Specimen products is the workshop of Ian Schneller, a Chicago-based sculptor-turned-luthier. His site is worth a look if you are interested in unusual guitars and other stringed instruments (like this electic lute), eccentric amplifiers and speakers, or extreme guitar repair. Currently Schneller is collaberating with musician Andrew Bird on Sonic Arboretum, a musical perfomance/installation piece. Here is video of a performance at the Guggenheim in 2010, and a slideshow of the preparations for an upcoming performance at Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
posted by gamera on Dec 1, 2011 - 9 comments

folktek do beautiful things with sound and sculpture that are so unique as to defy description
posted by mhjb on Dec 20, 2010 - 10 comments

20 pretty painted guitars. (via Nag on the Lake) [more inside]
posted by madamjujujive on Sep 6, 2008 - 12 comments

Philippe Guillerm is a woodworker whose art is comprised of various classical string instruments in whimsical, almost anthropomorphized positions
posted by jonson on May 27, 2006 - 7 comments

Dewanatron : a family of electronic instruments ‘which hazard unpredictable behaviors and self playing tendencies.’ See, for example, the Alphatron, the Dual-Primate Console, and the Courtesy Modulator. Besides his work as an instrument- and furniture-maker, the Dewanatrons’ co-creator, Brian Dewan, is a musician and singer who has collaborated with They Might Be Giants, among others. He is also a visual artist, who has created numerous filmstrips, and who was responsible for the ‘flying victrola’ design for the the Neutral Milk Hotel album ‘In The Aeroplane Over the Sea.’
posted by misteraitch on Apr 21, 2005 - 9 comments

Are they ukuleles, or are they books? Think Joseph Cornell goes Hawaiian.
posted by scody on Feb 22, 2005 - 8 comments