Bipolar Guitar Makes a Guitar Sound Like an Eighties Video Game (But Much Cooler)

What's this strange new device that makes a Strat-style guitar sound like the score to an Eighties video game?

It's a new creation by guitarist Jeremy Bell, who, it seems, is always experimenting when music and gear are involved.

In the video below, you'll meet Bell's most recent hack, which he calls his Bipolar Guitar. It allows him to cut between a live signal from his guitar, and a slightly delayed signal from that same guitar. It's as if the sound were time traveling.

"I've always been interested in taking the cutting techniques that turntablists use and applying them to other instruments—in this case, the guitar," Bell says.

"So I took this rocker that I originally had built as part of a homemade tape-scratching rig, and I did some experiments using it on the guitar. This is what I came up with. I explain how it's all done about a minute into the video." For more information, visit theScrubBoard.com. Also, be sure to read Mario Aguilar's detailed story on Bell and his hacks at gizmodo.com. The second link is much more helpful, BTW.