“Tone wood is so important in guitars.” Except when it’s not.
I get, it makes a difference. It even makes an audible difference (to some people). It doesn’t make that big of a difference with gain cranked and balls to the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEraRQ6MBCQ
<sarcasm> This guy does some science crap and he’s really condescending too, so you know he’s good:</sarcasm>
I certainly don’t need another guitar. I’m always looking at them though. There are just so many different kinds out there, and I can appreciate almost all of them. Some I actually sort of drool over, & eventually I end up with one. I don’t think 13 Guitars in 2013 will ever become a reality. I can always add cool guitars to my Pinterest board, right?
These are some that I’m always thinking about…
Epiphone USA Map Guitar
Like this…
The Epiphone USA Map Guitar – It has to be ridiculously cumbersome to play, but no more than my Galveston B.B. Stone. The brown finish is neat, but I’d love it to look like an old-school pastel textbook map of the USA. They pop up on ebay every once in a while, but none are ever priced low enough that I feel it’s a “must buy” because I’ll never see the same deal again. There are other companies that make them too. I’m not picky, I just like the shape & the idea. It would certainly be a fun one on stage.
Fernandes Ravelle
Deluxe
The Fernandes Ravelle – I’d like any of them really, but the green Dave Kushner model is awesome. I dig the green color, and the sweet pick guard with holes in it. I love how it takes the classic Les Paul shape, and makes it a little Alien. The curves are awesome. I dig the sound too, on the Velvet Revolver albums & live show. I’ve seen a few in action at shows around here, but I’ve only seen one for sale at Guitar Center in Robinson. I almost dropped more money than I could afford on it… it was only around $500 which seemed reasonable. Sadly, I made a sound financial decision that day.
Fretlight Guitar
Fretlight® Guitar – It seems like it would just be really fun to play with one. I might even learn a scale other than the pentatonic with one. I like the old school one with the knobs & switches. I don’t know if I’d even gig out with it, unless you could program it to make a cool light show or spell out the name of your band or something tasteless & offensive on the fretboard. Maybe even the word “POOP” because, well, that’s always funny.
Hallmark Guitars Wing-Bat
Hallmark Guitars Wing-Bat – Or the George Barris Batman guitar. I’ll probably never have enough money to own this thing, but it sure is cool. No Batmobile beats the 60’s Batmobile… and this thing looks like it was in the trunk all along. If anyone has one that needs a good home, let me know. I’ll play it & take care of it quite well. I’d gig out with it too. It’s a shame when these collector guitars hit a shelf somewhere never to be played again.
DIPinto Mach IV
DiPinto Mach IV – One of my favorite guitars playersplays one of these sweet-looking axes. It’s very eye-catching. It’s almost like a Mosrite, but not quite. Gel from The Eyeliners is one hell of a guitar player, & the reason I want one. I’m generally not a fan of red guitars, but with this… I’d like a red one.
Annihilator
Annihilator copy by Oktober Guitars – I’m not nearly as cool as Doyle, but I’d love to play one… being a Misfits Fiend for all these years. I’m not sure I’ll ever have $600 lying around for a guitar that I wouldn’t play all the time.
I do also want a bunch of other stuff that’s not so specific. I’d love to have a hollowbody, something like an Ibanez Artstar/Artcore or Epiphone Flamekat. I’d love a custom Millennium Falcon guitar. I’d love one of Tom Bingham’s creations like the Record guitar or suitcase guitar. I like weird stuff, like the Bigfoot Guitar or the Electric Ant Farm guitar.
I’d like a translucent guitar. I did want one of those lime green BC Rich models that were out a while back. They had them in Warlock, Bich or Mockingbird styles, but I’m not sure I could pull that off. I’d also like a see-through Galveston (or any “off “brand) Les Paul or Telecaster. A translucent guitar with LED’s in it would be incredibly fun.
I would like a Fender Toronado or Gibson Firebrand too. Maybe any sort of double-neck or even a 6-string banjo. I’m sure there are other guitars out there that I want that I just don’t know about.
Check out my Guitars Board on Pinterest for an ever-evolving list.
What’s on your wish-list?
This is why I don’t design guitars.
This is my new Tetris. (Thankfully I’ve never had a phone cool enough to play Angry Birds.) Online guitar builders are popping up like mad, and now there’s a contest for making the ugliest one over at Joe Gore’s Tone Fiend blog:
Go try your luck at making the worst! There is some serious competition over there. Sadly, I like some of the “bad” color schemes. I guess I do like goofy guitars after all. (You may remember the mutant beauty pageant.)
I even used one of the guitar builders to help plan out my Turner’s Iced Tea guitar idea.
Poorly Thrown Together Iced Tea Guitars
Matt at Guitar WTF has also posted a great list of virtual guitar builders in the past. Some are great, some are not so great. They all seem to have some bugs as well as some great qualities.
I’ll list the ones I know about:
Are there any glaring omissions?
I’m fully expecting one of these to pop upon the Guitarz blog one day. None are as crazy as the Tom Bingham stuff or Bertram’s, though.
I still haven’t seen a virtual guitar builder that can do this though. I did a Google image search for ‘Tetris Guitar’ and came up short. This was the next best thing. It would be cool if it still worked to play video games. Really though, $190 is a very reasonable price. If I had $200 to spare, I’d get one of these.
This is a killer axe. I’d love to attempt a build like this. The only problem is that I have no skills. I guess I have to try a build in order to gain the skills. Watch the videos where Tom makes it looks incredibly easy.
Tom Bingham | Vinyl Record Guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA9s22Vkc3I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uB5oI1woFA
Check out some still photos here: Guitar List | Tom Bingham Vinyl Record Guitar
This rocks too:
In fact, dude has a TON of cool guitars made, like a chess board one, a cricket bat one, a Millennium Falcon one, and more …
That cigar-box doubleneck is badass.
Mr. Bingham appears to make these for fun & the sake of art. The only official online presence is his YouTube channel: MrSambollet
World (and Lunar) Domination 