Guest Luthier - Patrick Cummings of iGuitar (formerly Brian Moore Custom)

[Evan Skopp]

That's really really cool. I could spend hours upon hours messing with that setup.

And you will, since you won the giveaway!

[ErikH]

Thanks for participating in our Guest Luthier Series, Pat. And thanks for staying late to get all the questions answered.

Congrats to ErikH for winning the set up, pickups, and iGuitar upgrade kit. PM has been sent.

Also, thanks to all of you for participating in this cool series. We're going to take next week off because it's Business Planning Week for Seymour Duncan managers. But we'll be back in two weeks with another exciting guest (actually, guests - it'll be a two person tag team).

Holy cow! I can't believe it. Thank you, Evan, Patrick and Seymour. Man, this is way cool. Now, it's a matter of deciding which guitar gets the goods.

Workin' on replying to Evan's PM.

Thanks again, guys.

[Patrick Cummings]

Hi Pat. Welcome to the forum. I guess the question on my mind is "In your opinion, what is the most distinctive thing about iGuitars or Brian Moore that says..this is the best I can do. What says this is different than what's been done and I am most proud of this?" I have never owned either, I have played several Brian Moore customs and I was very impressed.

Again, I thank you for sharing of yourself with us.

If my question has already been asked, sorry, I just walked in the door from work.

Thanks again,

dave

Hi Dave, the question was sort of asked...

It would really be a combination of things that makes both the Brian Moore and iGuitar products distinctive -
- Comfort: design elements such as the comfort contoured top, sculpted headstock

-Quality: it is manufactured in an ISO 9002 certified factory and then we add Sperel tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups

- Setup: every guitar is set up and inspected at out NY faciity. Each guitar goes though the same detailed check list as our custom shop guitars.

-Technolgy: we feature piezo, 13pin and now USB technology giving guitars tremendous tonal and creative possibilities

[Patrick Cummings]

Touching on the whole USB thing, could one plug their guitar into their iPod via the standard cable that came with the iPod and have a mobile amp when using the headphones? I know you mentioned the guitar being USB bus powered and the iPod may not give off enough power to run the electronics. Just curious as that could be a practical use for the mobile musician.

There would need to be both a major hardware and software upgrade from Apple for this to be possible via USB. There are apps for the iPhone and iPod touch that turn it into a reasonable mp3 recorder, via the built-in mic - as iPhone apps go, this is pretty cool
http://www.sonomawireworks.com/

[Patrick Cummings]

There was no real question in that post, I was just riffing on the digital nature of your products. Or maybe partly digital nature, since you use wood. Anyway, the questions were from a movie called Blade Runner. In particular, they are used in a scene where a policeman questions a person to determine if that person is, in fact, a human or simply a robot that appears to be human.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties, I read cyber-punk science fiction literature by William Gibson, in which people would connect their brains directly to machines to make music. I bought a computer and a synth to play around with, partly because of that. Years later, those mind interfaces seem as far-fetched as flying cars.

Anyway, a better question might be, in a forward thinking niche like the one you've carved out, what non-music-industry things have inspired your work?

Thanks for the clarification.

Inspiration comes from seeing industrial design ideas that create product improvements in other industries.

Living in NY, I am a huge fan of the button I can press the squirts magic fluid on my freezing windshield while driving on the Thruway during a blizzard.

While there is no direct connection, there is an influence.

I commented earlier how GC/Ash find it difficult to sell guitar-to-computer solutions because is requires training every guitar sales person to be knowledgeable on so many different software packages, and various audio interfaces, 13 pin interfaces, midi interface and studio gear, correct version drivers for every version OS, etc! (not every guitar guy can be a ProTools engineer!)

As a result, most retailers miss the opportunity to bring guitarists into this area...and the way it typically goes is a handfull of guitarists buy these things and figure it out by themselves - hence it never goes mainstream.

If you observe the PC industry, there is a trend towards the convenience of having things 'built-in'.
It was nice to have a CD/DVD player sitting on the desk next to my laptop, it is even nicer when that CD/DVD player is built in.

This was certainly an influence on the idea of eliminating all the external audio and midi interfaces needed to connect the guitarist to the computer.
By making them 'built-in' and creating and easy 'plug and play' experience, we also make it easier to retailer to share the experience with customers.


Let me reinforce that we do not seek to change this wonderful thing called an electric guitar with fabulous tone woods, great Duncan pickups, etc. we are simply making it easier to connect to the computer/recording studio environment.

Inspiration comes from lots of places.

[Patrick Cummings]

Thanks for participating in our Guest Luthier Series, Pat. And thanks for staying late to get all the questions answered.

Congrats to ErikH for winning the set up, pickups, and iGuitar upgrade kit. PM has been sent.

Also, thanks to all of you for participating in this cool series. We're going to take next week off because it's Business Planning Week for Seymour Duncan managers. But we'll be back in two weeks with another exciting guest (actually, guests - it'll be a two person tag team).

Congrats to ErikH on the pickups, upgrade and set up.


It was to participate today, thanks for all the great questions.

A few parting points:

- Our Custom Shop is offering piezo, 13pin and USB upgrades on our guitars and most standard model guitars ( ie; les paul style, strats ) and now feature the Graphtech Ghost system which allows piezo/13pin on Floyd style guitars. You can register for our email newsletter and get more info here:
http://iguitar.com/happening.asp

- We also sell our instruments factory direct, with several unique pieces available here: http://iguitar.com/CustomShop/shipped.asp
(there are also some cool instruments not listed)

- We will be producing a number of LEFTY Custom Shop models as a Fall Special, if you know any lefty players looking for a special guitar with our technology features

- We also offer a cash prize for email sales referrals $50 for iGuitar and $100 for Custom Shops if your referral results in a sale.

Thank you.

[Patrick Cummings]

Hello from Paducah, KY!

Pat, it's great to see you carrying on the tradition of cutting-edge invention and creativity, as seen with Les Paul, Leo Fender, Seth Lover, not to mention our dear Mr. D.

Along with willeubanks (a fellow forum user), I would also be quite interested in an iBass. What I see as necessary would be a wide tonal versatility -- everything from smooth acoustic bass to roaring hard rock overdrive, with crisp slap and articulate fingerstyle along the way.

From what I understand of MIDI, sometimes it can be difficult for dynamics in pitch, attack and sustain to be accurately transferred into data. How does iGuitar succeed over previous technologies?

Thanks for the feedback!

For bassists we recommend an RMC piezo/13pin system with and Axon synth. The combination of the Piezo pickups quickly tranferring string information combined with Axons technology would be the best iBass solution.

My info is below if you would like to contact us directly.

Thank you.

[BloodRose]

I had no computer access and could participate.. Congrats Erik! Thank you Patrick for your time ! I look forward to reading thru and learning all I can!

There is a Magnificent used Brian Moore at local GC that I have played and drooled over a couple of times.. I think they are asking over $2000 so it wont be coming home..

[Hurricane]

Great to have some one like you here advancing the state of the art in electric guitars !

I know I will drive you nuts with questions soon .

I have a Godin LGXSA and love it .

The more manufactures that jump in with both feet on the midi-synthesizer / electric guitar the better for all to reap the benefits .

Can't wait to fire off some serious questions at ya

Sincerely :

Hurricane Ramon