| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Mainkaukau
Lokahi
USA
245 Posts |
 Posted - 08/29/2006 : 06:20:36 AM
|
Double neck guitars are old hat, so make way for the Pikasso, a 42-sting guitar that was borne out of a challenge to make a guitar with "as many strings as possible." The guitar has four necks and two sound holes, plus enough pizzaz to wow even the most "woe-is-me" emo kid on the block. Interestingly, the guitar makes use of a design element called "the wedge," which tapers the size of the guitar so that it's thinnest where it presses up against the guitarist's body. This gives the guitarist a better look at the fret board so he knows what he's doing. I'm sure that once you've gotten the hang of playing a 42-stinged, four-necked guitar you can probably pick and a play your counterfeit Les Paul like a pro.
The Pikasso, which took two years, or some 1,000 man-hours to build, can actually be heard on a number of recordings by Pat Metheny. Apparently, he's pretty good.
|
|
|
Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2006 : 09:24:46 AM
|
Actually, Sarah and I talked to the luthier who made that, Linda Manzer, and we played her more usual guitars guitars at Newport Guitar Fest a couple of weeks ago.
And, yes, Pat Metheny is more than pretty good.
Manzer invented the wedge shaped guitar (for ergonomic reasons - it fits under the right arm in a very comfy way), but never patented it or anything, but did TM the name. Now that so many luthiers copy her, nobody knows that she did it first. She has so many orders that she hasn't been taking any new ones for a couple of years, but she said that she would open her list in another year or 2. Her guitars cost lots, BTW.
Her guitars are really made for pros. You have to work at getting the 6th string to sound out, for instance, because guys like Metheny work hard with their right hands getting the sounds they want. While we were talking to her after bringing one of her guitars back to her table, a guy I know, who owns a high end guitar shop, and was wooing Manzer to represent her (he spent over an hour with her) took the guitar out of my hands and beat the heck out of it and it sounded fine. He used to have a pro guitar/singing act with his wife and *was* a pro. In particular, he used the entire side of his right thumb to make the 6th string move about a half inch. I guess that is the way you gotta do it.
Her web site is:
http://www.manzer.com/
...Reid |
 |
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
