Weird & Wacky Gear  Let's face it.What seems like a great idea at the time doesn't always pan out,in the music instrument business,for whatever reason.With that in mind,we're presenting in this

section,just some of the odd ducks that have surfaced over the years,some vanishing without a trace...

the latest goofy gadget-The "Power Chord" Trainer ( I kid you not!)

Power Chord Trainer is a lightweight device that trains your fingers to hold the fret spacing needed for playing power chords... all the way up the neck! Because your fingers are squeezing in against the pressure of the training device the spacing is much easier to acheive than the usual stretching outwards.(from their website)

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These guitars definitely caught our collective eyes at this year's Guitar Show.Purporting to be the ultimate in an ergonomically designed instrument,these odd balls actually were extremely comfortable to play.Looking like a cross between a potato chip with strings meets Salvador Dali,these instruments are built by a retired pastor in Virginia.You check out more at this website http://www.thepowerhour.com/news2/burrell_guitars.htm Doubt if you can fit any of these in a "standard" hardshell case though..................

The Fresher Company of Japan decided to unleash their version of a Gibson RD series guitars,a number of decades ago.

If you take a look at the close-up of these guitar's innards,you just had to pray that you never had a wire break-good

luck sifting thru that plate of spaghetti.They unfortunately ruined what likely was a decent looking guitar by jam-

ming more controls than a 747's cockpit.There's a good chance an evening's performance would be cut short by the

sound of batteries going dead.No digital guts to be found here-analog all the way.With all them buttons,the phrase

"did you look in the manual?" takes on a whole new meaning........RIP