Fully functional NES guitar

Posted in DIY by Conner Flynn on October 14th, 2009


Console guitars have been around for awhile, but this one is a real gem. This NES guitar even has the headstock replaced with a cartridge. Though it looks like it would break super easy.

Bust out the old NES guitar and it’s an instant Mario Party. You can play Yoshi’s greatest hits. Flipping open the cartridge slot reveals the standard guitar knobs and the AV out and power ports have been converted accordingly. Super awesome and rocking custom mod.

AC/DC Box Set includes a working guitar amp

Posted in News by Conner Flynn on October 12th, 2009

AC/DC Box Set includes a working guitar ampAC/DC knows how to rock and they have never slowed down. Only a super hard rocking band like them could put out a Box Set like this, which has to be the best Box Set ever. AC/DC’s Backtracks package obviously looks like a guitar amp. But take a closer look.

The top of the box is actually a working 1-watt guitar amplifier. This mini-amp won’t Shake Your Foundations, or even bother the neighbors, but who cares. It’s a real amplifier. You can’t get that on iTunes people. For $199 you get three CDs and two DVDs of rare tracks from the band, a 12-inch vinyl LP, a bunch of memorabilia and a 164-page hardbound book.

Logitech wireless guitar and drums for Wii are rocking high prices

Posted in Controllers by Conner Flynn on September 9th, 2009

Logitech wireless guitar and drums for Wii are rocking high pricesApparently no one told Logitech that we are in a recession. The Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller and Wireless Drum Controller for Nintendo’s Wii are licensed for use with Guitar Hero and way overpriced. The axe sports a maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and metal frets. They even threw in a “noise dampening strum bar and fret buttons,” and a touch-sensitive slider on the fretboard.

The drums provide 3 drum pads and a pair of cymbals, along with the stainless steel kick pedal. A Wiimote slides into each, ruining the illusion.

Mad Catz announces $300 Fender Stratocaster Rock Band guitar

Posted in Controllers by Conner Flynn on September 4th, 2009

Mad Catz announces $300 Fender Stratocaster Rock Band guitarIf you’re in the market for a fake guitar that costs more than some real guitars, than this is your lucky day. Mad Catz has started to ship this Rock Band Wireless Wooden Fender Stratocaster. It’s a 1:1 replica of the axe that is constructed from genuine Stratocaster wooden blanks.

Fake guitar aficionados will have plenty to love. Even the tuning keys and bridge are built from genuine Fender metal parts and fittings. It also sports a wireless module that will work with Microsoft’s Xbox 360. For your $299.99 you also get a Fender guitar strap and a headset socket for online play.

OpenChord allows real guitars to play Guitar Hero

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on August 7th, 2009

GuitarOpenChord has designed a system that allows an actual real guitar to sync up with your Nintendo Wii to play Guitar Hero. Just plug the Wiimote into the guitar and use real strings and frets instead of plastic buttons. There is one hitch and it’s a big one.

Guitar Hero wasn’t designed for use with six strings and 22 to 24 frets. Which kinda blows the whole thing out of the water. Too bad. Playing GH with a real guitar sounds like a nightmare. Who would have thought? Check out a video below.

The Prism: A Laser Synth-Guitar

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on July 15th, 2009

The Prism: A Laser Synth-GuitarWhat do you get when you combine a guitar, a synthesizer and lasers? No, not a Pink Floyd concert. The Prism, which is a laser synth-guitar. The Prism is pretty unique in the world of of laser guitars and includes aspects of a Theremin and a laser harp for some really cool sounds.

The Prism features a voltage controlled oscillator and uses four laser beams as strings. It can apparently be played without the need for any programming. It’s designed to be attached to a regular guitar amp, with no computer needed. Check out a demo below.

Guitar Hero 5 axe

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on July 14th, 2009

Guitar Hero 5 axeLooks like Guitar Hero 5 has a new axe for you to grind. This baby features a new white pick guard with a red paintjob for the body. Internal signaling is now digital to minimize latency and the strum bar has been tweaked for the sake of reliability.

You’ll also notice colored dots on the neck for ease of use and slight reliefs on the top, middle, and bottom fret buttons. You can pick one up with your copy of Guitar Hero this September.

You Rock guitar to debut at E3 in June

Posted in Controllers, Games by Shane McGlaun on May 7th, 2009

yourockguitar-sbBack in 2007, I went to E3 for the first time. 2007 happened to be the first year of the much smaller E3 show and it sucked so badly I never went back. E3 is going back to the massive show that gamers loved for so many years for 2009 and new games and products galore should be unveiled at the show.

One of the products debuting at E3 will be the You Rock Guitar. Right now, all we have are a few details, exactly what the guitar looks like won’t be known until E3 kicks off and the product is unveiled. What we do know is that the guitar will work for all major consoles and can connect to a PC as well.

Speak n’ Spell Rock Band guitar

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on April 15th, 2009

Speak n' Spell Rock Band guitarThis guitar caught my eye right away. As far as guitar mods go, it’s pretty darn crazy. Crazier then the Atari-Hero. What kind of mind combines a Speak n’ Spell with a Rock Band guitar? This guy in the video below, that’s who.

It’s called the Speak n’ Spellbinder. The sounds from the Speak ‘n Spell are all mapped to the frets, strum button and even the whammy bar. In the video below, modder Aj Gannon never really loses his cool and starts rocking hardcore, much to our disappointment. If you can even rock out to such noise.

Zivix Headliner Guitar for Rock Band/Guitar Hero

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on March 8th, 2009

Zivix Headliner Guitar for Rock Band/Guitar HeroThe problem with Guitar Hero and Rock Band is that people think they can actually play guitar. By people, I mean you. The Zivix Headliner is a real guitar that works with both games using special fingertip sensors. What this means for you?

Well, if you use this you may actually learn to play the guitar for real. Seriously, it has strings and everything, because you’re a big boy now. There’s no official release date for the Headliner yet, but they hope to have the guitar on store shelves sometime later this year.

Learn guitar with lasers

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on February 4th, 2009

Learn guitar with lasersYou want to be a Guitar Hero, but you don’t know any songs. Just attach this Maestro device onto your guitar, load a music file of the song you want to learn and it will point out the frets you need to hit, using lasers. As any rock god will tell you, guitars and lasers are an awesome combination.

But just be warned, if you suck, no amount of lasers are going to stop you from sucking. You still have to strum and finger the frets. But it does seem like a great way for guitar players to learn songs quickly. If this concept ever gets made, it would probably do really well.

Steampunk guitar with clockwork gears, a lot of brass

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on January 28th, 2009

Steampunk guitar with clockwork gears, a lot of brassThe Steampunk phenomenon just keeps chugging along. Here’s a little something for you Guitar Hero players who wish they featured a Victorian rocker with period guitar. This is what such a guitar might look like. It was built for the 2008 Jersey City Artists Studio Tour by Mark Dalzell, and it’s called Organum Insolitus.

It features a television with Fresnel lens magnifier, onboard phaser, an amplifier and uses clockwork gears, hand hammered brass, cloth wire and wood. The guitar can be attached to an external amp with a standard ¼-inch cable, so you can really use this.

Ovation iDea MP3 recording guitar

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on December 16th, 2008

Ovation iDea MP3 recording guitarImagine how many times great musicians have lost masterpieces just because they didn’t have a way to document it. That’s where the iDea guitar from Ovation comes in. It’s the first guitar to feature a built-in MP3 player for just such occasions. There isn’t much info on specs, but it probably has a decent amount of flash storage so you can record anything on a whim. It features a control panel on the side with an LCD display, mic input and a USB connection. It also has an easy to use 4-way controller for menu navigation. If that’s not enough, you get a set of basic EQ sliders for the bass, mid and treb.

It will let you record the guitar, mic or anything else that’s connected to the aux in jack. You can even mix those features together or use the pitch-stable variable speed playback option to slow things down for practice.

Funny Band: Keyboards, drums and guitar in one freakish controller

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on December 11th, 2008

Funny Band: Keyboards, drums and guitar in one freakish controllerBy now you must have a zillion fake plastic instruments taking up room in your home, thanks to the endless Guitar Hero type games that have entered your life. You might want to check out the Korean-made Funny Band, which takes a guitar and shoves drums on the back and a keyboard on the front for some reason.

I have no idea how you’re supposed to use this thing, but I’m dubbing it The all-in-one, one-man-nerd-band plastic-ono experience. If you think this weird mash-up lives up to it’s name, you’ll get a kick out of reading the press release below where we learn that Funny Band “will be loved by dance game to lots of users who just fall in to rhythm game.” and that “there was no game like performing on on-line such as funny band.”

Yamaha Silent Guitar lets your strumming be seen and not heard

Posted in Musical Instruments by Conner Flynn on November 11th, 2008

Yamaha Silent Guitar lets your strumming be seen and not heardIf you have a kid learning the guitar chances are your ears could use a break. You’ll want to invest in this Yamaha Silent Nylon String Guitar. Plugging in a pair of headphones lets you practice at your own pace without annoying everyone around you.

You can also connect a CD player into the guitar itself so you can play along directly with the music, despite the fact that CDs are pretty much obsolete. Why they didn’t just build an mp3 player in it is anyone’s guess. Still, it’s a nifty instrument to have around. Especially fo those living in small apartments. The Yamaha Silent Nylon String Guitar will retail for a hefty $499.99. But silence is golden.


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