Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Electric guitar folds like a flip phone

The Centerfold guitar solves a transport problem that every guitarist has experienced. It folds up to save space, but it can be played immediately after it’s been unfolded and it’s just as tuned as when it was folded away, according to Leif Rehnström, Managing Director of the newly started DeVillain Guitar Company in Skellefteå, Sweden.

Behind the development of the folding guitar, is SAS airline pilot Fredrik Johansson. He is a devoted guitarist but couldn’t take his instrument with him on flights around the world. Whenever visiting music stores he would ask about folding guitars, but they usually laughed and said "That’s impossible!" Nothing is impossible, Fredrik thought. A few years later he held the first prototype of a folding guitar that could easily be taken on a plane. When folded, it's less than 24 inches long.

”The resulting product not only solves the problem he was experiencing but also that of all the other guitarists who are fed up carrying their cumbersome guitar cases on buses, subways, bikes…", says Rehnström, who has sworn over these transport difficulties many times after several years as a professional musician.

You don’t even have to take the strings off when you fold the neck of the Centerfold, as they are rolled up by the guitar. ”Other guitarists can’t believe it when I tell them. I didn’t believe it either before Fredrik showed me his prototype.”

Price is $3370 (plus taxes and duties), with hand-made Honduran mahogany body. Left-hand models and basses are being considered for the future. CLICK for more.

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