You’ve heard of Modular Synthesizers, but wait till you check out this Modular Electric Guitar…





Guitars are like pizzas. They come in different shapes and styles, and you’re never satisfied with just one. Just within the domain of electric guitars, you’ve got the Stratocaster, the Telecaster, the Les Paul, the Jazzmaster, and a hundred others, designed and crafted with a specific persona – defined by their body design and their sound. The tragedy of electric guitars has always been that you need to buy different guitars for those different sounds… although the folks at Reddick Guitars may have a solution – Modularity.

A lot of times the word Modular gets used as a catchword or a gimmick (most notably in Architecture and Tech), but what the Reddick Voyager does is low-key genius. Electric guitars work when the vibrating metal strings create fluctuations in the magnetic fields of the pickups on the guitars. Different electric guitars come with different pickups placed at various different locations to create their signature sound (a Stratocaster uses 3 single-coil pickups while the Les Paul uses 2 humbucker pickups)… so Reddick decided to just create a guitar with modular pickup blocks that you could swap in or swap out. The video above showcases the Reddick Voyager in action, as the demonstrater hot-swaps modules in the middle of playing to show you how different they sound.

Swapping the pickup modules is just about as easy as swapping cassettes in a cassette player (if you’re old enough to remember those), making it convenient to switch modules mid-concert. The Voyager comes with 6 interchangeable modules, modeling the Telecaster, the Les Paul, the SSS Stratocaster, among other popular layouts. The modules clip right into the central cavity in the Voyager, and can be removed by gripping them using the hole at the back. The base of the guitar features a detachable module too, with interchangeable controls that allow you to get the best of your jamming experience. Sadly though, while you can swap out modules on the Voyager to dramatically change its sound, you can’t do much to alter its body. The Voyager’s design models itself on the Fender Stratocaster (the most popular electric guitar model out there and a hot favorite of Hendrix) and comes with a wooden finish, allowing it to look drastically different from the enamel-coated colorful electric guitars you usually see – a design move which makes sense, given that the Voyager is so unique in its function.

What’s so ground-breaking about the Voyager is its ability to physically be able to model different guitars, without you needing to actually own different guitars. This versatility, aside from having an economical benefit (given that electric guitars can cost anywhere between $300 and $1500), is incredibly convenient for musicians too, allowing them to experiment with new sounds on the fly, or potentially even easily swap out modules mid-concert without worrying about running backstage to get a new guitar (or worse, going through tuning or sound-check all over again!)

The Voyager Modular Electric Guitar comes handmade in either walnut, ash, or cherry wood. The guitar is available as a bundle, including two pickup modules of your choice, and one standard control module, for $1,499… which makes sense considering you’re getting multiple guitars for the price of one. You can buy additional pickup modules for $199 each, allowing you to expand your sound library to include different guitar styles and sounds, without having to empty your wallet.

Designer: Reddick Guitars

This mixed-reality headset was designed to be your virtual tour-guide in foreign cities

In every way, the Voyager is what the Google Glass project should have aimed at becoming. Designed to enhance the tourism experience by augmenting it with everything the internet has to offer, and to make you self-sufficient in a foreign city so you don’t have to awkwardly ask people for directions, the Voyager is a goggle-shaped mixed-reality headset that lets you explore new cities like never before. The Voyager connects to your phone, bringing elements of smartphone functionality to the mixed-reality space. This means you can navigate cities by seeing directions projected on the road ahead of you, can click pictures and capture videos of everything you see through the glasses, and can interface with real-world objects and buildings like your hotel, restaurants, tourist spots, and heritage monuments. Rather than augmented reality, which just projects virtual elements on the physical world, Voyager’s mixed reality interface means you can interact with elements, tapping on virtual buttons to check into your hotel, program destinations on your maps, and even send videos and images of your PoV to social media just by waving in the air!

The Voyager, just like other MR headsets like the Hololens, Oculus Quest, or the Vive, serves its specific purpose. While some headsets are designed specifically for entertainment, and others for work, the Voyager champions travel and living. The headset is styled to look like a pair of goggles, so people don’t stare at you; it comes with clear eyepieces so your eyesight is never obstructed, and you can wear the headset even when it’s switched off; and pairs with Voyager’s own helmet, which creates the perfect ecosystem of products designed to boost solo tourism and travel. Unlike other MR headsets, though, the Voyager isn’t meant for sale. Designed for temporary use-cases like holidays and quick trips, the Voyager can be rented from tourism offices, kiosks, and e-scooter rental centers.

Designers: Seunghye Han, Sieun Roh & Soomin Son

You Can Now Buy A Comprehensive Boxset With A Copy Of The Voyager Gold Record

The Voyager Spacecraft is among the most well-known of its kind. It was launched in 1977 as a sort-of time capsule which describes the history and knowledge of the human race. Though it’s unlikely to ever be discovered, it’s a culmination of the hope and pride in humanity that really makes you feel that we have accomplished something great as a species (re:Woman Buys iPhone 6 For $100, Gets A Box Of Potatoes Instead).

Well, now you can own the Voyager Gold record yourself, or at least a copy of it, as a Kickstarter campaign raised over $1.3 Million to bring the project to life. The set comes with either vinyl records or cd’s and includes 90 minutes of music from around the world, including a single contemporary song from the time “Johnny B Goode” by Chuck Berry. It’s a great choice, but I’d have gone with the 9-minute version of Kanye West’s Runaway.

The boxset includes a 3-vinyl set, though unlike the one of the actual spacecraft, it isn’t made plated with gold. At least the vinyl’s are translucent gold, so they do end up looking super pretty. Inside the set, you’ll also find a hardcover book detailing the actual spacecraft, a digital download card for the music and a Lithograph of the Voyager Golden Record cover diagram, all within a pretty intricate looking boxset.

It costs $98, and it all adds up to a pretty amazing looking package for anyone interested in one of the greatest accomplishments of human history. Just remember for every stunning spacecraft boxset, there’ll be a stupid clip that lets you dip McNuggies while you drive.

Gizmodo ]

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