bizarre

Guitars with unusual shapes, made from weird materials or with multiple necks. But don't dismiss these instruments as trifiling amusments, there is a spark of genuis in every one. One of these could prove to be the next Fender Strat or Gibson L.P.

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Brian Eastwood Bender Collision Bass

The body is obeche, with synthetic moulded wings to keep the weight down. The layout of the Collision is just like the Fender Precision Bass. There is also a push/pull tone knob that functions as a serial/parallel switch. The neck is made from one piece of maple with 20 well finished medium frets, and a "skunk stripe" on the rear.

Photo from www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk

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Manzer Pikasso II

We love our multiple necked guitars here at guitar-list. This one was made as a custom order for Pat Metheny by Canadian luthier Linda Manzer. Linda Manzer is also responsible for the wedge shaped acoustic: an innovation that makes the guitar more ergonomic.

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Concrete guitar

I found this one while browsing Guitar Blog , a fertile source for lovers of weird and bizarre guitars. This is a one-off concrete bodied guitar made by Parker Sloan. He made the body himself, by casting the body in a mold. The neck and other parts are from Warmoth. The whole thing weighs 7.5 lbs.

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The Swiss Army Bass

This is the musical equivalent of the Swiss Army Knife (the knife with a blade or tool for every occasion). It is the child of an unnatural coupling between an Ibanez destroyer 2 bass and a Yamaha KX-5 midi controller keyboard during the early 90s (those were crazy times - we all did things we would rather forget).

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Lego Guitar

Brian Eastwood leopard skin finished bender distortorcaster
Brian Eastwood Bender Distortorcastor

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Brian Eastwood Bender Jellycastor

A jellified version of the Fender Telecaster. Similar construction to the distortocaster with the "Fan" frets, but this time on a rosewood fingerboard. This guitar is made from swamp-ash with a figured maple neck. Utilising some innovative machining on the tuners, a near perfect straight string travel from head to bridge is achieved.

Photo from www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk

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Brian Eastwood Bender BENDEDET-"O"

This is the acoustic member of the Brian Eastwood Bender series. It has a Belcat 3-band EQ system, a tremolo, along with a Kent Armstrong HPAE-1 humbucker, the sheer choice of tones is bewildering

photo from http://www.brianeastwoodguitars.co.uk/bend.html

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Brian Eastwood bizarre guitar guru

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Guitar Robots

Guitar robots anyone? Take a look at GuitarBot – built as part of the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots (LEMUR) project by Eric Singer, Kevin Larke and David Bianciardi.

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12 necked Stratocaster

Like radioactive giraffes, guitars have been sprouting extra necks for some time now. Witness Jimmy Page's double neck SG on live versions of “Stairway To Heaven” or the guy out of Cheap Trick with his many-necked guitar. Some guitarists have exploited the extra necks to musical effect, like ambidextrous virtuoso Michael Angelo.

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Matchstick guitar

In Victorian times matchsticks were used as a sort of wooden Lego. Using small pieces as building blocks elaborate structures can be assembled, without the need for specialised woodworking tools. Using this technique Englishman Jack Hall make a guitar, mandolins, ukulele, banjo and other instruments out of matchsticks. The acoustic guitar, made in 1937, used 25,000 matchsticks.

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Bass weirdness

Weirdomatic.com have assembled a motley collection of weird bass guitars, from alt.guitar.bass , and Ed Roman's Website. Which do you think is weirdest?

Their weirdness scale appears to rely on a combination of strange body shapes (animals, fruit ), unusual finish (furry ZZ-Top style), unusual body materials (Plexiglas), and extra necks or strings.

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Guitar shaped houses

When you become a famous guitar player, why not remind everyone by living in a guitar shaped house? When the children misbehave you can send them to their rooms up in the headstock for some peace and quiet!

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The Villanizer

Thunder Eagle guitars custom made this Villanizer guitar from a Rhoads Jackson V.
With all the pipes, gears and dials this guitar looks like it was made by a Victorian inventer from a HG Wells or Jules Verne story. All it needs is a steam powered amplifier.

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NAMM 2007 oddities

Here's a line-up of the wierdest guitars on show at NAMM 2007 at www.otheroom.com.

They have everything for the bizarre guitar enthusiast. Strange shapes (skulls, tigers, eagles...), weird materials (leather, carbon fiber, antlers, injection molded Flaxwood) and double neck guitars (a split level one and a Hindu themed one).

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Wobble Steel Guitar

The following description of this bizarre guitar was posted on the Experimental Musical Instruments website. It has unique aspects to its design: the steel body resonates giving a reverby type effect.

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Les Paul coffee table

This guitar coffee table was made by self taught metal artist Timothy Adam from Grand Rapids in Michigan. It is an oversized handmade version of a Les Paul around 5 feet long, 2 feet wide and 18 inches high. Made from mild steel it has a blue tinted clear coat.

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NES Paul

Nintendo released their Entertainment System (NES) in 1985-1986. By the 1990s it's technology had been surpassed by other consoles and most NES boxes were gathering dust in cupboards or attics.

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Guitar pickup clock

Joe Hoffman made this clock in the shape of a single coil stratocaster pickup . Six nixie vacuum tubes display the time, where the pickup's magnets would be.
The top and bottom of the pickup-clock were cut out of stainless steel by the Big Blue Saw Company. You send them a design and they will cut it out using their CNC waterjet and send it back to you.