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The Fusion Guitar is a piece of the future, and we here at GP love it.
Even though I like my guitars simple—I don’t even want Tone knobs on them—I’ve held a piece of the future, and, surprisingly—I love it. The Fusion Guitar incorporates an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch as an engine—as well as an onboard amplifier, speakers, and a rechargeable battery—and it definitely looks like something the superheroes of the Justice League might jam with before setting off to save the world. The über-portable, self-contained guitar could certainly fit in the Batmobile, ready to rock out and beam joy into a desolate vista of darkness and dread. Non-superheroes can simply bring the Fusion Guitar anywhere they please—from dog parks to mountaintops and beaches and beyond—and perform and practice unfettered from amps, pedalboards, and cables.
Designing the Fusion Guitar into a “self-sustaining performance environment” did require some ergonomic compromises. The shape is somewhat unwieldy for positioning on your lap, the body is a bit girthy (though not if you’re used to strapping-up ES-175s or jumbo acoustics), and the weight is a little on the heavy side with an iOS device onboard. Although those who prefer skinny shred-style instruments may have another view, I didn’t feel the guitar impeded my technique or was in any way uncomfortable. In fact, playability is excellent. The action is low and fast, and the frets feel great. Intonation is spot on, and after days of heavy playing, the tuning did not drift very far at all.
Of course, the coolest feature of the Fusion Guitar is the ability to plug in your iPhone to a top-mounted dock (for easy viewing and operation), utilize various tone-construction apps, and hear them through the two, full-range Tymphany Peerless speakers. To my delight, I was able to call