Guitorgan

Although Vox released a combination electric guitar and organ, the Model V251, in 1966, a small company based out of Waco, Texas called Musiconics International released their own version in 1969 called the Guitorgan. This was the brainchild of Bob Murrell, who is credited with its invention. Basically, this instrument began its life as a Japanese-built ES-335 copy called the Univox “Effie.” Being that this guitar was a semi-hollowbody, it was easier to fit the organ circuits inside the body. The “Effie’s” fingerboard had frets that were wired to a set of tone generators. When a string was depressed, it touched the fret and closed the circuit. This then triggered the corresponding note to play. The guitorgan, like other guitar-organ hybrids was not a great success. Only about 3,000 instruments were built during 1969 and into the early 1970s.