Submitted by guitar-list on
This is a prototype instrument from Mr Hayashi, the inventor behind the Atlansia brand. It is a seven string but that is just the start of its weirdness. The frets are fanned (rather than perpendicular to the fingerboard) so you would have different intervals for each string - maybe this improves intonation. The bridge and tremolo unit look unique as far as I can tell; looks like the tuners are on the bridge as well. I don’t know what the wooden block is for, but it looks heavy. Maybe you would play this standing up like a double bass, or perhaps laid flat like a keyboard.
There is lots of other good stuff on the Atlansia site, take a look at this self made camera for example.