Just...

why, i think an optical pick up is a good idea...you could stretch a cord and play that...or anything...seems pretty expansive.
 

Oh, man...it's about freaking time!
 

Obviously not for 'purists', but considering the preponderance of effects most guitarists end up using it's a much quieter way of getting a waveform off the strings and into the signal path.

Just watch, the first time someone uses one of these on stage with a lot of pyrotechnics the resulting noise extravaganza is gonna make that Merzbow guy sound like Ed Bickert.
 

I would guess they didn't spend the time and effort to patent a pickup that freaks out under flourescent lights and camera snapshots. I could be wrong though.

Me, I'm waiting for the 42 fret model, and nothing less.
 

it's not the optical pickup or the extra frets, it's the fact that the thing looks like it was carved out of an old sideboard...
 

yeah, it is aesthetics suffer from what looks like engineer-eye-tis... you eat with your eyes too, you know!
 

they should have used the tag line "new notes found on guitar, higher than anything before!"

It's a miracle of modern technology, my life is now complete.
 

I wonder how palm muting is performed on that. There's little to no space between the pickup and the bridge.

Isn't chord length way shorter than the average? Did they retool fret distances entirely?

And then which tolerance to alternate tuning will this new fretboard expected to accept? Hope the neck design is up to the task.
 

Too bad it's fuglier than a foot.
 

That's awesome. I've been working on some compositions that are outside the range of human hearing, and now I can finally not hear how they sound.
 

It's not "wrong" as such, just a bloody ugly design. And why 25 frets? I don't get it.
 

Weeell, traditionally guitar fretboards stop at 21 or 22 frets because halfway along the string is where the first harmonic sounds, and if you put a pick-up there you get a full, rounded sound. There's no physical law stopping you from putting one there and many shredder-type guitars have 24 frets. The only practical reason for stopping around 22 is that the frets get stupidly close together. The 25th fret on this guitar will be 8mm from the previous fret which, if jumbo frets are used, gives you about 6mm to press down on. I was surprised this uses a relatively short scale length: if you really wanted to show off you'd use a longer scale length. A 28-inch baritone neck for example would allow you 28 frets before you hit the 8mm spacing.
 

It is truly a bloody ugly design.
 

And in response to GL's actual question. 25 frets, I suppose, is one higher than 24.

A bit of Internet research though reveals Uli Jon Roth and his 30 fret, 7-string sky-guitar: http://tinyurl.com/getf8 - the sky guitar is almost as ugly as the one in this post.

As for optical pickups, didn't we all get excited about lightwave pickups not so long ago? http://www.lightwave-systems.com/

At least they can shape a body...

To contrast here's the really rather lovely Maccaferri-style Eimer, with only 26 frets, but it is an acoustic: http://www.eimers-guitars.nl/EG-Pizzarelli-LS.jpg
 

Thanks, Jim. I always think that using tinyurl is the sign of a true gent.
 

Optical pickups are nothing new, and this "guitar" looks like it was made by special needs kids during a one-day workshop. Hoag, the inventor, invented these back in 1968 and first showed them at NAMM in 1969. As you can see, they're catching on.

Note that the actual bridge is under the pickup cover. That bit of rectangular metal you see below it is a name plate. Palm muting is almost impossible.

Also, external power is required for the light guitar... Less than optimal.

Having tried them, they work well. The tone is a bit sterile but clean.
 

"special needs kids during a one-day workshop"

ha ha