Guitar Journal: Boden Essential 6 Tremolo & More
Body-less and neck-less guitar and sad news that Mike Beigel has died
5,0 / 5,0 | 
This week, we look at the latest guitar news from the past few days. First, we check out the new Strandberg Boden Essential 6 Tremolo with the Arc TILT system. Then we look at Burls Art and his latest guitar with no body or neck. Finally, we remember Mike Beigel, the creative genius behind the Mu-Tron III, who sadly passed away recently, so we look back at some of his work.
Guitar Journal
Boden Essential Upgrade
Strandberg has announced the Boden Essential now has the Arc TILT tremolo system on the popular six-string headless model.
These Boden Essential 6 Tremolo models are more entry-level, so it is great to see them offered with this Arc TILT system.
Key Specifications
They feature a solid Meranti body, a bolt-on roasted maple neck with the EndurNeck profile, and a rosewood fretboard with 24 stainless steel jumbo frets.
The pickups are the Strandberg Hum Hot Bridge and Hum Vintage Neck, with Master Volume and Master Tone controls and a five-way pickup selector.
Available in Dune and Whale Blue Metallic at Sweetwater
Body-less and Neck-less Guitar!
Burls Art has been busy again, and his latest creation is a guitar with no neck and no body. Suspended from steel cables, the Tele-style bridge plate and pickup, along with a control plate instead, rely on a 3D-printed set of frets to make the notes.
Tension
Because the whole guitar relies on interconnected tension, tuning it appears to have been a huge challenge, as it pulls the ‘bodyless and neckless guitar’ out of tune, since the bridge plate isn’t affixed to anything solid.
It looks like a real pain to tune and play, so maybe it’s an exercise in “can it be done,” but it is in no way practical. The design also allows only 15 frets, so it has serious limitations for a guitar, and he also reports it lacks real sustain.
My advice: if you want to build a T-Style guitar and experiment with the design, go for one of the kits sold by Thomann instead, since it’s much easier and includes everything you need, including a body and a neck!
Mike Beigel
Mike Beigel, inventor of the Mu-Tron III and the co-founder of Musitronics, has died at age 77.
Mike was an inventor, engineer, and the brains behind many classic 1970s effects pedals, including the Mu-Tron III. Co-founding Musitronics Corp with Aaron Newman in Rosemont, New Jersey, in 1972, Beigel helped usher in an entirely new era of sound.
Before he introduced the world to the Mu-Tron III, musicians relied heavily on mechanical wah pedals, which required a rocking foot motion to sweep through frequencies. Beigel changed the game by inventing the world’s first envelope-controlled filter. Instead of using a treadle, the Mu-Tron III responded dynamically to the player’s picking attack.
Higher Ground
Musicians including Jerry Garcia, Frank Zappa, Joe Zawinul, Larry Coryell, and Chick Corea used his pedals. Most famously, Stevie Wonder ran his Clavinet through a Mu-Tron III and created a hit record with Higher Ground.
Mu-tron
Mu-tron is still going, and they are still recreating these classic designs, even though brands like Behringer keep ‘borrowing’ their circuits and recreating them as budget, affordable effects units.
Throughout his career, Mike developed a broad range of innovative effect units and holds around 45 U.S. patents. His work has inspired many modern boutique effect pedal builders, and his original effects have appeared on countless recordings.
Musitronics was sold to ARP Synthesizers in 1979 and soon closed its doors, but Beigel’s work was far from over. In the mid-1990s, Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews asked him to recreate that classic envelope filter magic. The result was the EHX Q-Tron, a pedal which has his voice in its DNA. Later, Beigel launched his own Mu-FX brand and released the Tru-Tron 3X.
Bi-Phase & Beyond
The lineup includes classic ’70s effects like the Mu-Tron Octave Divider, Phasor, Flanger, Vol-Wah Pedal, and Bi-Phase. Mike Beigel has left us some pretty amazing effect pedals in his lifetime.
This might also interest you
