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Unitar (instrument)

One-stringed guitar

One-stringed guitar

The unitar is a one-string electric guitar. Although rare, the one-string guitar is sometimes heard, particularly in Delta blues, where improvised folk instruments were popular in the 1930s and 1940s.

History

Eddie "One String" Jones had some regional success with a Mississippi blues musician, Lonnie Pitchford, who played a similar homemade instrument. In a more contemporary style, Little Willie Joe Duncan, the inventor of the Unitar, had a considerable rhythm and blues instrumental hit in the 1950s with "Twitchy", recorded with the Rene Hall Orchestra.

Design

The home-made unitar often has a piezoelectric sensor as a pick-up, requiring an external amplifier to be attached to produce a satisfactory sound. PVC piping is a common neck material. As with a normal electric guitar, the unitar does not require a reverberating body like an acoustic guitar.

Notable players

  • Seasick Steve
  • Brushy One String

References

References

  1. "Building a Unitar".
  2. (5 April 2010). "TheHoundBlog: Willie Joe Duncan & his Unitar".
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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