Classical Guitar World - Classical Guitar

The Pikasso Guitar Pat Metheny's request to Linda Manzer in 1984 was to build a guitar that had "as many strings as possible." Manzer came up with the Pikasso, a guitar with 42 strings and four necks that weighed almost fifteen pounds. A hexagonic pickup enabled Metheny to access his Synclavier synthesizer, and thus play on guitar anything that could be played on his synthesizer, including samples and other instruments. The Pikasso contains two holes for mounting the guitar on a stand, allowing the guitarist to play the guitar without having to hold it. Metheny plays the Pikasso on "Into the Dream," the first song on his album Imaginary Day. While building the Pikasso, Manzer invented the Manzer Wedge. Because the Pikasso was much wider than a normal six-string guitar, it was difficult for the right hand to reach all the strings. Manzer also wanted Metheny to be able to see all the strings while looking down at the guitar. She wanted a solution that left the sound unchanged. She settled on a wedge, something that is wide at one end and narrow at the other. The Pikasso introduced having the bass side of the guitar narrower than the treble side. Narrowing the body of the guitar made the strings easier to reach, and it made the guitar more comfortable to play. In the 1980s, she began adding the wedge design to all the guitars she made. Ссылка скрыта