OK Marion, I'll give it a try. As a guitarist I find all "dedicated" electric "guitars" to be unworthy of the name guitar. The solid bodies, the various other electronic instruments of varying shapes, all those that use the electronic amplification of the direct sound of the strings instead of the combination of strings and body (so this doesn't include electronic pickups on a basic instrument). But, unlike many on this list, I'm not going to make a semantic issue of the name of the instrument - the Bud guitar is an electronic guitar with an irrelevant, but very ugly, shape. If there is no resonance in the body of the instrument (as is the case with many other "guitar shaped" electronic instruments) I could take a hickory board and get the same sound from the electronics.
But the Weiss guitar is another matter. The waisting of the guitar shaped body must steal from the sound of the unbalanced bass strings (the bridge stretching across the parallel of the waist). But that isn't what I most noticed. My MusicMaker's "flat back lute" has been denigrated by a very few on this list, but it was a cheap kit at $350 and let me find out if I really wanted to play the lute (and learn it). The Weiss guitar has the same failings of my "flat back", and not the advantage of economy. It isn't the flat back that is the only problem with mine (although the sound is pretty good - it is said that the body of the lute contributes only about 10% of the resonance, the soundboard is the main contributor). It is also the peg board (note that it is peg board, not peg box). Like my MusicMakers the Weiss uses vertical pegs through a board. That works on a modern steel strung guitar with "tuning machines", but not with friction pegs. There was a reason for the peg box with the strings pulling between the two supported ends of the friction peg, the tuning holds better with friction at both ends - and a pull that isn't a cantelever. So, given the practicality of both instruments (the Bud and the Weiss guitar), my deep consideration has decided that the Weiss is uglier. Both are physically ugly, but given that the Bud guitar is electronic there can be no increase in ugliness in the sound compared to other electronic guitars. But the Weiss looks as if it would have a musical ugliness also. It wins the contest. Best, Jon > OK, lutelisters, lutenists, luthiers and Duluth residents, > which instrument looks more horrid, the Bud guitar > or this gem? > > http://www.weissguitar.com/ > > Cheers, > Marion To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
