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The Chameleon Guitar
I’m not usually a fan of gimmicky guitars, but I recently read about a cool idea that sounds like way more than a gimmick: the Chameleon Guitar. The Chameleon Guitar is a guitar with changeable soundboards. In addition, it uses modeling to model the chamber (or virtual body) of the guitar. This hybrid method uses piezo sensors on the soundboard to translate the vibration of a real wood soundboard to the on-board computer for modeling of the chamber. The initial signal is acoustic so it has a very realistic sound. And since the soundboards are relatively small, they are fairly inexpensive to make.
Imagine bringing a single guitar to gigs — which looks like an electric but sounds like an acoustic — that enables you to quickly switch from the sound of a parlor guitar to a dreadnaught to a resonator to a classical guitar. You could change the guitar to fit the song without needing to haul multiple guitars around. Imagine the convenience and cost savings, not to mention the curiosity and impression it would make on your audience.
The Chameleon Guitar is the brain child of MIT student Amit Zoran, under the direction of Media Lab Associate Professor Pattie Maes, and with help from experienced instrument builder Marco Coppiardi. Prototypes have been shown to enthusiastic response. Zoran is using the project as his Thesis for a Master’s degree and hopes to continue work on it for his Doctoral thesis project. After that he hopes to turn it into a commercial product.
I hope the Chameleon Guitar become a commercial product some day. It sounds like it could be much more than a cool gimmick. In my mind it has the potential to be the ultimate stage acoustic guitar.
Here is a video of Amit demonstrating the Chameleon Guitar.
Visit the MIT News website for more information and links.