As a result of the increase in customization in mass manufactured products, so too has the interest in how products are actually built…and why not? Building things is just as fun as owning them! While the likes of various 3D printers and Arduino kits have taken the Making community by storm, there have also been in increase in other modular or start-from-scratch building kits for traditionally pre-built products. Among them is the cleverly-designed (and currently Kickstarting) Electric Loog Guitar which features a unique three-string design that is also aimed at making learning guitar easier, without compromising yours or junior’s inner-Jimi Hendrix.
The Electric Loog Guitar
If the ‘Electric Loog Guitar’ sounds familiar to you, it probably is—project founder Rafael Atijas launched the original Loog Guitar (an acoustic, but still three strings) in April of 2011 after successfully raising funds on Kickstarter. Similar to the Electric Loog Guitar, the original Loog Guitar encouraged children and their parents to experiment with different building combinations…all along while actually learning how to play the guitar, too:
With it’s pastel and vintage-y color palette, the Electric Loog is just friendly enough for a child to not be put-off by it, yet refined enough to also break the point of not being a toy. With their system, Loog is making it easy for users to switch out different components as they see fit over time: from the length of the neck to the color of the body.
In the few short years since launching the original Loog, the guitar has already gone on to win various educational and toy awards:
“It feels special being here again on Kickstarter, because this is where our little company was born: two years ago we launched a campaign for the original acoustic Loog Guitar, which I had developed as my Master’s thesis at NYU. It basically changed my life: we reached the goal, started production and two years later here we are still making guitars.”
As the market for STEM-based toys rises, let’s hope that we see more awesome products like the Loog.
With less than a week left, be sure to head over to Kickstarter to get yours for $150.
