Cool 3-string guitar kit on Kickstarter

I love the look of Rafael Atijas' 3-string Loog guitar kits. He is seeking $15,000 on Kickstarter to fund the project. If you kick in $150 or more, you'll get a Loog of your own.

Rafael says:

I am a Boing Boing junkie and everyday I feel inspired by the posts you share with us. Today I have a project I would like to share with you. I launched it yesterday via Kickstarter and I couldn't be more excited.

It is a line of guitars for kids that have three strings instead of six, and come unassembled for kids and parents to build together. Kind of a cigarbox guitar (which i LOVE) but specially designed for kids. I would really really love to know what you think about them:

The Loog Guitar

• [Tgg161]

  Love the idea of assemble-your-own instrument, but as someone else said — why not 4 strings? Then kids could use existing ukulele educational material (videos, books, etc) to learn with.

• [Anonymous]

  3 strings for maximum slide awesomeness. All anyone needs to play most modern rock music is a power chord.

• [Paul Coleman]

  For all the people fretting (pun intended) about 3 strings vs. 4 or 6, I think the point is to have something simple that can be played without having to learn about what chord is what. I think the point is that you can make music right off the bat. The theory and formal learning will come later once the taste for music making is developed.

  At least that’s how I see it. I took a similar approach when I finally learned guitar. I took off 3 strings and retuned them as I saw fit. If I had had that kind of fun with it when I was younger, then I’d be a better player today.

• [Art]

  It’s real.

  You can actually play it.

  I love it!

  :)

• [h4wk]

  I like the idea and I’m sure there is a niche market for it, but I’m not in it. My kids played 1st Act when they were little and my oldest now plays a 3/4 size electric at not much more than the proposed retail price of this project. On the DIY side we are going to build a boutique practice amp for him, so we still get to build something together. Good luck with the project!

• [Grey Devil]

  I love the design for the later 2 models quite a bit. He should totally make a circular version as well.

• [Isoko]

  How do the kidz hook that up to Guitar Hero?

• [Juno the Loon]

  Totally digging the JB Hutto model the first guitar has (the talented Jack White plays a full one) and the others are pretty spiffy too.

• [Nasicournus]

  I have trouble seeing the point of these instruments…having 3 strings as opposed to 4 or 6 sets in firmly in the ‘toy instrument’ category, in my mind, and requires a set of learning too different from that of a traditional guitar to make it worthwhile. I say buy your kid a uke or small scale guitar instead of donating to get this project started.

• [Lidok]

  I like the idea of interchangeable parts and that you have to assemble it yourself. If I had a kid would totally want it. even though 3 string guitar, especially if it would’ve been round would remind me of the good old middle eastern “one stick two string” instrument though those didn’t sound as good imo

• [Anonymous]

  Don’t be blinded . . . go for four strings. That way it can be tuned like a Ukulele which will significantly increase your sales potential. For those who wish to keep the guitar tuning, it will increase chord potential with minimal build cost increase.

  • [Bill]

    With all due respect – I think you are missing the point.

  • [billstewart]

    If you’re doing four strings, you’ve got a Uke, and there’s a whole lot of support out there for learning how to play it.

    If you’re doing three strings, a Mountain Dulcimer is in kind of that space, traditionally with three strings and only the diatonic frets instead of all of them (like a piano keyboard without the black keys), and again there’s a lot of support for learning how to play it. Dulcimers are traditionally a curvy box without a neck, and “strumsticks” are the box-with-a-neck version.

    I agree with Ruadhan that $215/kit’s way too high a target price – you can get decent ukes for under $50, kits for building dulcimers for typically $100-150, and kits for building electric guitars from $120-180 on Amazon.

• [slideguy]

  I sell guitars, I teach guitar, and I’ve played professionally for 45 years. And I think this is fabulous.
  May your tribe increase and prosper, Rafael.

• [wigg1es]

  These are the kinds of things that will make the world a better place.

• [kittnkat]

  What a fabulous idea!!! Good for you, I’ll take two!

• [Ohhhsnap]

  Make them for adults, too! The fingers on my left hand are totally incapable of playing cords on a six-string because my joints are so freaking double-jointed. (I cannot make a straight hand, my fingers always arch a little, hyper-extended looking). This seems to be a solution for someone like me, as the two fingers that give me the most trouble are my pinky and ring finger.

  • [Anonymous]

    Ohhhsnap, if you like playing blues/folk music, you might want to look into a lap guitar. You can just use a bar to fret the chords and don’t actually have to put your fingers on the guitar.

  • [tamgoddess]

    They make a longer neck, too.

• [Shael]

  The kids are fine with 6 strings…
  It’s those BIG kids (adults) who have the issues.

  A nice double-neck loog axe would do the trick!!

• [Ruadhan]

  Wow. I really do not want to be the one to rain on this parade, but I just can’t see this project succeeding at a price point of $215/kit. Fully-assembled mass-produced guitars can be easily found for half that.

  It’s a shame, because the designs are charming, and the idea is solid.

  • [BookGuy]

    I was thinking the same thing. You can get 1/4, 1/2, and even 3/4 scale guitars for under $200 if you have a little one who’s interested but isn’t big enough to handle a full scale guitar. And of course you can go smaller: my 4-year-old niece really likes guitars, and I bought her a $50 uke that she loves.

    I also forsee problems with the three string set up. Buying individual guitar or uke strings is more expensive than buying sets, but a regular uke (4 strings) or guitar (6 strings) set won’t work, never mind different tensions, nylon vs. steel, etc. As a guitar player, I would feel confident in figuring that out myself, but for a non-guitar playing parent, it could be very confusing and frustrating the first time Joey or Susie busts a string.

    I like these–I really do. As an adult classical guitarist, I kind of want one for myself to play with. But the price and strange string set up makes me think more “toy” than instrument. Maybe the assemble-it-yourself adds more value than I’m giving it credit for, but I don’t know if a 15-minute assembly is worth the extra price.

• [Bill]

  You’re just using kids (I kid) to get people to send you money – but think about how many adults want to learn how to play guitar and are tripped up by the same issue.

• [braininavat]

  # string guitar? That would be a Balalaika, wouldn’t it?
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balalaika

• [BBNinja]

  It’s nifty and all but you can already buy cheap as water guitars (First Act and other such brands) for under 50 bucks for kids. Is 150 supposed to be the retail price for these?

• [Anonymous]

  that kid at the end can already play a normal guitar…it’s obvious! don’t fool us! ;)

• [bluesboy jag]

  I’ve been making cigar box guitars for 7 years,

  http://homepage.mac.com/bjagitsch/PhotoAlbum63.html

  these kits are great, the price point is perfect, much less and you won’t make any money. It takes a lot of time to prepare the bodies and other parts, at $250 per kit there isn’t a lot of profit left. Many many people would be quite happy to pay $200-250 for these kits. You might also consider a 4 stringer, more chordal options and many more melodic options. good luck!
  Bluesboy Jag

• [David Voss]

  If he adds a samisen or sangen model, I’m there. I won’t even ask for a knife built into the neck a la Zatoichi.

• [Camp Freddie]

  They look great. I’m not quite convinced about 3-strings though, since it means working out custom chords and tabs.
  If it were a 4-string with uke tuning, I’d really want one. It would be much easier to find/learn tunes.
  Still, even with 3 strings, I hope the guy does well.