[R Simpson (Robert1950)]

I always liked the shape of this guitar. But as to the colour of this axe, the pickguard and pickups, uh, no. Maybe a different take on it. Make it a 1/4 or a 1/3 of an inch thicker than the SG, keep the shape, redesign the pick-guard. Keep the 1V/1T/3-way electronics. I prefer 22 frets, but if there are others that would like 24, hey. A beefier variation on the SG.

[K Hermansader (Keith H)]

my suggestion.. lose the pickguard and put a pair of cream P-90's on it.

[H Juszkiewicz (HenryJ)]

One of our main designers at this division is Frank Johns.

I am sending these comments to Frank.

Thanks for the comments!

[T Manon (Tman5293)]

That pickguard is awful. Looks like a pair of bell bottoms lol. I just think the whole guitar looks like something Ibanez would make.

[S Angell (i am wet)]

I think that the guitar would look much better in black or white, it's a cool looking design but the overall colour/ pickguard/ pup covers thing makes it an "eye" sore. tehe tehe

edit: although after looking at it in black, i colored it in paint, the pickguard doesn't look half bad.

[M B (MikeB)]

Pickguards shouldn't be used as decoration like that. Just gives them a cheap look. Kinda like those OCC guitars that came out with all the flame shaped bridges and what not.

[G Skelly (guitabob123)]

I think this guitar could do very well, believe it or not.

However it needs some crucial flaws removed:

The pickguard needs to be removed all together, it looks out of place and does not really suit the guitar.
The Headstock would look better in the style of the explorer "Hockey stick" shape
Instead of having the pickups mounted to a pickguard have standard pick-up rings .
Offer a range of coulours.

The electronics layout works well, and so does the shape of the body. The addition of fret markers and possibly binding would improve the aesthetics of the guitarand make it more attractive to potential customers. Simple dot inlays on the fretboard itself would look good.

The body shape is a clever design and if this guitar became a regualr model could easily rival the hardtail Stratocasters produced by Fender. A floyd rose attached like on the axcess would also help outperform companies such as Jackson, and Ibanez which currently hold the market on "Superstrat's" as such.

Gibson is a very good brand and is well recognised so would definatley be able to do well on the market. Remember, 50 years ago the Les Paul was discontinued for low sales. But now it's doing well. This could easily be your new SG

[R Simpson (Robert1950)]

H Juszkiewicz (HenryJ), on 15 July 2010 - 03:26 PM, said:

One of our main designers at this division is Frank Johns.

I am sending these comments to Frank.

Thanks for the comments!

Thanks. I appreciate it.

[k kruger (kerranz)]

Ah, the Eye guitar...as most astute responders above have realised, the largest problems that immediately
present themselves are that pickguard, which is oddly drawn and largely unrelated to the body's styling cues,
the color, especially of the pickup covers, and the headstock seeming swaged on to 'make it a Gibson'.

I have made a study of guitar design in my spare time and have digitized over 180 guitars on my own, so I have given the
story of this guitar some consideration, trying to imagine how its advocates positioned it in its inception,
and why it seems to have fallen out of the favor of its intended audience. ( My own background is Fine Arts, Illustration, lettering, layout, etc. but I have instrument-making in my blood and have been doing it in theory at least for a very long time.)

The standard take on the Gibson of recent history, at least among those who write about guitar companies, is that
they have chased the Unicorn of a 'Strat' of its own,-- whether this occupies a moment of their actual designers' time
is complete conjecture. But it occurs to me that this model WAS an effort to get a slinkier, double-cutaway model into the line, via morphing it out of the venerable SG's bones.

Anyway, I've tried to define for myself how the Eye went astray, and there are several areas I'll take in turn. [ I'll try to address only design features, I do not intend personal insult to anyone involved, it's pure Critique, to the end of product improvement.] I've redesigned lots of existing guitars as a learning exercise, and to amuse myself.

The basic body of this model is not bad on the whole, except for two features that seem 'out' to me, and one of which causes a second issue. The first is a subtle thing, and one perhaps not appreciated consciously by those who don't do guitar design a lot, and that is the issue of what I call Apparent Visual Axes...the human eye tends to look for symmetries and relationships and in doing so relies quite often on the widest and narrowest points of objects to give clues as to their 'looking right'.
If you look closely at the Eye Guitar, you will notice that while the Bass bouts (Its 'hips') are set perpendicular to the Main Axis (along the fretboard lengthwise), the waist, and the outer Treble-bouts' widest-points tend to begin to 'lean forward', which is not so bad, but then as the eye arrives at the headstock, it's all perpendicular again, and there's a disconnect there. Humans are hunters, historically, and I believe we use these cues to pick out the weak or malformed prey animals...the less than perfectly-formed standing out for selection. I saw it anyway. Symmetry is a jealous mistress.

The other thing that grieves me a little is that the bevels on the two 'horns' are carved to meet each other, and that breadth has forced the pickguard tailwards, starting too far back to 'attach' it to the neck's end visually.

The headstock (which is glorious thing, used elsewhere), also bothers me a bit here because, while it of course reinforces the brand, it seems to have kept this model from being a 'whole' entity unto itself...it has remained too vestigially related to the SG, where I think it should have arrived more fully formed as a six-in-line, 2-cut type, which is a staple in every other line on the planet-- and the courts have (wrongly) allowed virtually everyone to steal the Strat directly, so why be shy when bringing out Gibson's take on the idea which has clearly been thought out and designed so as not to tread on any ethical or legal toes? Why leave two SGs in the mix? I think this type requires a low-angle 6-in-line headstock to seem fully formed.

I think I get where the pickguard was supposed to resonate, and that is with the Metal or Tattoo crowds, but I think playing down to that motif is a mistake most of the time, and especially on a sort of lithe 'feminine' body type. Much of that work is substandard, if admittedly popular. If someone wants to paint a fake 'tribal' design on his, let him do so after the sale.
It's easy to count how many are drawn to a guitar because of one, but much harder to count those who are quietly repelled by it. It's a bit like a big nasty set of pinstriping flourishes on a luxury car, it runs counter to the intent, and muddies the lines of the larger object.

I have redesigned the Eye, to address what I feel were its downfallings, and will be happy to show it to Henry J, if he's interested in seeing it, I believe he would be surprised. I've made the body axes more regular, redefined the horns and their bevels, designed a 2-piece faceplate that echoes the SG's, and worked out a 6 in Line headstock that references the body more fully, and added a few other touches of my own. I'm not just scribbling on my notebook here.

While I have done most of my design work on the presumption of competing against Gibson (knowing that working there is a rare happenstance), I do have about a dozen and a half models that might fit the line. So I'll happily give this one away (but for a design attribution) if it gets me noticed. (I have four or five other Strat 'spins' done anyway.) I have heard that handing over design work to middle managers is a fool's errand in the guitar world, but since this forum exists to reach the top, I'll give that a try. (actually we have a friend in common, Henry, I'll be happy to divulge who that is later should you respond.)

Anyway that's my two cents.

[F Johns (Frank)]

Hello All,
Thanks for all the comments it's the passion for excellence that keeps us going and our fans interested.
The Eye guitar was born from several different design points.
I wanted to make it thinner than a SG so we made the body slightly larger to maintain the balance.
I had been experimenting with powder coated pickups to match the paint so we tried it.
We moved the volume control to be perfect for the pinky swell technique.
I wanted the pickguard to be different fron the SG style. Often the pickguard is smaller on the bass side and larger on the treble side
to accomodate the controls. We strived to make it more symetrical and have a different flare to it.
Renmember it's called the Eye guitar and I wanted it to be eye catching form the store to the stage.
We did do a very limited run of ebony with a brushed chrome colored pickguard and it looked great.
Keep up the great feedback.
Thanks
Frank Johns

[N Najafi (Gibson4life)]

I also think the Black and White Version would look awesome. The Eye has a alot of potential.

[T Manon (Tman5293)]

K H (stinkfoot), on 15 July 2010 - 06:25 AM, said:

my suggestion.. lose the pickguard and put a pair of cream P-90's on it.

+1

[T Manon (Tman5293)]

R Simpson (Robert1950), on 14 July 2010 - 08:56 PM, said:

I always liked the shape of this guitar. But as to the colour of this axe, the pickguard and pickups, uh, no. Maybe a different take on it. Make it a 1/4 or a 1/3 of an inch thicker than the SG, keep the shape, redesign the pick-guard. Keep the 1V/1T/3-way electronics. I prefer 22 frets, but if there are others that would like 24, hey. A beefier variation on the SG.

NO!

[R Simpson (Robert1950)]

T Manon (Tman5293), on 18 July 2010 - 05:48 PM, said:

NO!

Why?

[S Angell (i am wet)]

F Johns (Frank), on 18 July 2010 - 12:43 PM, said:

Hello All,
Thanks for all the comments it's the passion for excellence that keeps us going and our fans interested.
The Eye guitar was born from several different design points.
I wanted to make it thinner than a SG so we made the body slightly larger to maintain the balance.
I had been experimenting with powder coated pickups to match the paint so we tried it.
We moved the volume control to be perfect for the pinky swell technique.
I wanted the pickguard to be different fron the SG style. Often the pickguard is smaller on the bass side and larger on the treble side
to accomodate the controls. We strived to make it more symetrical and have a different flare to it.
Renmember it's called the Eye guitar and I wanted it to be eye catching form the store to the stage.
We did do a very limited run of ebony with a brushed chrome colored pickguard and it looked great.
Keep up the great feedback.
Thanks
Frank Johns

ya i can really see what you were going for but i think the red pickups ruined it really. althought it is a nice body design and i hope to see it reworked a little bit and hopefully it will come out as a good player.

[T Manon (Tman5293)]

R Simpson (Robert1950), on 18 July 2010 - 05:52 PM, said:

Why?

It's ugly and looks like a mix between a Strat and an Ibanez.

[R Simpson (Robert1950)]

T Manon (Tman5293), on 18 July 2010 - 09:07 PM, said:

It's ugly and looks like a mix between a Strat and an Ibanez.

Each to his own then/

[J Cranford (Jammers5)]

F Johns (Frank), on 18 July 2010 - 01:43 PM, said:

Hello All,
Thanks for all the comments it's the passion for excellence that keeps us going and our fans interested.
The Eye guitar was born from several different design points.
I wanted to make it thinner than a SG so we made the body slightly larger to maintain the balance.
I had been experimenting with powder coated pickups to match the paint so we tried it.
We moved the volume control to be perfect for the pinky swell technique.
I wanted the pickguard to be different fron the SG style. Often the pickguard is smaller on the bass side and larger on the treble side
to accomodate the controls. We strived to make it more symetrical and have a different flare to it.
Renmember it's called the Eye guitar and I wanted it to be eye catching form the store to the stage.
We did do a very limited run of ebony with a brushed chrome colored pickguard and it looked great.
Keep up the great feedback.
Thanks
Frank Johns

Hi Frank:

I must commend you on this guitar, to think outside the box and create something bold and different from all the cookie cutter designs that other guitar manufacturers are putting out. It's a great guitar and I love mine! (#50)
thanks for having the guts to be different!

Cheers,

Jamie