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Retractable Guitar

bring your guitar anywhere
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Somebody should make a guitar with a retractable neck. It would retract into the body of the guitar somehow, making the guitar much more compact and easy to carry in backpack or bag. Since this process would inherently make the guitar go out of tune each time, it would need a built-in electronic tuner for quick re-tuning. It would also have some kind of thing that would roll up the strings as it retracts so they don't just flop around or anything.
z0gster, Feb 17 2005

(?) Bigsby Tremolo http://www.netzmark...70c_pimx_145157.jpg
The strings go around a bar, so they could be wound. [contracts, Feb 17 2005]

Baked http://www.smh.com..../1090693822397.html
Swede invents folding guitar [English Bob, Feb 17 2005]

Half-Baked Folding_20Guitar
sufc's folding guitar idea from 2003 [English Bob, Feb 17 2005]

(?) Automatic Guitar Tuner http://www.circuitc...P-9901020/index.asp
Use this to tune your extendable guitar. [MySoulWanders, Mar 07 2005]

[link]






       Redundant with the briefcase-sized guitar idea, which was itself already baked.
david_scothern, Feb 17 2005
  

       Would the strings be on a spool (like a vacuum cleaner power cord) so that they didn't snag on stuff? Also, what about the release mechanism? Are we talking press a button so the neck springs out (like an umbrella?) - that could be very cool. Oh, and very dangerous.....
RichieRich, Feb 17 2005
  

       to david: this isn't a briefcase-sized guitar, it's full-sized, it just BECOMES briefcase-sized when you retract the neck.   

       to richie: yeah it would have some kind of spool, I just added that to the main description, I thought of that earlier but forgot to put it in there. I guess there would be a button you push that makes it spring out, but maybe it would be a little bit restrained so that it goes more slowly and isn't as dangerous.
z0gster, Feb 17 2005
  

       "little button" "spring out" yaddah yaddah.   

       Just use something like a bigsby tremolo. [link]   

       As freaking sick as I am of all these damned guitar ideas, the "retractable neck" is a new idea, English Bob. The links are folding or detachable. This has a neck that slides into the body, which is quite feasible.
contracts, Feb 17 2005
  

       Well aware that the idea is for a guitar whose neck retracts, not just a half-sized guitar. [sufc]'s idea rather covers this, and may be the reason the idea I was looking for has disappeared.
david_scothern, Feb 17 2005
  

       There is one annotation under [sufc]'s idea that references a telescoping neck. Not close enough to call this baked or half-baked IMHO.
contracts, Feb 17 2005
  

       Do you have any idea how much tension guitar strings exert? You're going to need some VERY stout construction to keep this thing from self-destructing.
5th Earth, Feb 18 2005
  

       oh yeah, I guess I have to admit being baked by English Bob. I just came up with the idea and did a few quick searches for "retractable guitar" and didn't find anything, but I guess folding works just as well.
z0gster, Feb 18 2005
  

       I wouldn't give up so easily zOgster. Folding guitar is boring both in form and function.   

       Retractable guitar neck like you stated is far more interesting in form and function. Sure its a bit more complex to fully implement, but IT IS feasable. Visualize this: Rock Star "A" goes on stage in concert ,(Holding what appears to be a regular guitar with half cut off neck) pushes button on guitar it flips open and tunes itself in 20sec. and does gig. ..Slightly impressive.   

       NOW visualize this: Rock Star "B" goes on stage in concert after Rock Star "A". Holding what appears to be no necked guitar. Points it upwards, pushes a button and it telescopes out of the body to its full extention, tunes itself in 2 sec. , and does gig.   

       Whom do you think would get the bigger audience response? I vote with "B"...
MySoulWanders, Feb 18 2005
  

       Check the new link Zogster. Its plans to construct automatic guitar tuner.
MySoulWanders, Mar 07 2005
  

       [MySoulWanders]: I assume you realise that the device referenced in your link is "automatic" only in the sense that it claims to detect the string being tuned automatically. I have a unit that does the same thing; it cost around £12 - about $20. I also have a guitar with a tuner built in. Neither of these has any relevance to this idea, which is more dependant on the mechanical stresses in the guitar and its strings.
A fully automatic tuner does exist - at least it was mentioned in the literature years ago; servo motors attached to the tuning machines, driven by pitch-to-voltage converters.
angel, Mar 07 2005
  

       A retractable neck is constructed by inserting a crank (think of a reel of the rod and reel family) the strings would wind up on the reel (much like a fishing line) and the neck would 'sink' into the body of the guitar through a cog attached to the reel(think of a cog railway). Once the neck expands then tuning can be done very quickly.
arcello, Jul 11 2005
  

       Is Artist B a half baked version of BB King?
Minimal, Jul 11 2005
  
      
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