Apr 08
Die-hard musicians might scoff at the idea of the guitar pick
Jan 23
Line 6, the well-regarded guitar gear manufacturer that just sold to Yamaha, has a new guitar amp that’s going to give tube traditionalists—like me!—a migraine. Bluetooth?! iOS app? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. OK, but let’s not be luddites for the hell of it. What’s Line 6’s new Amplifi got to offer?
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Oct 29
For as far back as we are able to look into the prehistory of the human race, music has been a crucial part of the life of humans. Some scholars even speculate that human music may have come before language. From the beginning, people living in little groups sang and danced to self-made music. Drums and pipes were readily developed, and even today they can be found in use, still often hand-made, in every culture anywhere in the world where simple communities gather for group celebrations.
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Oct 24
“Judas!” cried someone from the carpeted, block-strewn floor. Mrs. Felton, the third grade teacher, looked at the kids with contempt.
“I don’t believe you!” she yelled.
Felton turned to her band – Alicia, Timmy, and little Sheldon Cho – and strummed her $150 electric Loog guitar forcefully, stalking across the room like a lion enraged.
“You’re a liar,” she screamed. Another strum along the Loog’s three strings. She played open chords because they were easier for the kids to learn. Sheldon was playing his blue electric Loog and Timmy was on the mini-xylophone. Alicia was warming up her recorder.
“Play it totally super loud!” she yelled, nearly cursing.
“Please!” she added.
She began to sing:
A-tisket a-tasket
A green and yellow basket
I wrote a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it.
The crowd went wild. Mrs. Felton had finally gone electric, bringing rock and roll to the benighted halls of PS 103 in the Bronx. Although arguments raged for years over the true value of electric guitars in grade-school rock, one thing was clear: the new electric Loogs – a mere two years after the launch of the first, acoustic Loog guitars for kids – were an absolute hit. A new, easy-to-learn, child-centric guitar sound was born and grade school would never be the same.
Oct 04
In order to put our money where our hype is we like to take a closer look at Kickstarter products we’ve talked about on the site. Today we have the Bohemian Guitar Company’s “oil can” guitars, a Kickstarter project that raised $54,000 – $20K over their $32,000 goal. The company, based in Georgia, just started shipping their cleverly-designed gitfiddles and I got the chance to try one out.
The guitars have a single pickup controlled by a set of volume and tone dials. A wooden bridge at the bottom and a nice maplewood neck that continues into the oil can body. The body itself is ostensibly recycled and repainted and adds an excellent bit of twang to your picking. The machine heads are serviceable – the ones I tested were a little tight – and the pickup, while simple, seems to be nicely placed for resonance and sound quality.
How does it sound? Take a listen. Excuse the quality here – I’m not a good guitarist.
Generally you will get a twangier sound out of this guitar and it resonates enough to even act as a sort of steel acoustic. I’m positive a superior guitarist can use the unique body to positive effect. I showed it to Charlie Appicella of Iron City Jazz who found it playable and light, if a little too cute for his purposes as a professional jazz guitarist. That said there’s no shame in bringing this thing out especially if you’re a surf or country band and want a little Bo Diddley-like authenticity.
The guitars now cost $299 and a portion of the proceeds go to charity to help spread a love of music in children. It’s a noble goal and it looks like the team, Adam and Shaun Lee, have succeeded in building a business with the Kickstarter push. Most of the models are currently sold out and they’re working on their Boho line – complete with hipster-ish can designs – as we speak. It’s an interesting end to a compelling and surprisingly cool project.
Jul 10
When we last saw Moniker Guitars they were trying to raise $50,000 to fund a custom guitar business. Now, three months and $60K later, they’ve beaten their goal and are now selling their axes online.
The biggest differentiator at Moniker is their online guitar configurator that lets you create your own custom ax in any shape, color, or style. They’re also adding graphics and text, should you want to put your bands name boldly on the body.
The founders Kevin Tully and Dave Barry were looking for backers to help fund the first few fiddles off their assembly line. Now they’re offering entry-level models for about $900 and, depending on your paint job and parts you request, they can run into the $1500 range. However, given that this is a custom, hand-made guitar build by two dudes in Austin, Texas, it makes at least a little economic sense.
What’s truly interesting, however, is that the company is almost fully crowdfunded. They launched in 2012 and this initial investment pushed them into business. Whereas the traditional guitar maker would probably have to get a loan for parts and equipment, Moniker simply asked customers to pre-order, create a great product, and raised capital for sandpaper and saws without bank involvement. It is, in short, a brand new way of building a business. It’s not the first crowdfunding success stories by far, but it’s certainly one of the coolest.
In fact, it’s heartwarming enough to make you want to play a power ballad on a crowded tour bus while swigging Jack Daniels with four other men with questionable taste in hairstyles.
Jun 13
Remember Paul Vo?
Posted in: Today's ChiliRemember Paul Vo? He’s the genius who invented a little black box that makes acoustic guitars sound otherworldly by changing the physics of how strings vibrate
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Mar 28
Austin-based Moniker Guitars is running a Kickstarter campaign to create a line of semi-hollow-body guitars for discerning git-fiddlists. The company will offer their first guitars for a $700 pledge, not bad for a hand-made guitar from rockabilly city.
The company is looking for $50,000 to start and they’ve just passed the $6,000 mark.
The company already customizes solid-body guitars and hopes that the fund will help them build a line of semi-hollow-body models.
“Through our online guitar configurator you can choose your guitar’s shape, paint colors and parts, as well as add custom text and graphics; all at the price of an off-the-shelf guitar,” write founders Kevin Tully and Dave Barry. Moniker began in Austin in 2012.
“The money we hope to raise will go towards the tools and equipment needed to efficiently manufacture these guitars at our shop in Austin,TX. An efficient manufacturing process means we’ll be able to create high quality, yet affordably priced, semi-hollow guitars. We also need help funding the materials needed to produce these guitars on a larger scale. These materials include wood, primer, sandpaper paint, clearcoat, guitar parts, etc.”
The luthiers do most of their work in Austin and for a pledge of $350 they’ll strip and repaint your current guitar with a new color. You can also get a White Stripes-esque red and white model for $900. $2,400 gets you a lesson in guitar-smithing with the guys at Moniker.
As it gets easier to make things overseas it’s refreshing to see these guys attempting to build a local company. Customization is a hard job and it makes sense to keep the gear, supplies, and workers close to the consumer.
Jan 24
This Orange amp, called the OPC, isn’t like other guitar amps. Instead of being little more than a jumped-up loudspeaker, this thing packs more computational grunt than your main computer. More »
Nov 12
It may not be the first USB guitar, but this USB version of the Squire Stratocaster is the first one you’re going to find available from the Apple Store. A joint effort between Fender and Apple, this guitar can get you you shredding in GarageBand. More »
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