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Looking again for some information on Roland GR33 guitar synthesizer, I found THIS THING, cause I have no idea how to call it. It is some kind of guitar-like instrument because it has a fretted neck and a guitar like “modus operandi”.
OK, actually it is called SynthAxe and it consists of a MIDI guitar like controller. Seems that SynthAxe was invented somewhere around 1984(?) by Bill Aitken.
If you ask yourself who would use such a thing, well, think again, my friends! And wonder! Al Di Meola had one, Allan Holdsworth had two such things!Yep! Two!
He must have had a nephew in love with guitars, I think it makes a great gift for birthdays. Look, buddy, I’ve got you a present! And it really plays! And I couldn’t resist the temptation and I’ve got one for myself too, now we could play together!! (Damn, here play has such an overloaded meaning!!!)
Here’s a video demonstration of how it actually sounds. I don’t know how playable it is, but I do appreciate the angle of the neck that gives me the impression that you can “operate” it better. Or should I say again PLAY better?
You like it? Or you have a nephew who would love such thing?
By the way, seems to cost around £10.000! Damn, an expensive gift!
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17 Responses to “SynthAxe, the mother of all MIDI guitars?!”
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Ovidiu OprescuRomania, 33 years
Playing the guitar since 17 and enjoying every moment of it!
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andrej
April 25th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
very good!
Ovidiu
April 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Thanks! This MIDI guitar is interesting (I call it MIDI guitar cause I have no idea how to call it otherwise). And why not say that I would like to play around with one, just for the fun of it!
Pribek
April 25th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I remember Holdsworth using these things a lot. He did a couple of records where he used it almost exclusively.
Ovidiu
April 25th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
Indeed, he seems to have a couple of albums where he used SynthAxe intensively. Music for a non existing movie and an other one, I think. However, if you would have asked me about Allan Holdswoth’s guitar, I have only one image in my head, that headless guitar http://www.jazz.unt.edu/files/images/feb06/Alan_Holdsworth_Side_View.jpg, but if you look on Google images, seems that Allan Holdsworth has quite a lot of pictures with this SynthAxe http://www.retrojunk.com/img/art-images/al_synth.jpg
GLW
April 28th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I remember when these came out. They cost an absolute fortune. When the first ads were published in the guitar press we all thought it was an April Fools joke or something.
Gary Moore used one – I believe you even see him playing it in the video for “Out In The Fields” with Phil Lynott.
Ovidiu
April 28th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Hmm, they don’t sound like Gary Moore. I will always associate Gary Moore to Gibson Les Paul and Still god the blues sound, even if I also love Blood of emeralds, or After the war. However, SynthAxe just doesn’t sound like Gary Moore.
GLW
April 29th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I’m talking about before Gary Moore “got the blues”. He has quite successfully reinvented himself as a blues artist, but before that aside from a couple of stints in Thin Lizzy he was mainly known for heavy rock music.
His “Back On The Streets” album is still a classic – if you can find a copy (and don’t be confused by the compilation of the same name).
Ovidiu
April 29th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Yeah, I know some of his work before he got the blues
However, I am not familiar to him playing the SynthAxe. I guess it should be interesting to see him again playing it. It was interesting when I saw Allan Holdsworth playing it so I guess it should also be interesting seeing Gary Moore doing it.
GLW
April 30th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I don’t think he used it a great deal, but he definitely used it around about the “Out In The Fields” era.
Ovidiu
April 30th, 2008 at 11:38 am
It is very interesting that there are so many things you don’t know about the things that you think you know…if I make sense…
Speaking here together I love to find out new things. Gary Moore never seemed to me like the type to play such an instrument. Finding out about it seems very interesting, really!
Richard Hilleman
September 28th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Believe it or not, I own two of them. (If you want something this old to work, you need two.
It is just the most expressive Midi guitar Controller ever made. To get the full function out of it you need a synth that gets the most out of it. It is from the era of DX7′s, Fairlights, and Allan Holdsworth’s favorite, the Oberheim Expander.
Clearly, this is an investment in money and time, but it is a peak experience. The core to it’s implementation is a wired fretboard and small pickups that read string bends. There are string triggers, but I find the keys or just using both hands on the fretboard.
Obviously, this isn’t really the answer for the average player. There is another alternative. Harvey Starr’s Ztar has a lot of the same capabilities in a much more modern (and reliable) package. In addition to the left hand capabilities, you can cord on a single string. The missing capabilities are mainly around string bending. Midi is very ineffiecent at managing pitchbend, so this is an reasonable tradeoff.
Ovidiu
September 28th, 2008 at 10:57 am
So I understand you play it well, otherwise you wouldn’t have bought 2 of them, right? Can you make a video and submit it here? It would be interesting to watch, or a personal review!
Tobbe Bergman
September 11th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
Believe it or not, I also own two of them!
Ovidiu
September 14th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Man, you have guts
Will
December 9th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
I have one in red I want to sell does anyone know of any collectors.
Ovidiu
December 9th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Hmm, I don’t know any, but that reminds me of an email I received yesterday about a site where you can register you guitars, let me look for it, it may help.
triplets notes
August 30th, 2010 at 2:12 am
where to buy?