'Elephant Six' guitar

[wayang]

My buddy Eric Allen, the bass player for the Apples in stereo, sent me the following story and youtube link...he's back here after being on tour on the east coast, and sat in with us on guitar at our gig last week (our 'regular' guitarist had to miss it for his little girl's birthday)...

For Immediate Release: May 20, 2009
Blindworm Guitars Creates One-Of-A-Kind Elephant 6 Guitar for The Apples in stereo’s Robert Schneider

(Colorado Springs, CO): Colorado based luthier Andrew Scott has created a one of a kind Elephant 6 guitar for The Apples in stereo’s Robert Schneider.
The guitar is a playable piece of art made out of meteorite, dinosaur bones and a combination of Walnut and Poplar woods, and is shaped to play and perform much like a super-charged version of Schneider’s Danelectro DC-3. Scott came up with the idea in order to celebrate Schneider’s role in the long-enduring and profoundly influential Elephant 6 Collective which spawned The Apples in stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control and numerous other members of their friendly confab.

“This Blindworm guitar plays incredibly well. It is the coolest, most beautiful, psychedelic guitar I have ever played!” enthuses Schneider. “The inlaid Elephant 6 logo is made of meteorite dust, and on the headstock, the elephant’s eyes are made of dinosaur bones. It feels like I am holding a living creature.”
“This guitar was custom designed down to the last detail,” explains Blindworm Guitar’s Andrew Scott. “This process started with tons of research into the sound qualities, materials, and design that would best accommodate Robert.”

“I acquired a model of one of Robert’s favorite guitars, an original Danelectro DC-3 and took the favored qualities of this guitar (scale, weight, proportion, tone, etc.) and combined it with improved construction methods. Additionally, countless hours were spent watching how Robert plays a guitar, paying attention to strumming and picking style, how guitars sit with his arm and body, what sounds he uses.”

“The pickups were carefully selected to provide extensive range of new and familiar sounds for Robert. For his environmental conscience, only domestic woods were used. A hand rubbed oil finish was applied for the same reasons, as well as to give the instrument a softer smoother feel and improved tonality.”

“This guitar has its own life, and has been treated so since its conception. It listened to albums and albums of The Apples in stereo and other of Robert’s projects and videos during construction. When this guitar finally reached his hands, it already knew him. It needed him to feel normal and be a part of him before it ever left my shop!”

Schneider is currently at work on The Apples in stereo’s new album, tentatively titled “Travellers in Space and Time” but will be performing as his alter-ego kids’ project Robbert Bobbert and The Bubble Machine on the following dates:
Saturday, June 13: Children's Day / South Street Seaport / New York, NY
(also performing: Zambelli Fireworks and The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra)
Sunday, June 14: World Cafe Live / Peanut Butter And Jams
Monday, August 31: Children’s Day / Jay Pritzker Pavilion / Millennium Park / Chicago, IL

The Elephant 6 Guitar Technical Specifics:
- Solid wood, five piece neck through construction of Walnut with Poplar stripes
- Solid Poplar body
- Osage Orange fingerboard, nut, truss rod cover, pickguard, (same family as ebony, but domestic)
- Meteorite (collected in NW Africa) inlay for side fret markers, Elephant Six logo, and Blindworm Guitars logo
- Lower elephant (upside down) is Indian, with pronounced trunk carved in the poplar body
- Upper elephant is African, and carved into Walnut, with Osage Orange tusks
- Dinosoaur bone excavated in Colorado fills in the upper elephants’ eyes and the Blindworm snake’s eyes
- Custom made Walnut and Poplar knobs and switch
- 25″ scale, 24 jumbo frets
- Cream colored Duncan P-Rails, 2 Vol. 2 Tone. 3-way selector
- Sperzel locking tuners

Robert Schneider is the lead Composer, Arranger and Producer of The Apples in stereo, Robbert Bobbert, Marbles, and Ulysses, and was one of the founding members of The Elephant 6 Collective. He is also a well-known producer-engineer, having worked with such notables as Beulah, Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control.

Here's the 'youtube' vid:


Pretty cool...

[cjj]

Hmmm, OKaaaaaay...

Interesting, elephant trunk upper horn. The elephant headstock is kinda cool...

[kiramdear]

Personally, I'd be scared to sleep in the same room with it. I'm sure it plays and sounds great, though.

[jdogric12]

AIS - great band. I wish I could see the video. Anyone able to capture a pic of this beast?

[kiramdear]

Here ya go. It's hard to catch the details, but the headstock has an elephant relief on it, and the upper horn has, erm, nostrils on it.

[1965]

Love the Apples, don't love that guitar. Stick to your Dano, Robert.

[wayang]

Well, it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but Robert's always got room for one more guitar...

And if you know Robert, you know he loves everything and everybody...

[jingle_jangle]

Love the Apples, don't love that guitar. Stick to your Dano, Robert.

Amen, bruzz...

[octagon]

Was he playing it through a Wooly Mammoth fuzz pedal?

[jdogric12]

I think it's pretty neat! Thanks for the pic, Kira.

[winston]

It's not my cup of tea either but each to their own.....................

[Blindworm Guitars]

Hey everyone, I'm the guy who made the guitar for Robert.
Thanks for the post and comments!
Here are some way better pics of the elephant six guitar.

[url]http://blindwormguitars.com/elephantsixmain.html/url]

[kiramdear]

Welcome, Andrew. Much respect to you and your work

[Blindworm Guitars]

Thanks Kira!

[jingle_jangle]

Andrew, it's not my "thing", but you are most welcome here and we look forward to some spirited exchanges!