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best. guitar. ever.

By artist Peter McGilton. What an exquisite piece of work.
It's interesting that because so much mass of the guitar's body is carved away (a bare bones guitar), the entire instrument is LIVE. Touching the neck is like tapping pole pieces on the pickup. Running your fingernail over the ribs makes a sound like a xylophone. Excellent sustain. The jack is located at the end of the tailbone, and while some guitars have coil tap, this one has a spinal tap.
This would be a perfect gift for my son - it combines his two favorite things; guitars and horror. The price isn't listed but I'm sure it's equal to the GNP of a small country. Larger image Specs Update: I'm definitely looking at it from a conversation piece point of view, not for usability. I think this is something that would go in a glass case in the living room. When I win Lotto, of course.

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Comments

Great look, but I question the sustain capabilities, speaking as an expert.

Also, one single-coil pickup? It might sound pretty thin.

Of course, that wouldn't stop me from looking great with it onstage, which is not an insignificant factor. I'm funny like that.

Yep, that thing's going to cost a small fortune. Cool, but with only one single coil pickup, it's more of a conversation piece than a usable axe.

Man, while I'm checking out specs, Paul beats me by a minute!

Not that I know much about guitars, but Keith Ricards apparently once owned one made largely from lucite back in the 70's. The body portion was lucite, and the neck, or whatever you call it, was whatever they usually use. Richards claimed it had a terrific sound, but the thing was stolen from him decades ago. Given how expensive it is to have objects suspended in lucite now, Richards' guitar must have been extrodinarily expensive. Apparently, these models were exceedingly rare, and are virtually impossible to find now.

I found a photo of a similar model online once, some time ago. John Derbyshire or NRO, of all people, linked to it. He apparently is a lucite fetishist, the crazed limey bastard.

Looks perfect if you happen to be the lead guitarist for Cheap Trick.

But, but... It has a spinal tap! A SPINAL TAP! Who cares what it sounds like?

Besides my Telecaster only ever had a single coil pickup. It just makes a more ear-piercing screech when it feeds back! :D

Leave some space under the tree. I'll bring it for him.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, yeah right.

have to go with Paul on this one.

No mass = no sustain.

Hold a Les Paul sometime... 28 pounds of mahogany and maple.

And single-coil? No.
pop one of these little puppies in there:

Jeff Beck Jr.

Humbucker in a single-coil size!

A Les Paul feels a lot heavier than 28 pounds after the third song. I'm getting too old...

Mass = Sustain is a myth. My 6.5 lb light swamp ash bodied 1956 strat sustains for days through any of its single coil pickups--and even unplugged. The 8 lb burst reissues seem to sustain better than the mega ton LP's of the 70's and 80's.

The ribs, spine and other appendages of this freakish beast could actually add sustain that would be absent without them. There's a lot of stuff to vibrate on that body. Single single coil? So what? Of all my guitars, I only have one strat that I use in the middle positions. I usually play only one pickup at a time, and I tend to change guitars more often than I switch pickups.

I WANT this thing!

Good grief! Mention one cool guitar and you turn your blog into "Guitar and Driver" magazine... :)

Hmm...actually, that is a cool name for one. I claim copyright!!

My 6.5 lb light swamp ash bodied 1956 strat sustains for days through any of its single coil pickups--and even unplugged.

I'm calling BS on that statement. How could you possibly judge sustain for days without an amp?

There've been pro-grade single/single-coil guitars around forever, and there still are. It all depends one what one wants, and some people are happy with that. Mark makes the case for that, I think.

I'd be a lot more concerned about how the whole rig felt, with particular emphasis on that neck. It's pretty curious, and I'd love to try it.

(My megaton LP -- 1977 -- really is a luv, but it weighs 11.5 pounds, and it's starting to hang a tad heavy.)

Well this is ultimate extension of the guitar that George Lynch played in the 'Heaven Sent' video.

I would be happy if the guitarist in our band played something like that...

OK Bryan, "days" might be a tad of an exaggeration. But when noodling unplugged, on my back, on the floor, in front of the TV, my belly can feel the body vibrate much longer than any solid body guitar I've played. That's where true sustain comes from. First and foremost, it's about the wood prolonging the string vibrations. That can be enhanced in the signal path through hotter pickups, stomp boxes, high gain amps, etc. But the real sustain results from the interaction of wood and stings. Of course you can judge sustain unplugged--that's usually the most honest method.

I'll second Mark on the sustain of light body woods for solid-body electrics (with 40 years of anecdotal experience in playing AND building ...and the nuance of correctly setting up both mundane and exotic instruments for many of those years).

I long ago noted that the sustain of a certain manufacturer - whose exotic guitars were famed for their use of highly figured burl (an incredibly dense wood in almost any species) - was "lacking". (I would compare sustain, acoustically, by hitting a single note on an open string and timing it as accurately as possible; my recollection is that open grain lighter woods had provably longer sustain ...oddly enough, this increase in acoustic sustain was generally ditto for bolt-on necks, and rosewood fretboards, as much else being equal as could be when comparing instruments: I did try different necks on the same body to compare "fretboard sustain" btw).

I'd take a pass on the Skeletar (though I'm enchanted with the name of the thing), personally. (How "absurd" is the first, and nicest, thought that comes to my mind ...but I do understand how it might be the dernier cri of some; no criticism of aesthetic taste intended ...just not my cuppa tea.)

My own preference for the art proffered by the luthier onsite was for his "Cosmophonic" offering ...this guitar was actually more subtle & less garish, then the look one associates with traditional dobros, and its appearance and the minor body "cutaway" bode well for enhanced playability. Nice piece.

...but I confess to not being impressed with ANY of his other stuff (for various reasons: at my age, "looking good" hardly matters ...most of 'em don't look comfortable to my eyes).

(I never liked the aesthetics of afore-mentioned manufacturers heavily figured burl offerings either though ...I don't mention their name, because they were friends & associates many years back.)

they should have used a tibea for the whammy bar.

I'm just sayin

your guitar is crazy i bet u make love to it every nite while your thinking that you would rather be making love to a women.....with skin....and u wish it wasnt a guitar...even so its a sweet guitar you screw ball