Warr guitar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Warr Guitar is a musical instrument developed by Mark Warr that looks very much like a standard electric guitar, but can be played with "touch-style" techniques, like a Chapman Stick, as well as strummed and plucked. Traditional bass guitar techniques, such as slap and pop, pizzicato and playing with a plectrum (pick) may also be used. Because of the unique placement of the strapholders, the instrument may be played in an upright, traditional touch-style and double bass position, or horizontally, like an electric guitar.
The instrument is strung and tuned in a variety of ways. It may be built with anywhere from seven to fifteen strings. The strings may be arranged such that the lowest is in the center of the fretboard or the lowest string is nearest the player. The fretboard may be fretted, fretless, or a combination of the two. The instrument is built with custom-designed Bartolini magnetic, piezoelectric, or a combination of these pickups. If piezo pickups are used, onboard MIDI electronics may also be added, to allow the player direct triggering of Roland or Axon synths from their instrument. The neck is constructed of multiple, quartersawn laminates of varying thickness. Instruments built with ten or more strings have two embedded, dual-action truss rods and dual 1/4" outputs.
Various exotic and common woods are available, each having its own distinct tonal properties. When a customer places an order, the Warr representative attempts to match complementary woods to the customer's style of playing, whilst keeping the desired aesthetic qualities. For example, a jazz musician may choose softer woods which produce a creamy, full tone. The rock or metal musician may choose darker hardwoods which give a growling, deeper tone. Ambient and progressive musicians may choose lighter hardwoods, which provide defined bass and glassy highs. Ultimately, the customer's choice overrides the representative's suggestions, as they may choose woods based on aesthetics alone.
One of the most well known players of a Warr Guitar is Trey Gunn, formerly of King Crimson. Other notable players include Ron Fairchild of the Oak Ridge Boys, Bill Burke, Brian Kenney-Fresno, Jim Wright, Carson McWhirter of ent, Mark Cook of the bands 99 Names of God and Hands, Markus Reuter of the bands Tuner and Centrozoon, and Colin Marston of Behold... The Arctopus.
