Here’s a bit of guitar tech for you. A University of Maryland professor and a couple of students have formed a guitar company, Coil Guitars, based around their innovations in guitar switches and electronics.

In a nutshell, they’ve created a way to increase the number of tones from a set of humbuckers well beyond what normal guitar electronics can do, and they’ve done so with a minimum number of controls. What makes them unique is that they’re concentrating on the guitar’s on-board electronics as opposed to modifying the signal after the fact like every amp modeler and effects rack does.

The Washington Post posted an article about the new guitars today:

Here’s how Jacob, 43, describes the sounds a guitar makes: “If you have a bunch of paints, you can create any paint you want from the three or four fundamental colors. With guitars, it’s the exact same thing. You can make any sound you want out of three or four colors. But most guitars have one color.”

So, the University of Maryland engineering professor decided to create a better guitar, attacking an elusive aesthetic problem with a series of math equations, a circuit board and wiring. He and a couple of his students crammed a dizzying number of variables into a simple product that he hopes will allow any player to capture just the tone desired.

Interesting stuff, but I think selling guitars is a mistake. Coil should decouple the technology from the guitar itself. There are a million brands of guitar out there and a million ways to modify tone. As a new company, Coil will be hard pressed to distinguish itself as a great guitar manufacturer, especially in this economy. It seems to me that they’d be better off leading with their strength: innovative electronics. Sell it as a system I can put in my own guitar.

Why? Because if their guitars get bad or even mediocre reviews or they aren’t to my liking as a consumer (perhaps because I want the electronics in a top-shelf guitar instead of the middle-of-the-road $1K models they offer) I’ll never buy the electronics, which is, after all, what they’re really trying to sell.

Better yet, why not get in touch with an established manufacturer, perhaps someone unique like Parker or the new Steinberger and work out a deal to install the electronics in their guitars?

The Wall Street Journal has an article posted today about Martin’s honorable approach to avoiding layoffs at their factory and managing to sell some guitars in this troubled economy.

Workers at C.F Martin & Co. are putting finishing touches on the solid-wood 1 Series model, so named for its simplicity. It lacks inlay, as did the company’s stripped-down 1930s model, and is expected to sell for less than $1,000, breaking a key price point and far less than its $100,000 limited-edition guitars made of Brazilian rosewood. More popular Martins generally sell for $2,000 to $3,000.

Initial reaction is promising. The company, which had sales of $93 million last year, introduced the 1 Series in April and promptly sold out its first year’s output of 8,000 guitars.

“We needed something so we wouldn’t have to start laying people off,” says Chris Martin, the company’s chief executive and sixth generation of his family to lead the closely held company, which was founded in 1833 in New York City. Martin employs about 575 workers, who make 52,000 guitars a year, at the plant here. It has another factory in Mexico that makes beginner guitars.

I think I misinterpreted their intentions when the Series 1 was first announced. My laminate DX1 was likely made in Mexico and would thus not help retain factory staff here in the U.S. So, if this is what it takes, more power to them!

This nice looking Hofner Senator hollowbody once owned by John Lennon sold at a Christie’s auction July 1st for a cool £205,250 ($335,214 currently).

A letter from George Harrison was included with the guitar (seems auctionable in its own right, no?) proving its pedigree.

(via examiner.com)

For the Americans: Happy Independence Day! For everyone else? Happy random Saturday!

A Minnesota jury has found Minnesota mother of four, Jammie Thomas, guilty of copyright infringement. She’s on the hook for $1.92 MILLION dollars for illegally downloading and sharing 24 songs, available on iTunes and Amazon for $.99.

The verdict, coming after two days of testimony and about five hours of deliberations, was a mixed victory for the RIAA, which has brought more than 20,000 lawsuits in the last four years as part of its zero-tolerance policy against pirating. The outcome is likely to embolden the RIAA, which began targeting individuals in lawsuits after concluding the legal system could not keep pace with the ever growing number of file-sharing sites and services.

“This is what can happen if you don’t settle,” RIAA attorney Richard Gabriel told reporters outside the courthouse. “I think we have sent a message we are willing to go to trial.”

Wow, what a tool. That’s what you say after ruining the financial future of a woman and her 4 children over 24 crappy mp3 files? Really?

I wonder how much of that money Richard and the RIAA will give to the artists? Here’s what the high-powered array of Guitarbalooga supercomputers predicts: $0.

Update: July 4, 2009

Looks like Jammie is going to appeal this verdict.

It’s official: Jammie Thomas-Rasset intends to appeal her case, one of her lawyers told CNET News on Wednesday.

“She’s not interested in settling,” attorney Joe Sibley said in a brief phone interview. “She wants to take the issue up on appeal on the constitutionality of the damages. That’s one of the main arguments–that the damages are disproportionate to any actual harm.”

Good for her. The RIAA’s strategy is backfiring in a big way and earning them thousands in pointless fees and untold bad publicity. She’s risking a great deal by doing this. If she loses, she’ll face bankruptcy, which is no small thing and something she’ll have to explain time and time again to claw her way out of the bad-credit hole.

This case is a pissing contest that no one will win regardless of the verdict. Oh, except the lawyers.

Speaking of Steve Vai… He offered a tribute of sorts to the late-great Michael Jackson on June 27 at the Meinl Guitar Festival in Germany. Here is Steve Vai  with Andy Timmons covering Beat It:

(via musicradar.com)

Steve Vai has picked his favorite Guitar Idol finalist–and it’s not the winner, Jack Thammarat. I actually like this one better as well. The composition is more interesting and his guitar playing is a bit quirky and angular, a quality I love. Here’s Daniele Gottardo playing Cardiology:

Sorry to hear about Michael Jackson–one of the best Eddie Van Halen best solos was on Beat It. Regardless of the controversies, you gotta give the guy his due. He was a monster musical figure. Godspeed, Michael.

Here’s a link to that great tune (embedding is disabled).

Over at NPR.com, Tom Cole posted a nice tribute to Ventures guitarist Bob Bogle, complete with “Walk, Don’t Run” for streaming:

The Ventures will always be remembered for Walk, Don’t Run and an early-’60s West Coast rock sound. The influence of Walk, Don’t Run is HUGE. While few guitarists could master the smooth alternate picking of the Johnny Smith original or the distinctive fingerwork of Chet Atkins’ remake, The Ventures provided a way in for every kid who touched an electric guitar in the early 1960s.

The Ventures became known as The Band That Launched a Thousand Bands. Every budding guitarist I knew in junior high could pick out a rudimentary version of Walk, Don’t Run.

Here’s a little treat for you–an interview with the master, Steve Vai. Steve recently gave a master class in London and released Naked Tracks, a great gift to guitarists in my opinion.

Great long interview with Ed over at Spinner.com in which Ed talks about his sobriety and how it has affected his playing. Booze worked on him to the point where it became the necessary rocket sauce that allowed him to visit that place where he felt most comfortable playing:

It takes me a good hour to loosen up my fingers and I always just leave the DAT tape rolling or something, or a cassette, anything, and after two and a half, three hours, you kind of get into a zone that I’m kind of relearning because I’m not drinking anymore. When I used to drink, it would get me there quicker. It’s kind of the zone where you’re not thinking, where you’re just open to anything and I just believe that when you play long enough you’re able to execute with your fingers, whatever God gives you, and God’s not gonna give you nothing if you don’t practice or play. So after a couple, three hours, God says, “OK, he’s ready. I’ll throw him a bone.” And God’s got a sense of humor, too — sometimes he gives me s—, ’cause not everything I do I like.

I can’t imagine how hard that must be/have been for him to deal with over the years: booze is killing me, but I have to drink to do what I do. I’m glad he’s for now broken that cycle. Keep it up, Ed.

Slide guitar master Arlen Roth has a great standard-tuning slide-guitar lesson posted at Gibson.com:

Playing slide guitar in standard tuning – as opposed to an open chord tuning – is very different, and quite difficult because you have to take extra care in damping the strings. When you play slide in an open chord tuning, you always have that chord to go back to. Unfortunately, that’s not the case in standard tuning.

As you’ll see in this lesson, the chord positions are few and far between in standard tuning, but they do exist. Particularly for the G (or A) position, the Em position, and of course, the top two strings which are consistent with what you’re usually doing in E tuning.

The new Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, AZ, scheduled to open next spring, just purchased a $35,000 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop, similar to the one pictured to the left. The guitar is likely one of the first 60 Les Pauls ever made. The Musical Instrument Museum bought the rare Les Paul from Lynn Wheelwright, an instrument collector from Clearfield, Utah.

The early Les Pauls, first produced in 1952, then all called Goldtops because of their gold metallic finishes, were different than later models. They had thicker bodies, no binding on the neck, different pickup mounting, and a trapeze tailpiece (the kind of long bridge that some jazz guitars have).

The museum will display the guitar in a unique exhibit in which a familiar instrument is presented in 25 variations.

(via azcentral.com)

AcousticGuitar.com is giving away a sweet-looking Martin MC-28 Steve Howe Special Edition acoustic:

This year, Howe and C.F. Martin & Co. collaborated to create a new model inspired by the early 1980s MC-28, the one Martin that’s been a mainstay in Howe’s guitar rack for decades. The MC-28 is notable for its grand auditorium cutaway body, oval soundhole, 22-fret fingerboard, and superb tone, and Howe suggested it be the starting point for the MC-38 Steve Howe Special Edition.

Retaining the East Indian rosewood of its inspiration, the MC-38 also features a Carpathian spruce top that provides remarkable responsiveness and power. Forward-shifted 5/16-inch scalloped top braces enhance clarity and dynamic range. Style 42 abalone pearl snowflake position markers begin at the fifth fret on the African black ebony fingerboard, with Steve Howe’s signature inlaid in mother of pearl between the 21st and 22nd frets. White Style 45 bridge and endpin are inlaid with abalone pearl dots. A mother of pearl Yin/Yang symbol is nestled on the polished ebony head plate. The low profile 111/16-inch (at the nut) neck with a square slotted headstock and diamond volute is carved from genuine mahogany.

I really like the looks of this guitar. It’s got a touch of Maccaferri to it that I like. Entry deadline is Sept. 30, 2009.

Haven’t had an eye-candy post in a while. Here’s an interesting design from student Yi-Luen Tan, who created the “Reverse Guitar.”

Not an entirely new concept, of course, but I sort of like the headstock.

(via stylecrave.com)