five years and they are one of the best bands on the live circuit today. Last night at London's Carling Islington Academy I attended their album launch gig, celebrating the release of their latest album "So Who's Paranoid?" where they played a two-hour set of old and new songs all of which sounded fantastic.

Captain has been playing ESP LTD Viper guitars for the last eight years or so, but I thought his new white ESP LTD Viper 1000 Deluxe equipped with Seymour Duncan Custom-5 pickups and gold hardware sounded great and looked great under the stage lights. The design is obviously derived from Gibson's SG although the body has been skewed into an offset shape like Fender's Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars.

Sensible is a very much under-rated guitar player. I think people don't take him seriously because The Damned are known as a punk band (although they are much more sophisticated than that) and because back in the 1980s Captain also had a solo career as a pop star and even made No.1 in the UK with "Happy Talk", a cover version of the song from the soundtrack of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific". What a lot of people don't realise is that this guy is a very talented musician. I remember being blown away by his playing on 1979's "Machine Gun Etiquette" album (give "Plan 9 Channel 7" a spin), and if you're not impressed by his solo on "Under The Floor Again" (on 1982's "Strawberries") then you must have been lobotomised.

Blackbird Rider Nylon Carbon Fibre Guitar

Those who read my report of the London Guitar Show 2008 may remember my enthusiasm for an all-graphite acoustic guitar from the Rainsong brand.

Another company building carbon fibre guitars are Blackbird Guitars who launched the Rider Steel String guitar last year. Sporting a radical design, its small size, resistance to humidty and almost indestructability make it a perfect although not inexpensive choice as a travel guitar. It should be pretty lightweight too.

Now blackbird have announced its nylon-strung counterpart, the Blackbird Rider Nylon. It's a similar design although the body appears somewhat fatter and squatter that the Rider Steel. Just like the steel string, the Rider Nylon has a hollow neck and an additional soundhole in the headstock. I've not heard this in action but in theory it sounds like a brilliant idea. Having played that other carbon fibre guitar I can imagine that the Blackbird would be extremely resonant.

It's a lovely piece of design, but I think it's out of my price range.

Hollowbody Fretless Bass

Here's quite an attactive looking hollowbody fretless bass on eBay. It's looks like it's seen some use and has a fair few knocks and dings but I think these add to its charm.

The seller doesn't know what brand the bass is and thinks it might be a Mosrite or Hohner from the 1960s. Well, fretless basses were virtually unheard of before Jaco Pastorius popularised them in the 1970s, so I think he's got the wrong decade there, and I also believe that this bass is a USA-made Bartell (a company allegedly set-up by ex-Rickenbacker employee Paul Barth) as I have found a very similar bass also for sale on eBay (pictured below).

Magnatone Lap Steel Guitar

I think that on a casual glance you could be forgiven for not realising that this
Magnatone Lap Steel is even a guitar. It's one of the most un-guitar-like guitars I have ever seen.

Actually, I'd even question it being a lap steel. Even without having a headstock, it still appears to be quite a substantial piece of gear. Possibly it's supposed to have legs attached, as it looks too hefty to play on the lap.

Quick Quiz Answer: It's a BANJO!!!

Oh yes indeed! That Fender-esque 6-in-a-line headstock belongs to a six-string banjo. Who would have thought it?

To be precise, it's a Conard six-string banjo otherwise known as a guitar banjo as it's a banjo in guitar format - six strings, guitar tuning. It's an ususual headstock for a banjo, and looks like it would be more at home on the end of a solid bodied electric guitar. I'd bet that not many of you would even have guessed this headstock was on an acoustic instrument let alone a banjo!

This looks like rather a nice neck actually. I have a six-string banjo and the neck is awful - the strings are parallel along its entire length which doesn't help playing higher up the neck.

Soviet Russia's finest! Tonika Guitar and Sovtek Amp

Back in January of this year I featured a Soviet-era Russian-made Tonika bass, so how could I pass up this opportunity to feature its 6-string counterpart, the Tonika guitar?

These are weird-shaped beasties, for sure. You have to wonder about the thought processes that gave birth to this bizarre design.

Lovers of vintage tube amps might like to know that the same seller is also selling the Sovtek MIG-50 amp featured in the photo.

Quick Quiz: What is this?

I know how you guys love these quizzes, so here's another.

Please identify this instrument from the headstock pictured here.

Answers in the comments please.

FIVE pickups on a Strat?

This is one of those "WHY?" guitars.

This Strat-a-like guitar has been fitted with two additional pickups, and wired up so that the 5-position switch can select only one of each of the five pickups at a time. I can't imagine this would be very useful at all. On/off switches for each pickup would surely have been a better idea allowing you to choose pickups in each and every combination you could desire. As it is, it's very silly.

Note also that the seller also has committed the cardinal sin of putting a Fender decal onto the headstock of this non-Fender guitar. It's about time people stopped this illegal and dishonest practice. I don't care if he points out in the listing that it's not actually a real Fender guitar. If it's not a real Fender then the Fender logo does not belong on it. End of story.

I'm still looking for that picture of a Strat with nine pickups.