The unitar is a one-string
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
. Although rare, the one-string guitar is sometimes heard, particularly in
Delta blues
Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...
, where improvised
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk horror
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Fo ...
instruments were popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
History
Eddie "One String" Jones had some regional success with a Mississippi blues musician,
Lonnie Pitchford
Lonnie Pitchford (October 8, 1955 – November 8, 1998) was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi, United States. He was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had le ...
, who played a similar homemade instrument.
In a more contemporary style, Little Willie Joe Duncan, the inventor of the Unitar,
had a considerable
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
instrumental
An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
hit in the 1950s with "Twitchy", recorded with the
Rene Hall Orchestra.
Design
The home-made unitar often has a
piezoelectric sensor
A piezoelectric sensor is a device that uses the piezoelectric effect to measure changes in pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain, or force by converting them to an electrical charge. The prefix ''piezo-'' is Greek for 'press' or 'squeeze ...
as a
pick-up, requiring an external
amplifier
An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It is a two-port electronic circuit that uses electric power from a power su ...
to be attached to produce a satisfactory sound.
[ ]PVC
Polyvinyl chloride (alternatively: poly(vinyl chloride), colloquial: vinyl or polyvinyl; abbreviated: PVC) is the world's third-most widely produced synthetic polymer of plastic (after polyethylene and polypropylene). About 40 million tons o ...
piping is a common neck material. As with a normal electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...
, the unitar does not require a reverberating body like an acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
.
Notable players
*Seasick Steve
Steven Gene Wold (né Leach; March 19, 1951),freight trains">freight_trains.html" ;"title="/nowiki>freight trains">/nowiki>freight trains/nowiki> for 14 years off and on..", adding "I've been married to this one girl for 25 years, so I’m a litt ...
*Brushy One String
Andrew Chin, better known by the stage name Brushy One String, is a Jamaican reggae singer and bassist. He performs with a guitar that only has one string. A video of him performing his hit song "Chicken in the Corn" was uploaded to YouTube in ...
See also
*Diddley bow
The diddley bow is a single-stringed American instrument which influenced the development of the blues sound. It consists of a single string of baling wire tensioned between two nails on a board over a glass bottle, which is used both as a brid ...
*Ektara
The ''ektara'' (, , , , , ; literally 'one-string', also called ''actara'', ''iktar'', ''ektar'', , ''yaktaro'', ''gopichand'', ''gopichant'', ''golki'' , ''gopijiantra'', ''tun tuna'') is a one-stringed musical instrument used in the traditio ...
*Whamola
The Whamola is a bass instrument used in funk-jazz styles of music. The name is a portmanteau of whammy bar and viola.
The Whamola is a direct descendant of the washtub bass, an American folk instrument popular with skiffle and jug bands, and fe ...
References
{{Reflist
Guitars