Boaz Modular Guitar (Kickstarter Beginning)

[narad]

I actually just meant the logic he had with the 3rd prototype. The final one is not my thing but seems cool to me.

 

[Jeff]

You want a plastic guitar, get an Aristides! What are we, poor people?

 

[Se7enHeaven]

This guitar is made of Delrin (acetal homopolymer)... a high density plastic that bridges the gap between plastic and metals.

 

[Demiurge]

It seems cool, but the red flag for me is the price point. With all that proprietary stuff, the models seem really cheap. I mean, unless the builder was visited by the R&D fairy who designed, prototyped, and tested everything for free... but if that were the case, then a Kickstarter wouldn't be necessary, right? If you pay for the $699 package here, for instance, how much is going towards this venture figuring things out versus how much is going toward the guitar you're buying?

 

[Se7enHeaven]

This guitar took Boaz (a master luthier) 25 years and 5 prototypes to develop. He was his own R&D, and only recently had other guitarists play it to get their reaction, to get some videos out, etc., before launching project. There's nothing left to figure out... it's ready to go. I never even heard of Boaz (although he's been in several acoustic type magazines, since that's his specialty) or this guitar, etc., until recently. Seems gimmicky until you investigate this person (he has a YouTube channel) and his experiences.

 

[Jeff]

This guitar is made of Delrin (acetal homopolymer)... a high density plastic that bridges the gap between plastic and metals.

So it’s a giant guitar pick guitar.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

So it’s a giant guitar pick guitar.

Or K'Nex rod.

 

[Demiurge]

This guitar took Boaz (a master luthier) 25 years and 5 prototypes to develop. He was his own R&D, and only recently had other guitarists play it to get their reaction, to get some videos out, etc., before launching project.

Okay, great- it's done and good to go- so why have a Kickstarter and not just start taking orders or pre-orders conventionally?

 

[Seabeast2000]

Okay, great- it's done and good to go- so why have a Kickstarter and not just start taking orders or pre-orders conventionally?

The answer is being researched and developed by another 3rd party. Please contribute.

 

[spudmunkey]

Okay, great- it's done and good to go- so why have a Kickstarter and not just start taking orders or pre-orders conventionally?

I'm sure it's mostly just that some just use kickstarter as their storefront, as opposed to Etsy, Ebay, etc.

If you look at the breakdown, they have almost 700 backers ($322,000), but only 19 of those contributed at the $9 level ($171), which is the only level where you don't get a guitar. Some people also want to support the vision/person/company they believe in, and figure if they can contribute, it'll help the company have better footing to survive challenges that knock out other startups.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

Isn't this "modular guitar" concept (with interchangeable "modules") the same exact thing that the Marconi Labs EGO brand did before they tanked?

Sorry, but I just don't see this gimmick going anywhere.

 

[Demiurge]

I'm sure it's mostly just that some just use kickstarter as their storefront, as opposed to Etsy, Ebay, etc.

If you look at the breakdown, they have almost 700 backers ($322,000), but only 19 of those contributed at the $9 level ($171), which is the only level where you don't get a guitar. Some people also want to support the vision/person/company they believe in, and figure if they can contribute, it'll help the company have better footing to survive challenges that knock out other startups.

I don't use Kickstarter, so I don't if they have a position the propriety of using it as an alternative store front. Considering the Kickstarter projects that have flopped & taken money with nothing to show, I don't know if that's a better deal for the consumer/backer, though- they're not buying a item as much as making a contribution which should yield the item if everything goes well.

People can donate what they want on this, but I think that it's incredibly tacky for an established, active business to have their hat-in-hand for donations.

 

[spudmunkey]

With Kickstarter (unlike indigogo), you have to at least have a functional prototype. So at least there's that.

I could be wrong on this, but I *believe* that nobody gets any money unless the campaign ends, and is fully-funded. So unlike a pre-order period, where the seller is now beholden to the credit card companies' TOS, and in the end they might only sell 5 and then it's not enough to pay for the (expensive AF) tooling...then you're SOL. With kickstarter, you have the entire length of your campaign to get people's commitment to buy-in if you reach your goal. if you don't, no money is transfered. So it's a handy way to not only gather funds to help cover the final development and production, but also to simply gauge interest. And at the end, even if they are funded, their TOS pretty cleary says that you are just helping to fund something that may or may not be delivered. Their verbige is never that you are pre-buying the guitar, or board game, projection smart watch...but that you are contributing to the development, and your "gift" is the item. Like a PBS pledge drive tote bag.

I could be wrong, but I believe that most states have laws that say that if you "pre-sell" something, you don't get any of the customer's money until the items ships (most allow up to 50% deposit, though). Which wouldn't really help someone who still needs to pay tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for tooling before they can even begin producing anything.

 

[Se7enHeaven]

Boaz worked with Kent Armstrong to develop the pickups. This video goes through the possible configurations, which look pretty cool and diverse. And I was wrong about the frets... you can request stainless steel, but the frets are composite material... which may sound soft, but Boaz has been using composite in his acoustics for years and claims they wear better and are super easy to change out (even for a lay person)... there's another video on that if you search his YouTube.

 

[Se7enHeaven]

In the comments section on the gofundme page it's indicated that once this project launches the company will be offering blank cartridges so that you can add in whatever pickups you want. And so, you can buy the guitar with one or more blank cartridges (not the ones with Boaz pickups) and pop in the humbuckers, single coils that you want.

 

[laxu]

To me this seems yet another project trying to solve problems that most guitarists don't have. If I need to get by with one guitar then a good dual humbucker guitar with coil splits will cover most of what I play.

To me the fun of owning several guitars is that each one is different and kind of influences you to play different stuff on them. If I pick up my Jazzmaster my first instinct isn't to play extreme metal on it, you know?

But it does still have enough people on Kickstarter willing to get one. The price for backers is most likely lower than what these will cost when available in store or online later.

 

[Exchanger]

To me this seems yet another project trying to solve problems that most guitarists don't have. If I need to get by with one guitar then a good dual humbucker guitar with coil splits will cover most of what I play.

To me the fun of owning several guitars is that each one is different and kind of influences you to play different stuff on them. If I pick up my Jazzmaster my first instinct isn't to play extreme metal on it, you know?

But it does still have enough people on Kickstarter willing to get one. The price for backers is most likely lower than what these will cost when available in store or online later.

I think the concept is good but indeed, you can get a very versatile guitar without all the interchangeable system. The only appeal of that would be for pick-up compartive tests. And indeed it goes against the collecting/hoarding urges most of us here have (I bought some of my guitars mostly because they look awesome). So this forum is most likely not the main target for this

 

[Se7enHeaven]

If you think this project will have me stop buying guitars, then think again, lol. It's different enough that it's merely adding to my hoard.

 

[Musiscience]

Personally not into this, but a very cool concept nonetheless! At the price point I’m sure they’ll sell quite a few.

 

[Se7enHeaven]

Only a few days remaining for the kickstarter... I received this email notification:

"We have an amazing update on the guitar that is only for our Kickstarter backers. Boaz has decided that all Boaz One backers will receive a numbered guitar that is hand signed by Boaz himself! This new development makes the Kickstarter Boaz One an instant collectors item!"

Also, a few interesting videos from Boaz: