Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
THE FRET BOARD — When life hands you lemons you’re supposed to make lemonade, as the cliche goes.
But what about when you’re an accomplished musician and life hands you a big ol’ crack in the neck of your guitar? Let’s answer with another cliche: necessity is the mother of invention. And that’s exactly what you’ll see as you watch guitarist Santi Fumière show off what he can do with an instrument that most would consider unplayable.
The Argentinian's guitar is cracked all the way through the neck near the top, but the whole thing is still held together with the fretboard. The tension of the strings is bowing the neck away from the strings, because that’s how physics works, but that doesn’t stop Fumière.
In the video, the young guitarist uses the new shape to his advantage. As he plays, he manipulates the neck to distort the plucks, harmonics and strums of his profession.
What comes out is a sort of mix between classical guitar and a 60s horror movie soundtrack with a little slide guitar sounds mixed in plus something I can’t put my finger on. Basically, it’s a unique and fascinating sound and performance.
If I were Mr. Fumière, I would patent this accidental invention to create a whole new guitar style category.
You can see more from Fumière on Instagram.
