Originally published at: 1000 aluminum cans transformed into a beautiful electric guitar | Boing Boing
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There’s clearly no can deposit system wherever it is he lives. In Germany the raw material alone would be worth 250€ in deposit refunds.
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150€ in Finland.
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Now that’s metal!
Also, he should make another and look into anodizing methods to decorate.
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Were these Aluminium Cans or Aluminum Cans?
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I was thinking while listening to it that it did sound different from a wood-bodied guitar.
Then the next vide was of one he made from 500 sheets of newspaper. Compare the sound of this one to the sound of that one.
Pickups, amp, speakers may all have been different, but the metal one, while sounding great, sounded different to the paper one - which had rather more ‘warmth’.
NB I just finished reading ‘The Birth of Loud’ by Ian S Port and it is an utterly compelling read. All about the history and impact of the electric guitar, with great detail about how Leo Fender and Les Paul (and others) invented and developed the electric guitar (and the rivalry between them). Brilliantly researched and written it is a ‘must read’ for anyone who ever held a guitar.
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I’ll need a lot of convincing that the body material of an electric solid-body has any discernible influence on the tone of a guitar. Pickups/electronics/strings/configuration/technique will have so much more impact than body material.
I will check out that book now. Sounds fascinating!
Read the book and I suspect you’ll come away understanding that, for guitarists, the body can make a real difference.
Based on the accent and what looked like American-market labelling on everything in the video that had a label get close enough, long enough, to the camera to tell; I’m guessing that it’s Aluminum, as god and Charles Martin Hall intended.
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Well, I’ve been playing for about 40 years, so I’ll keep my own opinion. But I’ll still read the book.
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I does have some influence on tone-- softer wood bodies have less sustain, dense materials will have more sustain. But I agree the electronics do most of the work.
Aluminum necks and bodies were briefly “a thing” in the 70’s-- Jerry Garcia played an aluminum Travis Bean guitar for a brief period (he thought it had a sharp/edgy tone that he tired of), and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad played one (a Musicraft Messenger) for years. There is also the
“feel” issue-- I think one of the reasons guitar players end up hoarding instruments is that they feel different in your hands, and it makes you want to play differently.
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How much is the sound influenced by guitarist’s body composition?
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Good question. I have noticed Leslie West of Mountain has a thicker tone than Steve Albini of Shellac, so you may be onto something.
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Hey, don’t try to minimize Aluminium!
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