We kind of already knew this, but it seems that [Uri Tuchman] really can build absolutely anything. This fall, he was asked to compete in the Great Guitar Build-Off competition, which involves a fully-customizable kit guitar sent to each entrant as a starting point. In order to allow for maximum creativity, the wooden parts like the body and the headstock are square. And quite creatively, [Uri] kept them that way. Square, that is.
While yes, the body rising out of the squareness is in fact a Les Paul profile, there are a ton of details that make this a [Uri Tuchman] instead. For starters, everything is square, beginning with the custom brass knobs for the volume and tone potentiometers. We’re not sure if it came with humbuckers, but that sure is a happy accident if so. If only the neck blank had been square, [Uri] could have made a lap steel. Once it was finished, [Uri] took it to a luthier to have it set up, fine-tuned, and assessed for quality. Of course, it passed with flying Vs colors.
There are plenty of other [Uri] hallmarks, like the bird on the neck plate, and another hiding in the hand-drawn and hand-carved pickguard, so be sure to check it out after the break.
Uri is fun, more art than science, but shows off some impressive skill in using his tools. Well worth a follow.
It reminds me the electroboom square electric guitar. But safer
The obvious name for this axe is “Les Paul in Carbonite”
Reminds me of John Flansburgh’s Chessmaster guitar.
+1 for mentioning Flans!
+2. This was my first thought.
i don’t like it. the guitar shape is functional. it defines how it sits on your leg when you play and whether you can reach the second octave on the strings. maybe you stand up and rely on the straps when you give a concert but most people like to practice sitting on a stool, and without practice, there should be no concert.
If I was stranded on a desert island and wanted to play an electric guitar acoustic and I had a big hunk of cheese and needed a cutting board. Gee, what would cover both bases? Now if this was really clever the back would have inlays for backgammon, chess, checkers, and parchisi. The knobs on the machine heads come off to be used at the men and the dice, and the guitar strings act as the cheese cutter.
As a “kit”. one would want to cut out and finish the body prior to attaching, or even fitting the neck.
Is that not what he did? Sure he didn’t cut as much as expected, but he did the whole body part before attaching the neck.
That neck looks firmly attached to that uncut square body to me.
It looks too big, and thus uncomfortable. It’s electric so the body doesn’t affect sound. Bo Diddley had a box guitar, but not so big.
Something tells me ergonomics isn’t the primary drive here. You definitely aren’t reaching those higher frets
He didn’t really build much if it was delivered to him as a kit and then had to take it to a luthier to finish it. I say this based on my ability to build guitars out of rough lumber, carving the body and neck, applying a perfect finish, and then setting it up to play well. And my guitars look like real guitars, not some partially completed kit. By the way, square guitars are nothing new. Bo Diddly had one built 60 years ago.
Marty, don’t be such a square. Everybody who’s anybody knows that his cousin Chuck plays on a square guitar. Don’t you remember the fish under the sea dance?
There really should have been a reference to Brian May’s Red Special. That wasn’t built from any kit and there was a pretty good article right here on Hackaday: https://hackaday.com/2017/06/13/the-red-special-brian-mays-handmade-guitar/
Brian and his father set the bar pretty high in the 1960s.