bond guitarPosted by Admin on 24 January 2008
In the mid-1980s a guitar manufacturing company was set up in the highlands of Scotland to produce an electric guitar of a design radically different from almost anything made before or since. The Bond "Electraglide"™, designed by Bournemouth luthier Andrew Bond, featured a ground-breaking combination of original as well as more conventional design features such as carbon-fibre construction, high-tech electronics, a digital display and a fingerboard that featured a height-adjustable nut and utilised saw-toothed shaped steps instead of conventional frets. Launched with both great fanfare and secrecy at the 1984 Frankfurt Music Fair and Los Angeles National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) trade shows and much ballyhooed during its brief existence, the Bond guitar ultimately failed to capture the imagination of guitar players and the company was wound up less than two years after the guitar's debut.
Matthew has researched extensively into the Bond Electraglide Guitar, Andrew Bond and the Bond Guitar Company. His 2005 MMus Dissertation on the Bond Electraglide (127 pages) includes both the history and technical specifications of all the Bond guitar variations along with copies of advertisements, all of Andrew Bond's domestic and international patents and a facsimile of the original owners manual.
The Electraglide was a big shock to the traditional guitar buying public, and was very unsuccessful, (even though I have personally nearly bought one a couple of times).Connor F.
In addition, Matthew has compiled an annotated Bibliography of the Bond Guitar which includes almost every known reference to the instrument and Andrew Bond in print including advertisements, press releases and product reviews from the early 1980s to 2005. These two documents represent by far the most comprehensive account of both the Electraglide guitar and the company behind it, with vast majority of the information derived from original instruments and primary sources.
Matthew's dissertation and the Bond annotated Bibliography is available for purchase. For further details email Matthew.
To access the full table of contents of the dissertation click here.