Possessing eight or ten strings and covering a range of just over five octaves, Touch Guitars® are highly dynamic universal instruments. They function equally well in melodic or chordal roles and are more than capable of performing both functions simultaneously. Crucially, although Touch Guitars® are specifically designed for the polyphonic two-handed touchstyle approach (familiar from the work of Michael Hedges, Tony Levin, Eddie Van Halen, Stanley Jordan, Tosin Abasi, Trey Gunn and many others, including Markus himself) they are equally suitable for all other existing guitar, bass guitar and lute techniques – plectrum picking, fingerpicking, strumming, slapping and beyond.
Now being used on an increasing variety of recorded and live music, Touch Guitars® are suitable for a wide range of musical styles. They are equally useful within rock, jazz, experimental forms and contemporary electro-acoustic classical music, plus any other genre which the player desires. They are also ideal for use as high-quality source instruments for electrophonic soundscaping, via pedals and processing.
As with all high-end tools and instruments, the details make all the difference. Constructed from hand-picked premium-grade woods, carefully-chosen precision parts and high-end custom electronic components, various Touch Guitar models have different specifications and features to suit each player. Some are solid-body electric instruments. Others are semi-acoustic. Some contain active electronic pickups, while some take a passive pickup option. Some offer different functional body shapes, or custom contouring to suit the body shape of the individual player. Some Touch Guitar models remain closer to the original design philosophy of producing a single self-contained full-range instrument; while other models are designed to make full use of separate stereophonic outputs, emphasizing separate “bass” and “guitar” counterpoint.
In all cases, Touch Guitars® are hand-made to an excellent standard, offering extra construction options in terms of selectable woods and finishes directly chosen by each customer. They embody design and performance values handed down via a combination of great musical traditions and contemporary innovation. From first principles, they have been designed to eliminate dead spots, to balance perfectly in all playing positions, and to offer drastically improved ergonomics for the touchstyle player.
Touch Guitars® are the very finest instruments on which to explore both the touchstyle technique and the player’s own musicality. Now read on…
The Touch Guitars® company and its associated products are not affiliated with ‘Dave Bunker’s Touch Guitars’. Dave has been producing his own unique two-handed touch style/tapping instruments since 1955, current details of which can be located here.