Water music...

Wednesday, June 19, 2013, 1 comments

Australian rock guitarist Josh Pyke's built (or had built for him) a boat that certainly turns heads on the water.

I am not though quite convinced of the hydrodynamical qualities of the contraption. Of course I do not know what the underwater part of the hull looks like, but judging from the bow wave it may be just a normal guitar body.

I think my old Ovation would have made a much better model for a boat. With the shapely bowl body it would do quite nicely on the water – barring a some turbulence midships ;-)

It is approx thirty years old, American-built and a lovely guitar, easily played with a balanced tonality and sustain over the entire register, the best neck I have ever laid my fingers on, clean and correct up to the twentieth band, an electric-guitar-like fast action, and with a quite good piezo pickup under the bridge. I believe this is the closest modern counterpart in the Ovation product line. The shallow bowl does not allow for a big powerful low register, but it is clean and well-defined all the way down to the low E. Together with a Roland AC-60 the sound is powerful, without losing any of the natural tonal qualities.

But good as it may be I do not think I will turn up in a guitar-shaped kayak or surfski in the near future...