When Harvey Brooks, former bass guitarist for the legendary Bob Dylan and The Doors, laid his hands on this unique musical instrument, his face lit up.
The 65-year-old learned how much the times are a-changing in the Internet age, thanks to Ziv Bar Ilan's unique graduation project -- Zoybar, a company offering technologically advanced guitars that customers can custom-assemble.
Taking advantage of an open-source platform environment on the Web, Bar Ilan leads a co-creation community to ... Read more

When Harvey Brooks, former bass guitarist for the legendary Bob Dylan and The Doors, laid his hands on this unique musical instrument, his face lit up.
The 65-year-old learned how much the times are a-changing in the Internet age, thanks to Ziv Bar Ilan's unique graduation project -- Zoybar, a company offering technologically advanced guitars that customers can custom-assemble.
Taking advantage of an open-source platform environment on the Web, Bar Ilan leads a co-creation community to develop and create diverse and innovative music instruments with various effects. The lego-like basic electric six-string guitar, or four-string bass, come in a basic kit that can be embellished in accordance with the customer's whims and imagination.
In an interview, Bar Ilan likened the concept to that of the children's toy lego, adding that Zoybar "also enables musicians to mount numerous sound effect controllers that enables them to manipulate the sound during the performance direct from the instrument".
The shape and sound produced by the $670 instrument are determined almost exclusively by the user, who can modify the length of the strings or the space between the frets, or add sound-effect controllers.
"I definitely see this not just as another guitar rather than a new instrument, a new interface," said Bar Ilan.
Over Zoybar's Web site, customers compare notes on their kits.
"I think that one of the key elements of an open platform is that we don't block third-party users to add or even sell more add-ons or even more features, so it could develop or evolve into a different kind of music instruments," Bar Ilan said. "We also encourage it."
Plucking at the new toy, Brooks, 1960s musical icon, said: "This is a lot of things that don't exist ... There's no end to it, you just attach it on and play."
Sliding his fingers on the sound-effect controller, eyes bright at the unique sound, he said: "I think it's an incredible idea and I wish I'd thought of it."
Brooks played in Dylan's landmark Highway 61 Revisited sessions and then went on to play at some Dylan shows in 1965, Miles Davis's Bitches Brew, The Doors, The Soft Parade and 1968's Super Session.
"I can go on a gig somewhere and just unscrew it, stick it in a bag and you know I don't have to deal with all the security and all that kind of stuff, so overall I love this thing," he said from his new home in Jerusalem. "I find some things that can make it better, but it's already great".
Bar Ilan lay the groundwork for Zoybar while studying industrial design at Jerusalem's prestigious Betzalel Academy of Arts and Design. The company was founded last February and has sold hundreds of musical kits in the United States, Canada and Britain. Bar Ilan is now eyeing new foreign markets. Close