Somnium basses? Anyone seen these modular guitars ?

[Mark76]

Back in the mid-1960s, Gretsch built and sold about 75 Bikini guitars, a short-lived experimental instrument with interchangeable necks and bodies (bass and guitar necks and pickups assembled on a tiny, two-by-four body designed to slide into kitchen-drawer-like channels in single-neck or double-neck slab bodies, with the bodies hinged down the middle so that both bodies and both necks could fit in a case with standard dimensions).

A Gretsch Bikini in action:

Lovin that drummer's style

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I was watching a few videos of the Somnium Guitar released recently - modular in that you can change the pickups , body and even the fretboard on the fly. On their website, they mention "guitar and basses", I'm guessing a bass version is possibly in the works?
I certainly hope so, I for one would LOVE to see a bass which can go from let's say a P/J to Jazz, MM or two humbucker pickup configuration. Also imagine being able to go from maple to rosewood fretboard, perhaps fretted to fretless - all on the fly.

If you buy one, and change it all, when does it become a new instrument?

 

[MobileHolmes]

That was a company called Novatone, and that was in the '80s.

That sounds about right. I talked to a fusion drummer who was in a band with a bassist who had one. He didn't say much about except it was cool

 

[Watchootognbout]

I remember something in the '80's.
A guitar with a detachable neck that would slide in and out of the body on the fly.

 

[gln1955]

If you buy one, and change it all, when does it become a new instrument?

That's a lot of money for a parts bass, IMO.

 

[sikamikanico]

If you buy one, and change it all, when does it become a new instrument?

Lol, they should name it the "Guitar of Theseus" or something

I won't pass any judgment on the technical execution of interchangeable parts until I can try one, but I have my concerns about reliability, playability, and overall performance...

However, it also fails to impress me at the most fundamental level - so what? It is flexible in ways that ultimately matter very little, at least on bass (and how I approach bass playing).

I'm sure it would be tons of fun to have and mess around with, but I don't think this is the next big step in the evolution of guitars. Well, at least someone's trying to innovate... someone somewhere will eventualy get it right, whatever "right" is...

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I think it's an idea which will appeal to tweakers, much like my THD amps. Many can't see why anyone would want to spend their time swapping parts around but there are those of us who just like doing it I would quite like to have an instrument I could easily customise any time I got the urge...