Strange Looking Guitars

To the general public, the art of guitar craft seems like a done deal--an understandable impression, when Fender and Gibson are seen as the two major brands. But renegade guitar makers have long entertained other ideas--beginning with the emergence of so-called "harp guitars" over 200 years ago. To these iconoclastic tinkerers, nothing is off-limits--bodies, necks and materials have all undergone drastic alterations. Some of these departures, like Prince's glyph-shaped guitar, have caught the public fancy, while others wound up consigned to the curiosity pile. Regardless of intent, though, these experiments fall under the banner of pushing the six-stringed limits--a desire that shows no signs of stopping.

History

Up close and personal: a Dobro guitar.

As any guitar craft buff knows, strange-looking instruments aren't a new phenomenon--a fact borne out more than 200 years ago, when the first harp guitars emerged. The term is somewhat of a misnomer, stemming from the particular body shape involved, yet sounding nothing like a harp. Instead, the player hit or plucked additional unstopped strings, a move that opened up the tonal possibilities. Amplification experiments also greatly influenced the form--and shape--that guitars assumed. The 1920s and 1930s-era acoustic blues scenes gained momentum from the introduction of the Dobro--whose aluminum body, outfitted with resonator plates, and significantly boosted its volume without the need for electric amplification, for which demand would only increase in the post-World War II era.

Time Frame

Jimi Hendrx relaxing with one of the classic '60s guitars--the Flying V.

The technology-crazed 1950s and 1960s brought about the next unlikely evolution in guitar technology. The search for cutting edge innovation led to Gibson's revival of its Flying V, which it had discontinued in 1959, due to poor sales. So named for its resemblance to a "flying letter V," players like the Kinks' lead guitar slinger, Dave Davies, Jimi Hendrix and bluesman Lonnie Mack quickly became converts--partially due to a powerful sound stemming from a headstock angled at 17 degrees to improve the sustain. Not to be outdone, Vox responded in 1964 with its Mark III--so named for its pentagonal shape, and popularized by Rolling Stones frontman Brian Jones. Vox, in fact, created some of the era's most memorable instruments. These included the Scorpion, an X-shaped, nine-string bass guitar, and the Mando Guitar, which blended a mandolin and 12-string guitar. Among its spectacular flops were the Guitar-Organ, which--as its name implied--looked a guitar, yet generated Vox Phantom keyboard sounds when its users started strumming.

Types

Cheap Trick's Rick Nielsen (left) with his five-necked guitar.

With the 1980s established as an era of wilful excess, the guitar increasingly became an extension of its owner, forsaking the '60s and '70s search for the perfect tone. Relevant examples included the five-stringed colossus that Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen has used throughout his career--it can briefly be seen in the video for the band's 1988 power ballad, "The Flame"--as well as the glyph-shaped guitars that Prince incorporated into his arsenal. Not to be left behind, Parliament/Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins commissioned a special star-shaped instrument that--appearances aside--combined a mahogany body and a maple neck to pack a greater wallop into his sound. Heavy rock musicians also took advantage of this phenomenon to design basses shaped like axes--as Gene Simmons did with his Punisher signature model, for example--or even a Jack Daniels bottle, which Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony conceived in a sly nod to his favorite tipple.

Effects

Although guitars remained the primary focus, bassists didn't stay out of the derby for long. In 1979, Ned Steinberger began to produce the bass bearing his name today--one that eliminated a headstock for tuning. Instead, the Steinberger's design held the strings in place at the top with balls on the end, and special microemeter tunings. The Steinberger design further stood out from the crowd through its melding of carbon and graphite material, something its inventor touted as necessary to ensure an even tonal response and immediate note attack. As this example demonstrates, the reception accorded to these innovations depended greatly on their inventors' moods and business acumen.

Benefits

One of rock's most famous strange-looking guitars--played by Prince.

All the debate about strangely-shaped guitars obscures why their creators bother in the first place, and why their six-, five- and four-stringed A-list clients make such requests--ultimately, every creative tweaking of shapes and sounds pushes the guitar a little bit further than ever before. A classic example is the Model C series, complete with sustain bow, that German technician Jerry Auerswald designed for Prince's brooding rock, funk and soul forays. The bow provided greater sustain, yet gave the neck greater stability, locking down the tuning through its headless design. Small wonder, then, that one of Auerswald's next projects became the famous glyph-shaped "symbol" guitar that remains associated with the Purple One to this day. In the end, these kinds of innovations enable topflight players to push their instruments to the limit, and widen their sonic palette--a surprisingly traditional affirmation of the creative spirit.

Resources

• A Brief History Of The Guitar
• What Is A Harp Guitar?
• voxguitar.net