After listening to the new Dead Weather album and reading about the
use of a Guitorgan on it, I was fairly sure that it was just a
mythical instrument on par with a unicorn or some of the animals I
saw on Monster Quest last night. But, because the concept wouldn’t leave
my head, I decided to check Wikipedia and my mind was subsequently
blown. The Guitorgan is very real! The description on Wikipedia reads:
“A Guitorgan is an electric guitar with electronic organ components added. Each guitar fret is separated into six segments, creating independent contact switches for each string. The organ notes
are keyed when a string touches a specific segment. An expression pedal
is used to fade the organ sound in and out, while the guitar can be
played at the same time.”
HOLY DAMN! The possibilities must be endless with this thing! I feel as
if I was just told that Star Wars is non-fiction. Anyway, Teisco Del Rey is a player of this hybrid beast (see above video) and for more information on the guts of this thing, or how to convert your own guitar into one head to the all knowing Wikipedia.
Adam Bird is a member of weirdo rockers Those Mockingbirds