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William Eaton, MBA '75, calls the harp guitar that he designed and built "one of the most sophisticated guitars" ever created.
Photo by John Running
Guitar Innovator
"This instrument is one of the most sophisticated guitars ever built," says four-time Grammy nominee William Eaton of the double-neck harp guitar he designed in 1999 and finished constructing in 2008. The instrument has a transperformance tuning device, an onboard computer that recalls more than 300 tunings and accordingly controls small motors that change string tension on the lower neck. The upper neck utilizes a pickup system that interfaces with a synthesizer module, allowing the strings to sound like a guitar, piano, sax, strings, brass, percussion, and other sampled or synthesized sounds. Nine harp strings provide additional plucked or strummed options. It is 1 of 16 original instruments that Eaton has designed and built while composing, recording, and performing music, and helping to teach and run a school.
A string musician since age 7 when his Uncle Charlie gave him a ukulele, Eaton, MBA '75, wrote a business plan for a guitar-building school in a GSB class taught by Steven Brandt, MBA '65. That school, the Roberto-Venn School of Luthiery in Phoenix, is now the longest running guitar-building school in North America.