Prediction/speculation: Bongo guitar?

[Big Poppa]

Adouglas
Can you pass a urine test? The bongo bass is very close to the original...the bongo guitar is very homely.....It would be the last guitar invited to the prom! (dont get sensitive about the urine test Im just kidding)

Im not kidding though....... the Bongo guitar barks like an irish setter

 

[ripley]

Im not kidding though....... the Bongo guitar barks like an irish setter

at least it doesn't bark like an orange county crackdog. they're profoundly troubling.

 

[dojo]

That thing is sweet. Build the bongo guitar!

 

[SteveB]

It was a little ugly, but it reminded me of a scarab beetle. I think that the addition of some pickups may have made it a little less ugly.

Its ugliness appealed to me on some level though.

See, BP? Maybe you should photograph all of the ugly prototype guitars next to me.. apparently they look good by comparison!

 

[GWDavis28]

I got to see the Bongo guitar concept at the OH and though it is funny looking I thought that it was cool from a design standpoint. Tthink about all of those funny shaped guitars from the 80's most of those companies aren't even in business today.

It had no pickups in it. Yah it was in the rough design it could happen. But I doubt they'd sell, you need to look at what sells. If sparkle finishes did poorly this thing might be DOA out the door.

But you have to remember when the Bongo bass came out, I seem to remember something about a "Toilet Seat" comment that still haunts it to this day.

If the Bongo guitar did happen I have a feeling that EBMM might be getting crap about it like there's no tomorrow.

BP, I understand, it's not a sound business decision. I step back and I look what's come from EBMM is the last 6 months and that's good enough for me.

Just some thoughts, Glenn |B)

 

[adouglas]

Bongo Bass = Perfect

Bongo Guitar = Ugly

Bongo PRODUCTION Bass = Perfect
Bongo PROTOTYPE Guitar = Ugly

Fixed it for ya. This is my point. Did you ever see the prototype bass? Compare it to the production:

The proto bass has the same thing going on as the guitar to my eye. The body is circular, and the lower horn is just wrong. Also, IMHO the Bongo's pickguard is an important part of the look...it complements the body contours. Nekkid Bongos don't look right to me (the flaming Jack Bongo excepted).

The PRODUCTION bass is perfect, thanks to the changes BP made. The proto of both bass and guitar are seriously ugly IMHO.

The bongo bass is very close to the original...the bongo guitar is very homely........ the Bongo guitar barks like an irish setter

I read you loud and clear, BP, and I totally agree that the proto guitar is ugly (don't agree about the bass being close, though...just look at that pic).

But what if the guitar shape were like the production bass? I think that'd look great, just the way the bass wound up looking great.

Please don't think I'm campaigning for this. You said it'd never happen, and so it won't. Fun to think about, though.

PS: Passed a urine test this morning. Got up and peed like a racehorse.

 

[adouglas]

But I doubt they'd sell, you need to look at what sells. If sparkle finishes did poorly this thing might be DOA out the door.

But you have to remember when the Bongo bass came out, I seem to remember something about a "Toilet Seat" comment that still haunts it to this day.

If the Bongo guitar did happen I have a feeling that EBMM might be getting crap about it like there's no tomorrow.

BP, I understand, it's not a sound business decision.

Good points, but consider the origin of the Bongo in the first place. That was a HUGELY risky move, and it could well have been argued (and probably was) that it was just TOO different and would never sell. But BP made it happen, and he has been proven right.

Yes, the toilet seat thing still crops up. But people are coming around just as BP said they would. It worked for the bass...why not for a guitar?

Here's what BP said in those Guitar Center videos at http://www.guitarcenter.com/events/musicman/ about the origin of the Bongo. Food for thought, and it could just as easily apply to guitars as to basses:

"The Bongo came about because I was really frustrated...because we just can't seem to move this industry past 1953....

"So the Bongo came about because I wanted to... move it forward, I wanted to add some style, I wanted to shake it up a little bit, okay? And boy, did we.

"Like we said, about 20 percent of people thought we just knocked it out of the park, and most people said 'What are you doing? You're crazy, you're nutty.' I don't think so."

 

[lenny]

No Bongos In Guitar Land!
in the words of my Asian Pal Tam" VEDDY UGER RY"

 

[PeteDuBaldo]

Please don't think I'm campaigning for this. You said it'd never happen, and so it won't. Fun to think about, though.

From my point of view it sure looks like a campaign Sometimes thoughts are better left as just thoughts

 

[Bungo]

I always thought that bass players were the conservative bunch, but BP says that it's the guitarists who are really set in their ways. I guess those folks aren't the ones responding to this thread.

The thing is, us guitarists like to talk big, but when it comes to laying the money down I believe conservative wins over bold and innovative every time.

Someone from the Company will have the figues but I'm sure I remember reading on here somewhere that despite the huge discussions about colour options and sparkles etc, most guitars ordered are still black or natural?

This must be one of the few markets on the planet where the bulk of instruments sold are still virtually identical to the original designs from the 1950's. I'm sure the folk on here are more advanced than our Fender and Gibson loving bretheren, but probably still fundamentally conservative compared to bass players.

 

[oddjob]

It is fun to speculate about all of this. Every now and then a company comes along, changes things up and it is a hit and pushes things forward a bit (Bongo Bass, Kubicki ExFactor, etc.) but for every one of those there are some that just don't go over (like the Guild Ashbory - and I own one) - I just think that the Bongo guitar, even if it got the BP make over, isn't one that is ready to see the light of day. I trust BP's vision, and that of his staff, enough to know that if he says it barks like a dog... IT DOES.

I have a feeling, nothing to confirm it, that deep in the bowels of EBMM there is a special guitar project on the table that will someday make an appearance - BP and staff are always looking forward - but not until the it is ready and the time is right.

So this is what it is like to post on the guitar side... very interesting... must move back across the forum now

 

[adouglas]

I trust BP's vision, and that of his staff, enough to know that if he says it barks like a dog... IT DOES.

+1.

 

[Big Poppa]

The thing is, us guitarists like to talk big, but when it comes to laying the money down I believe conservative wins over bold and innovative every time.

Someone from the Company will have the figues but I'm sure I remember reading on here somewhere that despite the huge discussions about colour options and sparkles etc, most guitars ordered are still black or natural?

This must be one of the few markets on the planet where the bulk of instruments sold are still virtually identical to the original designs from the 1950's. I'm sure the folk on here are more advanced than our Fender and Gibson loving bretheren, but probably still fundamentally conservative compared to bass players.

spot on Bungo!

 

[J-Nick]

It might be true that guitar players are a conservative bunch, but I still love the AL shape even though it is completely different from the usual "guitar shapes". I find the axis shape quite different as well... Inspired by the Tele shape but distinctively different. Maybe we're not that conservative after all...

As for the bongo guitar, it might be ok after refinements, but I must say that this prototype is not my cup of tea

 

[jamminjim]

I don't really care for the upper horn, looks like it's trying to reach out an ram the upper middle of the neck. The roundness of the body, complemented by the pickguard, is attractive though. Maybe if the upper horn were scaled back a little and the lower horn altered slightly, this guitar shape could work. In it's present form it isn't ready for prime time, regardless of any paint scheme.

Bongo Guitar = -1

 

[darren]

Nah, i think it looks great without the pickguard (one of the things i really like about my Petrucci... i've never liked guitars with a big slab of plastic screwed to the face).

Have there been any ALs made without pickguards? A 7-string H-H AL with piezos would look pretty hot.