Revehō

What it does

The Revehō DLG makes traveling with a cumbersome guitar easier. It is the first fully scalable and collapsible guitar, allowing it to fit inside a compact case. Its full scales design also preserves the ergonomics and playability of your traditional guitar.

Your inspiration

When I was in highschool I always brought my guitar and gear with me, using public transportation, to play with my friends. having built my first guitar a few months earlier and because not a single instrument of the market would solve my issue, I settled on making my own travel guitar concept. Enlightened by my engineering studies and ever-growing love for design, my first concept and its basement-prototype evolved in a complete and fully scalable guitar that would be fit for today's world and trends, also contrasting with the ever-reused, never-renewed codes of the guitar world.

How it works

This guitar is the result of several combined technologies making it the perfect guitar to explore creativity. It is made out of 5 sections, 2 for the neck and 3 for the body and made collapsible thanks to multiple systems that are as strong as easy to operate, enabling to assemble and re-tune the guitar with lever-based action in seconds. It also makes it possible for the guitar to fit in a laptop-sized case for transportation. The form factor is up to 6 times better than a traditional guitar, making it more durable and shock-proof while preserving full ergonomics when assembled. The now collapsible guitar is then made modular so that unlike with traditional time-frozen guitars it is possible to upgrade the instrument throughout its life, depending on the user needs and means. Finally, an on-board amp and audio system using today's technology and linked to a control app makes it possible to play in full autonomy and with unmatched versatility.

Design process

The idea is born in the dream of a guitarist and amator guitar builder with little skills and quite innocently. The first iteration, entirely handmade and hand-soldered in my home basement quickly showed the relevance of the idea, but I needed to go further. The two following years I could not build guitars but I put all of my resources in improving the design and learning 3D modeling and conception, by testing dozens of solutions and looking for what existed on the market. Once the new design was fixed and with the resolution not to give up the faintest aesthetic or ergonomic aspect to implement more functionalities, I then needed to prototype the systems that would allow to make this ultimate guitar come true. With hundreds of schematics drawn in class and between computer conception and 3D printing in my room, two new prototypes were born, one both collapsible and re-tunable and one test rig. Today, with new equipment and in my school’s building, a fourth prototype is being built thanks to a team of engineers and guitarists, in order to test the guitar in the field with travelers and during concerts.

How it is different

The easiest way to improve a guitar’s transportability is either to cut off some pieces or to shrink it. In all cases, there is a huge loss in playability and ergonomy, which is really bad for a musical instrument. Other guitars feature à folding neck, often with heavy or expensive mechanism. Little instruments carry on-board amp but with outdated technology. Finally some guitars are trading strings for sampled and digital sounds in order to reduce its size. None of these solutions are really efficient and each one only addresses one part of the issue. The Revehō DLG is a synthesis of the advantages of each of the previous attempts, with a more modern and scalable take on the idea featuring today’s technology. The guitar is also fully customisable by conception which enables customization with a base model and options so that each user can find à guitar that suits his needs and means.

Future plans

The next prototype, which will nearly be the minimum viable product will allow us to begin a series of user trials and then improve the product. In parallel, the prototype will be used to create content such as live demos, sound samples and video showcase to launch a more widespread communication campaign. Pre-orders are set to launch via à crowdfunding campaign on kickstarter in early 2020 which will be followed by industrialization to make it available to all. The final goal is to manage to revolutionize what we know today as the electric guitar.

Awards