popular mechanics magazine

10th anniverSary special
BIR
TH
Extreme
guitars
< Pikasso
When jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny asked
luthier Linda Manzer to build a guitar with “as many
strings as possible”, the work took two full years. The
result: the Pikasso Guitar.
This 42-string instrument (all of them are playable) is
an obvious ode to the Spanish artist for whom it’s named.
Manzer’s own masterpiece includes ebony fingerboards,
bridges and face plates; two sound holes; and two access
doors into the guitar’s interior for repairs or amplification.
One of the instrument’s most innovative features is “The
Wedge”, a tapered body shape that makes the side closest
to its player thinner than the opposite side resting on the
player’s knee. The Wedge also increases underarm comfort
for the musician and provides a better aerial view of the
strings: the guitar leans inward towards the guitarist rather
than being parallel to the player’s body.
Along with its avant-garde design, Manzer’s awardwinning Pikasso employs a state-of-the-art piezo pickup
system with a hexaphonic pickup on the six string section.
This allows Metheny to access his Syclavier computer
system and trigger any sound, including sampled sounds.
DIY creations that push the boundaries
78
W
annabe songwriters and
rock stars alike ply their
trade on an instrument
whose basic design has barely
changed in centuries. The essential
guitar layout is familiar and
straightforward: curvy body, long
neck, six strings… that more or
less sums it up. Creative luthiers
have seldom strayed far from this
template; generally, they’ve found
electric instruments (which don’t
need an acoustic “soundbox”)
more suitable for way-out designs
such as Gibson’s Flying V.
But, for some extreme strummers
and pickers, that’s not enough.
The instruments you see on these
pages do more than play music –
they push the boundaries, resulting in amazing instruments that
need to be heard and seen.
Saving the rhino
One of several first-rate
South African luthiers,
Murray Kuun handbuilds a
range of instruments from
acoustic guitars to electric
guitars (see left) – even
violins. He is currently busy
on the Big 5 collection, and
has to date completed the
Leopard and the Rhino –
the latter being 100 per
cent made out of African
materials. His Elemental
bass is made of imbuia and
sapele; other models such
as the Modena and Dino
(do we detect a fondness
for Ferrari sports cars?)
make use of traditional
guitar woods such as birdseye and curly maple as well
as unconventional woods
such as mahogany.
Kuun is also highlighting
his environmental sensibilities with his Rhino, which
he describes as similar in
general concept to pre-war,
Depression-era guitars built
by some famous high-end
guitar companies. “The
body and neck construction
is (unusually) all-mahogany;
the hallmark of this type of
guitar is a beautifully rich,
but precise sound. This
guitar is no different, it
sounds gorgeous.” A portion of the proceeds of the
guitar’s sales will go towards
the fight to save the rhino.
POPULARMECHANICS.CO.ZA • AUGUST 2012
Villanizer X3 photos by Donna Feldman Lasky, www.shootbare.com
> B y L aura K i niry
Villainizer X3
10
DAY
To make his steampunk-style instrument,
Jeff Ritzmann first disassembled a
Jackson Randy Rhoads guitar, sanded it
down and cut its upper wing to elongate the design. He then screwed a
“gearbox” into the guitar’s body and
added equidistant screw cap covers
around the edge as rivets before texture-painting the entire thing using
faux hammered-metal techniques.
Ritzmann later filled the gearbox with
real metal gears that he cut and then
mounted (using steel brads) at varying
heights, overlapping to cause a dimensional optical illusion. The gears are
just for show, though. Ritzmann says
that they’d interfere with the guitar’s
sound if they actually moved.
After adding the jack wire – which
Ritzmann disguised as a tube – he
rust-outfitted the entire instrument
by hand, using a combined paint and
chemical process. Copper Tesla coils
and copper fittings were added last,
creating a wicked guitar that’s built
like a tank and only looks heavy.
In truth, it’s the guitar’s sustain
that’s beefed up.
Banana Bass
Steve Wishnevsky’s
Banana Bass gets its name
from its tropical yellow
exterior, which he says
was the serendipitous
result of grabbing the
first can of paint he could
find. The left-handed fretless instrument features a
solid wood neck and a
hollow body made of 3 mm
Baltic birch plywood, so
the bass is both light and
strong. Its softer sound is
most useful for recording
and acoustic jam sessions.
VIDEO > Visit www.popularmechanics.co.za to watch
a video showing the awesome Jimi Hendrix tribute guitar.
POPULARMECHANICS.CO.ZA • AUGUST 2012
79
th
10th anniverSary special
Ultrazone
Alistair Hay of Ireland’s Emerald Guitars
built the UltraZone Guitar (below) for
musician Steve Vai, whose music changed
his life. The guitar is a fully functioning
replica of the illustrated axe seen cradled
in the arms of an alien on the cover of
Vai’s 1999 album The Ultra Zone, and has
its own pod-like case.
Hay carved his six-string from a block
of rigid urethane foam using only a
Dremel multitool and sandpaper. He then
covered it with carbon fibre, employing
a wet layup process to create a strong
exoskeleton, and spliced the guitar’s
wood neck and body centre (where the
pickups are located) into the carbon
foam body, giving it a carbon skin.
The entire instrument has an outer
finish of colour-shifting Triflash paint,
adding to its biomechanical look. Exterior
add-ons come from repurposed extras
around Hay’s shop, including copper
brake pipe and electric wire that he
wrapped around the headstock. Hay
also fashioned the Alien (right and
far right).
Top Guns
Villainizer creator Ritzmann also did a guitar for the
internationally known artist T-Pain for his album
rEVOLVEr. The design includes a working revolver
chamber and bullet feed. Further exploring the
theme, he has created the Gunslinger bass.
Right now he’s working on his next model, called
Titanic. And yes, it will be a guitar based on the illfated vessel and is timed to coincide with the 100th
anniversary of its maiden voyage.
MF2
Doron Markowitz’s stellar Millennium Falcon guitar is not a toy
guitar, but rather a guitar built from a toy. The base of this
hyperspace rocker is Hasbro’s 1995 Light and Sound Edition
Millennium Falcon, complete with the toy’s built-in special
effects. Four different sounds and lights are wired up to a special volume control that powers through the amps, allowing the
musician playing it to rock laser blasts along with guitar riffs.
All the design elements reflect Star Wars’ themes: The tone
knob features the Jedi council insignia; the guitar’s camouflage
strap is straight from the uniforms of rebel forces that landed
on the moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi; and Han Solo and
Chewy action figures are even sitting in the Falcon’s cockpit.
– Additional reporting by Anthony Doman
PM
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POPULARMECHANICS.CO.ZA • AUGUST 2012