“Air” Kurv Guitar: the stringless guitar or bass for the masses?
The Kurv Guitar is a stringless guitar currently on Kickstarter and looks very likely to hit its target and go into production. Which could mean in the near future that us guitarists and bass players might no longer be able to boast about what gauge strings we use to get our awesome tones and how tough our callouses are.
So should string manufacturers like Ernie Ball and D’Addario be worried?
Well I doubt it to be honest, as the implementation uses a couple of handheld devices, an iOS app and some serious hardware. The London-based startup Kurv Music put a bunch of accelerometers, gyroscopes and magnetometers along with a bunch of pressure-sensitive reactive software to emulate what we guitar and bass players do with a set of strings and some frets. The idea is pretty unique; the company claims that a beginner can be playing some basic guitar tracks within 30 minutes or so of picking up a Kurv Guitar.
So no more callouses and struggling to finger barre chords for you newbies.
It’s a really interesting idea and the concept is sound. I’m just not sure the hardware is viable in terms of you looking like you’re just waving your hands about playing air guitar, so instantly you look like you are either drunk or certifiable…
But hey, Jean Michel Jarre looked cool in the ’80s playing a laser harp right?
Maybe not.
Check out the Kurv Kickstarter page for more details.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kurv/kurv-guitar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXcb-h2SHas
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