The future of guitar design

[Larryz]

You're probably right on how the magic baby grand gets the correct song WP (ie. just by voice instruction) and I have to agree I wouldn't buy the guitar version if it's invented some day...but I still think about picking up the mini Yamaha grand that can play your favorite artist to include their inflections off of your input selections...some rich singers use them to practice at home...and they might be very entertaining at parties when noone knows how to play the darn thing...I'm going to see if there are any out there and what they go for used??? might even check with the keyboard dudes...I know it's just an old player piano concept, but today's version sounds more like a real pro backing you up and I just can't stop thinking about it...

[dv8.Maker]

The two most unique I could think of are Parker and Flaxwood. Both play around with unusual materials and have a less than standard shape. The Parker I tried sounded amazing, however it didn't have a great feel (I would describe it as rather COLD). The Flaxwoods also sound great, but by the time I tried that out I was already sold on another beauty.

 

http://www.flaxwood.com/models/

 

[Winston Psmith]

There's a less elegant, but probably cheaper, workaround, Larryz - any decent MIDI keyboard should be able to play SMF's (Standard MIDI Files), which have been the digital version of piano rolls for some time now. There are other Digital Pianos that are more affordable, if less impressive, than the DisKlavier.

[picker]

dv8.Maker, Parkers take some getting used to, but once you have the feel of them, they are quite amazing guitars. I had one that I really liked, and I had to sell it. I still miss it. It was maybe the best guitar I ever owned.

[Eric Iverson]

As a guitar synth guy, I had to respond. Yes, playing through a Moog guitar, or a MIDI guitar requires some adjustment in technique, but the same would be true if you hand a Shredder's 7-string axe to a Bluegrass flatpicker.

 

While I don't see the point in using a guitar synth to make my solidbody sound like a nylon-string guitar, or a poor imitation of a keyboard player, using a combination of synthesis and signal processing allows me to get things out of my guitar that would be impossible otherwise - stacked polychords, triggered samples & loops, live backing tracks, and more. You could make the argument that I'm really playing some sort of hybrid system, as opposed to good old electric guitar, and I admit it, but the heart of the system is still a mahogany plank with HB's, and it still feels like a guitar in my hands - it is a guitar, it's just more.

---------

I agree heartily.

The only point to making a guitar synth sound like a nylon string or keyboard is if you only want to lug one instrument, rather than several, to a gig. Or pay a keyboard player, if you only want a part here and there.

There have been guys who have found and used new sounds on guitar synth - Holdsworth, Abercrombie, Metheny, and doubtless others. But they don't seem to use synths much anymore, for a variety of reasons.

Still, it's a valid tool, for sure. [All instruments are TOOLS to get a job done... that's what "instrument" means.]

[yonick]

I know that more than a few of you will come after me with burning torches for even thinking this, but the most influential piece of gear that I have seen pointing to the future is the $20 "Paperjamz" guitars. Notice I said "pointing to". These are toys, but it is a cardboard thin electronic guitar with triggers for about $20!!! Start with this technology and price-point and go UP,---as opposed to starting with the Moog and coming down.

[Larryz]

There's a less elegant, but probably cheaper, workaround, Larryz - any decent MIDI keyboard should be able to play SMF's (Standard MIDI Files), which have been the digital version of piano rolls for some time now. There are other Digital Pianos that are more affordable, if less impressive, than the DisKlavier.

 

thanks WP, I needed that...went on Ebay and the cheapest models out there were about 17 grand and the one I like (Kawai Rx-2 5'10") runs about 25 grand used...they get a little pricey for the top of the line 200 grand models...so me dream is ended and if I get to dreaming again, I'll check out your suggestion...

[Steve-O58]

Sorry about being late to the party, but on the subject of future guitar design, you'd think that keeping a modern day electric guitar in tune and worrying about intonation will soon be things of the past. With all the processing power, micro chips, etc. available there should be a way to constantly monitor a guitar's tuning/intonation in real time so that it always stays in the desired tuning chosen by the guitarist. Without the somewhat hokey approach of the Gibson "Robo" guitar.

[harvey]

welcome steve-058...don't be sorry! +1 on the intonation (of course my guitar could just use a decent setup)

[dvuksanovich]

I nominate the keytar...

 

http://www.prng.net/files/keytar-doing-it-wrong.jpg

 

[Winston Psmith]

With all the processing power, micro chips, etc. available there should be a way to constantly monitor a guitar's tuning/intonation in real time so that it always stays in the desired tuning chosen by the guitarist.

 

Welcome Steve-058. I get what you're saying, but you have to remember, the guitar is a - visceral instrument, unlike say, an electronic keyboard. There are, of course, on-board tuners, but as far as a mechanical system designed to keep a guitar in tune, I'm not sure.

 

Even with a purely acoustic guitar, we get much of our tone and feel by bending notes, adding some finger vibrato, tapping on the body or bridge, bending strings behind the nut - in essence, by using it wrong. Also, guitar set-ups, and the preferences of different players can vary widely, depending on style, or technique, or any combination of factors. A Stevie Ray Vaughn set-up is very different from a Carlos Santana set-up - how do you design a guitar that can accommodate both of their needs, unless it allows for individual tweaks - which is where we are right now. I can take a stock guitar and set it up to my specs, my preferences, without having to over-ride some factory spec 'auto-calibrate' function. In the GP review of the Robot Les Paul, the reviewer mentioned that the guitar didn't quite pull itself back into tune, as advertised - supposedly, it would 'learn' with continued use. Until then, you still had to fine-tune it manually - not exactly a great leap forward.

[cincy_cosmo]

Steinberger and Parker certainly come to mind. Someone mentioned the Ovation roundback guitar and I agree with that.

 

I really don't think robo-tuned Gibsons, Variaxes and VG Strats as being iconic as they are the thesame basic shape that has been around forever.

 

The Roland guitars are certainly interesting and I (emphasis I) consider them iconic, but, they are not popular enough to really be a major force. Same is true for the Fernandes Ravelle.

[Steve-O58]

RE: WPsmith

When I first responded to this thread, I guess I was thinking more along the lines of innovations and designs not currently available at this time, in sort of a "what if..?" brainstorming fashion, and I didn't articulate that very well. And I was specifically thinking about all the time spent between songs listening the guitarist(s) piddling around trying to bring the 'ol axe back into tune. Maybe from a mechanical/automated angle this is something that needs to stay in the realm of fantasy.

 

But I agree 100 percent with your reply, and at the risk of getting flamed, I'll take it a step further. While I will acknowledge that certain woods and electronics, aged and otherwise, in various combinations produce certain "signature" sounds, a guitar is a guitar is a guitar. And a guitar gets its personality from the human being playing it, not from its innovative design or cutting edge or historic electronics. Remove the human component and what do you have? Silence. As for the future, can the trusty 6/7/8....string be improved that much? Can't really say. And while I hope that the Gibson Firebird X is NOT the direction the electric guitar is headed, who knows? The next Beck/Van Halen maybe foaming at the mouth to get his/her hands on that thing!

[happydog]

I hate to think that I'm old, but I have seen some things come and go, starting with the Arp Avatar, the Roland G500 and G707, the SynthAxe and the Bond Electraglide, the Fernandes Sustainer pickup, Robot Guitars and VG's and now the Firebird X and the Moog Guitar.

 

What I have observed is that, at the end of the day, guitarists tend to return to the guitar as it exists. I don't know if, as some people say, we don't really like innovation after a certain point, or if we have a sound in our heads that was established by convention long ago that we associate with "guitar." And it might be that guitars sound pretty good the way they are, and fill a musical niche just the same way an alto sax or a bassoon does. But I notice that all the guys who played around with electronics all came back to basic guitar after a while.

 

Personally I can't think of a whole lot of innovations I would want, which sounds stupid, but there you go. I basically need a guitar to be well intonated, stay in tune, and sound good according to my ear, and after that, I'm fine.

 

As for the future, can the trusty 6/7/8....string be improved that much? Can't really say. And while I hope that the Gibson Firebird X is NOT the direction the electric guitar is headed, who knows? The next Beck/Van Halen maybe foaming at the mouth to get his/her hands on that thing!

[Scott Fraser]

What I have observed is that, at the end of the day, guitarists tend to return to the guitar as it exists. I don't know if, as some people say, we don't really like innovation after a certain point, or if we have a sound in our heads that was established by convention long ago that we associate with "guitar." And it might be that guitars sound pretty good the way they are, and fill a musical niche just the same way an alto sax or a bassoon does. But I notice that all the guys who played around with electronics all came back to basic guitar after a while.

 

As Bill Park (who has been a little too quiet around here lately) said on another forum "The new Gibson answers a question nobody asked."

[harvey]

What I have observed is that, at the end of the day, guitarists tend to return to the guitar as it exists. I don't know if, as some people say, we don't really like innovation after a certain point, or if we have a sound in our heads that was established by convention long ago that we associate with "guitar." And it might be that guitars sound pretty good the way they are, and fill a musical niche just the same way an alto sax or a bassoon does. But I notice that all the guys who played around with electronics all came back to basic guitar after a while.

 

As Bill Park (who has been a little too quiet around here lately) said on another forum "The new Gibson answers a question nobody asked."

 

 

great qoute!!!