NAMM 2024: A guitar luthier has used AI to design a “natural geometric” guitar, before bringing it to life.
Israel-born Omer Deutsch, the founder of OD Guitars, used picture-to-image source Midjourney to create the design of his latest build, which he is calling an “art piece” - as per a Facebook post - ahead of its display at NAMM 2024.
AI has quite naturally found its way into the music industry in recent years. Artists like Tesseract and Pomegranate Tiger have used AI to create artwork for their 2023 releases. It has even been utilized for music videos and helped gift the world with one last Beatles song, but never before has a guitar builder taken into its stride like this.
Deutsch, who founded OD Guitars in 2015, prompted Midjourney to create a “natural geometric” guitar in line with OD’s brand messaging. He even went as far as creating the base on which the guitar sits as a way of framing and ornamenting the instrument. The AI imagery cleverly captures OD’s standout, gill-like holes present across the bodies and headstocks of its builds, too.
While it's unclear how the instrument plays, or if it was built to be played or simply be a striking visual, comments on the YouTube video have been full of praise for the project.
@punxOiOi13 called D "a true master at work!", whilst @DuVideWyn0 got excited at the idea of its base being part of something larger, saying: "Daaaamn, letting this lay in wait for you onstage before coming out to grab it and melt minds would be an aesthetic masterpiece."
Not much in the way of details about the build has been revealed, but OD Guitars informs us the guitar is made from walnut and "plays amazing". It also boasts gold hardware, including one knob (presumably for volume), a pickup selector and a fixed bridge. It will be on display at NAMM 2024.
We’re left to wonder what it would sound like paired with Revv’s Chatbreaker overdrive. That pedal, unveiled last June, was designed with the help of AI, which would give us the closest thing to a dystopian guitar rig yet.
OD Guitars is a boutique custom shop for guitars, all handmade to order. Designing for the modern metal, djent and progressive communities of players, it boasts Tesseract’s Daniel Tompkins, Jinjer’s Roman Jiner and Cold Night For Alligators’ Kristoffer Winther Jessen among its signature artists.
Of the brand’s vision, Deutsch says, “I tend to take regular things in life and add the irregular to them. The Natural Geometric is all about being inspired by nature and combining it with today’s modern design aesthetics. It’s taking mathematics, geometric shapes, and formulas and applying them to a natural material such as wood.”
As for the future of AI in the music industry, Justin Sandercoe, aka JustinGuitar, has heralded the possibilities AI offers for the future of guitar education, whilst helping offer a tonal evolution when it comes to amp modeling. Producer Eddie Kramer has also said he's open to the possibilities of using AI to restore Jimi Hendrix recordings, in light of the success of the Beatles' Now And Then.
To keep up to date with the latest developments from the greatest gear show on Earth, check out Guitar World’s guide to NAMM 2024: all the latest guitar news, rumors and predictions.
