Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks,

Here's some great guitar-building-philosophy for the weekend. I sincerely would love to get your opinion: Is the Birdfish a true guitar or is it rather a design gimmick. My friend Ulrich says, that it is as close to a Fender Stratocaster as it gets... Even that it seems as far from a Fender as you can possibly imagine.

Ulrich Teuffel never advertised the Birdfish and it's limited to 500 guitars only. It runs around $12,000 right now. And he is REALLY selling them (one at a time). Still you can find it in every serious book about guitars. Billy Gibbons of ZZTop used it extensively on their album Mescalero. Here is the first part of the TEUFFEL story and I will post the next 4 parts over the course of the next 3 days!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx-sf8oGkto

I prepared the original DVD content for your viewing pleasure with the ENGLISH soundtrack. No need to buy, Teuffel DVD's are basically sold out!
(Just if someone is concerned about spamming or advertisement...)

Have a great weekend!
Holger

I'd say the gimmick/innovation line is whether or not someone can tell the difference in a blind test between different sets of 'resonating tubes' on the guitar.

Besides the interchangeability of those tubes, it's pretty much a light-frame guitar with interchangeable pickups (which one can have on any electric using the EMG X series pickups, or by wiring the pickups to male/female jacks).

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

I like how the guy thinks he knows how fender felt at his first trade show. Fenders have stood the test of time. Lets see if the birdfish does.

He sated himself that Leo Fender wanted to build an instrument that anyone could afford and then also buy one of his amplifiers. $12,000 seems awfully expensive for a guitar that is reduced to its basic elements, and where decorative parts were intentionally left off. For me, the beauty of a guitar, electric or acoustic, is in the wood. I have seen a lot of guitars made out of different things (one from Plexiglas) and none of them have taken off because they changed the fundamental material used on a guitar. It's like making a trumpet out of plastic. You can call it innovative, but you might as well buy a synthesizer instead of the instruments.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

I remember buying this DVD when it come out with the guitar gourmet series.

I must say as much as i love the guitars and finding out as much as i can about the makers and their approaches, this was one of the dullest things i remember watching. I dont mean to offend you, and it was well produced and edited, but i just found the format very slow with a lot of self-indulgent rambling on the luthiers part.

I love the Teuffel Birdfish, I was lucky enough to buy one of the early models, and unfortunately i think at that point Uli was more of a designer than a guitar maker. The quality of the guitar was very questionable, especially considering the high price tag, and that was 10 years ago. I have heard through the grape vine that in recent years the quality has improved a lot, which is good, becuase it would be a shame for this wacky looking instrument to be maligned in the annals of guitar history.

Just my 2p worth