Mikey guitars

[murphy]

Hey gang. I know this isn't tap-related but since I know there are a lot of luthiers, both shade-tree and professional, on the board here, I wanted to run this up the flagpole.

http://www.mikeyguitar.com/

Not sure how useful this this is, (especially for the price) but it's quite a clever trick he's pulled with the rotating frets. I can't quite figure out how he does this. I'm impressed.

What do you guys think?

[rjgoos]

Murphy...Murphy...you never call...you never write....

Before I comment on the Mikey Guitar.....how are you?? Still tapping the Solene? Please give us an update!!

I think the Mikey Guitar involves cool technology, but unless one is changing from fretted to fretless within a given song....I think that for $5000, one could get two guitars. Just my first thought.

But hey, you have to admire the technology.

I am guessing that it has a sort-of fret rod that rotates maybe 45 degrees, from exposing a fret rod, to exposing a portion that is milled to be level with the fretboard.

Just a guess.


Jay

[BigDaddyPoo]

This seems kinda gimmicky to me. If the instruments looked better than they do, I might be able to live with the cheese factor. But since there is nothing worth looking at and an intricate system that is likely to fail ( more likely than a regular fretboard, anyway ), I'm voting against the mikey guitar.

Mikey looks like a nice guy, though, I don't mean to diss.

...On second thought, what's more gimmiky than playing a stringed instrument like it's a piano? Oh, I'm overwhelmed by a feeling that I have been wasting my life.

sigh.

[mheintz]

As the nut and bridge do not adjust on the fly, the bass probably would not have optimal action for both modes. Given that the mechanism is inside the neck, I would guess that there is no truss rod and that maintaining the appropriate relief would be an issue.

That being said, I think that the experimentation is fantastic, and I salute their efforts. If it sounds good, then I hope the product is successful.

(On another note, Mikey should probably remove Victor's picture, unless he has Victor's permission. I don't believe that Victor endorses the product even though he did try it out.)

[murphy]

Originally posted by rjgoos
Murphy...Murphy...you never call...you never write....



Hey Goos! Thanks for remembering. I don't pass this way much anymore but I still take a peek from time to time. Glad to see it seems fairly active at the moment.

I hate to tell ya I almost never play my Solene anymore. I spend most of my practice time playing my classical guitar. I just saw Pepe Romero last week for the first time. It was great. Such an inspiration. He seems to still really love performing. Hey, he even did some tapping! You cats would have loved it.

Speaking of the Solene, Rich is cooking up the latest version and he's pretty pleased with it. He's also been really busy with life stuff so I'm not sure when he'll be in production again but I'm sure he'll update the site when he is.

Anyway, I'm doing fine. I had a scary bout with tendonitis last year but having no problems now. Still a slave to the day job. We flat out didn't have a winter in Texas this year. Very weird but I'm not complaining. I imagine a mild winter up in your neck of the woods would mean it didn't get below zero very often.

Keep up the good work in keeping the forum humming. This is a really unique community here and my hat's off to you and Ola and Traktor and everybody who keeps it vibrant.

Oh and how are ya by the way? :)

[rjgoos]

I am fine, Murph.

I have been tapping away on my Stick, and trying to build my own instruments.

Rich Eberlen, actually, is a huge inspiration to me. Forget wood, forget expensive composite materials....metal is material of the future for tapping instruments. Rich is the pioneer here. I am really happy to hear that he is pushing forward with new designs and new ideas.

Just make sure you drop in more often, OK?


Jay

[JimmyTheSaint]

Mikey's last name wants to buy a vowel.

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by rjgoos


Forget wood, forget expensive composite materials....metal is material of the future for tapping instruments.


Jay

Are you planning to build a metal tapper, jay? I'd be really interested in hearing about that.

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by GaryOpenhill
Are you planning to build a metal tapper, jay? I'd be really interested in hearing about that.

I'll take that as a 'no'.... :)

[rjgoos]

Sorry, Gary, I didn't see your reply. The answer to your question is yes, I have built three mostly-metal instruments, and the fourth will be done before spring.

Metal can be used to provide results not possible with wood:

http://www.fetishguitars.com/img/collector/lord/Gittler-BarRashi.jpg

http://home.flash.net/~solene/solview01.jpg

Of course, nothing can touch the beauty of wood.


Jay