This is another one of those projects that immediately hit me as being really cool ... and then cooled off quite quickly as I thought about it more. But, before I get to my opinion, what is it that we're looking at in the photo above this paragraph?
The Loog Guitar is the idea/creation of Rafael Atijas' as a project he started for his Master's thesis at NYU. It's a build-at-home, three-stringed guitar designed for children (ages 6+) to help them learn about music and playing the guitar. There are three interchangeable styles (body and headstock) that you can purchase and swap if you'd like; even two neck lengths depending on the age/height of the child.
Already a successful project on KickStarter, the Loog seems to have found a good niche for itself. It appears to be well built and, from the video on the site, even sounds pretty good when played. However, is teaching a child to play on a three-stringed guitar all that much better than "teaching" them to play on a five-buttoned plastic guitar? Furthermore, the US$215 advertised price point for this guitar is already higher than the price for an off-brand 3/4-scale guitar which offers the opportunity for a fast-learner to jump right into full guitar chords and use any available TAB or guitar music resource to continue learning with.
Don't get me wrong... I do think this is a neat project. The DIY aspect of it, the care of the design (from the packaging to the guitar stand and everything) and sustainable resources used for it as well. I'm no expert on the guitar, let alone when it comes to guitar theory or instruction, so perhaps I'm totally wrong with my criticism here, but I'm just leery of learning an abbreviated version of something with the idea that you can then quickly pick-up the full version of the technique.
What is your take on the project? Will you be supporting it? Would you consider getting one of these guitars?
» Found at: The Loog Guitar
