The $100 Guitar Project

Art by Cecile O'Meara, Nov 2010 The $100 Guitar arrives at Chuck O'Meara's home in Madison, CT, Oct 24, 2010 Shawn Persinger (R) hands the $100 Guitar off to Marty Carlson (L) at Gerosa Records, Brookfield, CT, Nov 4, 2010 Marty Carlson with $100 Guitar at Barking Spider Studios, Nov 9, 2010 Joe Bouchard with $100 Guitar at Barking Spider Studios, Nov 9, 2010 Marty Carlson hands off the $100 Guitar to Chris Murphy, Nov 11, 2010 Keith Rowe with $100 Guitar at ND's apartment, Dec 6, 2010 Keith and Nick after Keith's recording, Dec 6, 2010 Nick Didkovsky after recording, Dec 15, 2010 Larry Polansky picking it up, Dec 22, 2010, NYC Jon Diaz picking it up from Larry Polansky, Dec 26, 2010, NYC Jon Diaz, Dec 31, 2010, NYC Jon Diaz handing it off to Bruce Eisenbeil, Jan 1, 2011, NYC Bruce Eisenbeil Elliott Sharp, Jan 18, 2011, NYC Elliott Sharp handing off Marco Oppedisano, Jan 19, 2011, NYC Marco Oppedisano by Kimberly Fiedelman-Oppedisano, Jan 21, 2011, Queens, NY Marco Oppedisano handing off to Ron Anderson, Jan 23, 2011, Prospect Park SW, Brooklyn Ron Anderson handing off James Moore, Jan 30, 2011, NYC Taylor Levine passes off to Rhys Chatham, ca. Feb 9, 2011 Rhys passes off to Hans Tammen, ca. Feb 13, 2011 Hans Tammen passes off to Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, ca. Feb 15, 2011 Amy Denio, March 3, 2011, NYC Mark Stewart Fred Frith hands off to John Shiurba, March 5, 2011, Oakland, CA John Shiurba hands off to Karl Evangelista, March 9, 2011, Oakland, CA Karl Evangelista hands off to Phil Burk, March 12, 2011, Oakland, CA Thomas Dimuzio hands off to Henry Kaiser, March 16, 2011, CA Henry Kaiser hands off to Hillary Fielding, March 20, 2011, CA Hillary Fielding hands off to Barry Cleveland, March 27, 2011, CA Barry Cleveland hands off to Ava Mendoza, April 3, 2011, CA David Starobin, April 20, 2011, New Rochelle, NY Andy Aledort, April 27, 2011, Sea Cliff, NY Greg Anderson, April 11, 2011, NY Bill Brovold, May, 2011, New Paltz, NY Bill Brovold hands off to Mark Solomon, May, 2011, NY Mark Solomon, May, 2011, NY Nick Didkovsky hands off to Josh Lopes, July, 2011 Taylor Levine, July, 2011 Taylor Levine hands off to David Linaburg, July, 2011 Jesse Krakow hands off to Jesse Kranzler, Aug 2, 2011 Time Canvas, Antwerp, Belgium 2011-09-25 Time Canvas, Antwerp, Belgium 2011-09-25 Bruno Nelissen hands off to Juan Parra, Antwerp, Belgium 2011-09-26 Nick Didkovsky hands off the $100 Guitar to Mark Hitt. March 31, 2012, NYC Mark Hitt and Han-Earl Park during Hitt/Berger session. April 13, 2012, NYC Joe Berger, $100 guitar session. April 13, 2012, NYC Mark Hitt hands off the $100 Guitar to Han-Earl Park. April 13, 2012, NYC Han Earl Park by Scott Friedlander, April 14, 2012, Brooklyn Han Earl Park by Scott Friedlander, April 14, 2012, Brooklyn Han Earl Park and Scott Friedlander, April 14, 2012, Brooklyn Taylor Levine hands off the $100 Guitar to Del Rey, April 22, 2012, Brooklyn Taylor Levine hands off the $100 Guitar to Nels Cline. April 25, 2012, Brooklyn Nels Cline with the $100 Guitar. April 25, 2012, Brooklyn Nels Cline hands off the $100 Guitar to Caroline Feldmeier. April 28, 2012, NYC Caroline Feldmeier hands off the $100 Guitar back to Nick. May 1, 2012, NYC Nick Didkovsky hands off the $100 Guitar to Alex Skolnick. May 3, 2012, NYC Alex Skolnick with the $100 Guitar. May 6, 2012, Brooklyn. Photo by Emon Hassan. Alex Skolnick hands off the $100 Guitar to Mike Lerner. May 8, 2012, Brooklyn

THE STORY: On Oct 20, 2010, Nick Didkovsky and Chuck O'Meara (that's us) bought a $100 electric guitar from Elderly Instruments. We did not know what it sounded like or if it even worked, but we were charmed by its no-name vibe and single bridge pickup that looks like an old radio. A bunch of our guitar playing friends were instantly charmed, too, including (take your time reading this, it's an awesome list): Alex Skolnick, David Starobin, Elliott Sharp, Mike Keneally, Barry Cleveland, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser, Mark Hitt, Keith Rowe, Nels Cline, Andy Aledort, Hillary Fielding, John Shiurba, Karl Evangelista, Phil Burk, Ray Kallas, Janet Feder, Thomas Dimuzio, Julia Miller, Chris Murphy, Chuck O'Meara, Marty Carlson, Shawn Persinger, Kai Niggemann, Steve MacLean, Ken Field, Roger Miller, Michael Bierylo, Bill Brovold, Larry Polansky, Biota Bill Sharp, Ava Mendoza, Amy Denio, Bruce Eisenbeil, Caroline Feldmeier, Colin Marston, David Linaburg, Hans Tammen, James Moore, Jesse Krakow, Jesse Kranzler, Joe Bouchard, Jon Diaz, Josh Lopes, Kobe Van Cauwenberghe, Marco Cappelli, Marco Oppedisano, Joe Berger, Mark Solomon, Mark Stewart, Mike Lerner, Nick Didkovsky, Rhys Chatham, Ron Anderson, Taylor Levine, Tom Marsan, Greg Anderson, Han-earl Park, Del Rey, Teisco Del Rey, Matt Wilson, Bruce Zeines, Toon Callier/Zwerm, Juan Parra, and Wiek Hijmanns. The $100 Guitar passed through the hands of over 65 players, each of which recorded a piece with it (anywhere from a few seconds to 3 minutes long), and then passed it on to the next player. We got enough pieces for Bridge Records to release a double CD (see below!). The enthusiasm is kind of staggering; we started this idea and 48 hours later we were overwhelmed by the positive response! NEWS! In Stock Now at Amazon! NEWS! NPR covers the $100 Guitar Project! Details NEWS! Emon Hassan of Guitarkadia has begun a documentary on the $100 Guitar! Follow him on Twitter at @Guitarkadia NEWS! NPR story aired Dec 4, 2012 on NPR Morning Edition. Hear it archived here: web NEWS! Franks Meyers of www.drowninginguitars.com has done deep research on Japanese electric guitars and has identified our guitar! QUOTE Your $100 guitar is a special instrument from a historical viewpoint. This was a very first electric guitar model ever produced by Fujigen Gakki. This company was started in 1960 and is still making guitars to this day. Fujigen Gakki made electric guitars for many brands, including all those cool Ibanez guitars (in the 70s and 80s), and Fujigen was the company that Fender used when they started their Japan production in the early 80s. The company was started by a fellow named Yuichiro Yokouchi. He's still alive and in his late 80s! The guy is like the Leo Fender of Japan, because he was a tinkerer and developed many guitars and effects, but didn't play the guitar. So your guitar was originally called an EJ-2 (it's missing the neck pickup) and probably dates from 1964. The pickups were developed in-house by Fujigen Gakki. These guitars were made from 1962-65. ENDQUOTE NEWS! We are proud and happy to announce that Bridge Records has committed to releasing the $100 Guitar Project as a double CD! Bridge is a family run label that has been in business for many years, and has a legacy of fine releases that speaks for itself. Royalties on every sales will be paid directly to CARE. As you probably know, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Follow us on Facebook. Twitter hashtag is #100DollarGuitar. Follow Pascal-Denis Lussier's regular column about the $100 Guitar Project in All About Jazz Guidelines for players View the $100 Guitar's trip here (Hawaii and Europe missing): View Larger Map VIDEOS! Shawn Persinger, Nov 3, 2010 Marty Carlson, Nov 10, 2010 Keith Rowe, Dec 6, 2010 Nick Didkovsky, Dec 12, 2010 Jon Diaz, Jan 8, 2011 Ron Anderson, Jan 29, 2011 Rhys Chatham, Feb 12, 2011 Hans Tammen, Feb 16, 2011 Marco Oppedisano, Feb 2011 John Shiurba, Mar 10, 2011 Thomas Dimuzio, March 22, 2011 Barry Cleveland, May 13, 2011 Bill Brovold, May 30, 2011 Juan Parra, Oct 25, 2011 Mark Solomon, Jun 3, 2011 Manuel Göttsching (Ash Ra Tempel), Jan 9, 2012 Del Rey, Brooklyn kitchen, May 2, 2012 Colin Marston, Sept 7, 2012 Final roster of signatures! Sept 12, 2012

New server July 25, 2022