Chameleon Guitar the Hybrid Guitar of the Future

I want to look into the Chameleon Guitar a new hybrid guitar developed at the MIT media labs. I came across the Chameleon Guitar a few weeks ago on a very good blog site at http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/ . The blog contained several interesting articles however this really caught my eye. I found the concept very interesting and disturbing. So I thought I would write a quick

This rather interesting remake of a guitar was developed a little over a year ago at MIT. The thought was to combine the sounds of multiple medias together. The blending of the electric guitar, acoustic guitar and computer modeling opens up a number of sound options to the guitarist. This would give limitless possibilities of sounds in one instrument. 

The body of the Chameleon Guitar seems to have no constant. The body can be comprised of any materials. This is because the developers of this hybrid guitar are not reliant on the body of the guitar to cultivate their sound. They are not looking for the warm tones of mahogany or the shaper sounds of alder and ash. The sound is created by resonators that are placed in the center of the guitar body. These resonators are however made of wood and each one is wired to interface with a computer. These resonators become the guitar pick up in a sense. They can be switched out with easy to get different sounds. So rather than rewiring your guitar and replacing pickups the resonator is simply popped out and clipped in. This resonators partnering with a computer to alter and create the desired sounds leaves a musical rich open field of sound possibilities. These are not the stale processed sounds you sometimes get from modeling pedals and poor quality amps. These seem to be deep rich full sounds. 

Currently MIT in not considering going commercial with the Chameleon Guitar this seems to more on the lines of research and what can be made and or developed for the future. For me this maybe a good thing that this remains a research venture. My only concern in this is the (and this is a personal opinion) is the look of the guitar. I have no doubt in the near future we will get our sounds not from a traditional guitar pickup rather from a computer simulation of that pickup. I think in time there will be no way to tell the difference between pickup and computer recreation. My concern comes in appearance of the guitar. Now I do understand this is not a commercial hybrid guitar and being used for research. But if we are not using wood to construct the body of the guitar we may lose some of the beauty of the instrument. To me a guitar has always be a tool a means to make music that I am sure is true for all of us but it is much more. The guitar is almost a piece of treasured art. Something to be admired for its beauty just as much for its sound. The guitar that has been developed by MIT seems to be rather sterile and lacking in character. I hope when this type of guitar does start to go commercial the natural beauty of guitars is taken into strong consideration. Please don’t get me wrong I have no problem with the green thought behind not using wood and replacing a body with composite material I just would like to see as much effort put into the acetic of the instrument. 

Over all however I am excited about the Chameleon Guitar and the new age this hybrid guitar is ushering. Just let’s try and keep focused on the future without forgetting the past.