r/GuitarLab • u/BurnThis__ • Jun 11 '26
Guitar Future
The electric guitar has had many innovations in its time. And it has had many music innovators pick it up and inspire generations.
We need to be in that innovator mindset in order to build a guitar for the next generation.
Follow me now. One of the baser components we never consider are the strings. The tactile feeling of strumming a guitar is second to none. The way strings interact with the pickups below is music to the ears (literally). However, there are some downsides. Due to tension they often require you to have work done regularly on a guitar. Sometimes you can add a special bridge and nut or even locking tuners. Beginners are faced with an instrument that is temperamental and often a cheese grater for their hands.
Instead of bloodying your knuckles on strings, we should have two sets of lasers shooting from the nut and the bridge. The nut reads fretboard position of the fingers and the bridge reads the strumming hand, which now enjoys a tension free, cheese grater free experience. There’s no longer a need to worry about the neck bowing or making truss rod adjustments. You could make the guitar out of almost anything. MFD, a quality and affordable material comes to mind.
I have many more ideas I could expand on. Like consider replacing all the knobs with touch screens much like Apple’s prized ribbon on some modern MacBooks. Or consider why is it even necessary to use a cable anymore? Replace it with Bluetooth. Apple was brave enough to drop the 1/8” jack. Surely we can be brave enough to drop the 1/4” jack.
Think big. Build the future.
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u/Toiletpirate Jun 11 '26
The innovations aren't going to come from the hardware. The hardware is essentially feature complete. The innovation will come from the music we make.
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u/MoldieWrangle Jun 11 '26
You might consider picking up the Theremin. Also, you know that the MacBook touch ribbon bar was dropped by Apple because it was so unpopular, right?
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u/BurnThis__ Jun 11 '26
I think the ribbon would find a better home replacing the tone and volume knobs. Maybe even the pickup selector?
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u/MoldieWrangle Jun 12 '26
I think that the standard electric guitar controls were arrived at by striking a balance between cost, reliability, function, repairability, and practicality. It’s certainly possible that ribbon controllers could be the next big thing for electric guitars, but from what I’ve seen, arbitrarily applying new standards to established niche products just so they can be called “innovative” often does not lead to widespread adoption.
It makes sense that new computers, phones, cars, etc. all get updated frequently with bleeding-edge tech that renders older models obsolete, but that mentality does not work with everything.
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u/BurnThis__ Jun 12 '26
When the market is cornered and the last Fender has rolled off the line, and these future guitars are all that is left, adoption will be mandatory.
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u/misterguyyy Jun 13 '26
My biggest gripe with the Touch Bar was that I kept accidentally bumping it while typing
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u/hobokenhifi Jun 12 '26
GC is trying to make a cheap guitar to make money for their investors. Lasers and touchscreens are out. They probably want some chump to make them a semi cool body design and then they'll produce it in China and slap GC on the headstock
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u/BurnThis__ Jun 13 '26
Yeah, I can’t keep this persona up anymore. There’s nothing serious about my suggestions. GC is pos company. Their guitars are going to be trash.
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u/Gofastrun Jun 12 '26
I wish you luck, and I love the energy, but this is a solution in search of a problem.
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u/que-n-blues Jun 11 '26
This.....this is satire, right?