prepared guitar tools, techniques

So, what is a prepared guitar?

Here’s Wikipedia’s page, which is really quite good.

Essentially, preparing a guitar is making modifications, usually only temporary, to a guitar to alter its timbre. I think of it as hardware-based circuit bending. Its roots, perhaps not surprisingly as an experimental enterprise, reach to John Cage’s pieces written for a prepared piano. Techniques have been developed since the 1960s, and include nearly any material you can imagine, though some are more popular and effective than others. I use the following tools/techniques on three instruments: a Squier Jazzmaster, a two-to-four string (depending on the day) Peavey Raptor, and a Lanakai acoustic-electric tenor ukulele.

Springs from a Stratocaster Copy

Pro-Mark Hod Rod Sticks

Wooden Skewers (my personal favorite)

Glass Slide

Alligator Clips

Device designed to retrieve items lost in small spaces

Sony Walkman (with or without headphones)

Thingamagoop 2 from Bleep Labs

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