Why the crazy shapes?
There are three answers to this question. First, we wanted to take instrument design a step or two beyond the Strat/Tele/LesPaul black hole. (Everybody complains about mainstream music. Shouldn’t you do the same about the instruments, too?) Second, we wanted to show some shapes that are impossible to do in wood, or at least very expensive. But third (and most important), the shape really does influence the sound. The surface thickness and contours and the formula of our Composite all affect the tone, from punchy to smooth, from bright to warm. In fact, in terms of importance to us, sound is the most important thing, followed by feel, and then (in a distant third place) the way they look. Before building a new design or custom instrument, Heiko makes all of the calculations to determine how it will behave. It is almost an afterthough when he builds the actual instrument, and finds that it matches his predictions. That’s how technically skilled he is, but he also obviously has an artist’
