
NAMM 2024: Kauer – a California-based firm known for its bold-looking guitars – has done it again with the Gripen, a guitar that looks like an origami Explorer. Its first “truly new” guitar in nearly eight years, the model is so angular that even its inlays are wonderfully wonky.
Named the Gripen, after the Swedish word for awesome, it’s the result of a joint design between Doug and Max Kauer. It’s not too dissimilar from the company's flagship Banshee model but instead replaces all its curves with more angles than Nintendo 64 graphics.