Patrick Hufschmid Guitars

Following my recent post, it seems like Gibson Guitars have taken my(?) advice, and closed access to Gibson Island until it is in a better state of readiness. So having piqued your interest, it seems you will now need to wait a few months before you can go and pay your respects and perhaps blag a virtual copy of one of their iconic guitars. [ Actually, I have no idea if they plan such freebies, so be prepared to settle for a t-shirt. ]

But in the brief gap between posting about the island and it getting closed, I got the opportunity to meet another guitar maker, a guy who has been building fine guitars in both RL and SL. Born in the Netherlands but now based in Switzerland, Patrick Hufschmid (or PatrickHufschmid Beaumont in SL) has been producing his beautiful, hand-crafted guitars for around 11 years. In fact, even the pickups are custom-built to his own specification. More recently he has built an extensive range of both electric and acoustic virtual guitars for Second Life musos. They come with a range of animations, loops and special effects, "our goal is to create the most realistic and practical guitars in SecondLife."

If you like the virtual guitars and fancy a custom-built atomic guitar, then a 6-string will set you back around 3,350 USD (same for a 4-string bass) - and take about 3 months to build.

Here is a (newly revised) SLURL to his shop in Second Life. The shop is not a great architectural achievement, it's just a shop. On the ground floor you will find the full range of virtual guitars, while upstairs you can find out more about the real life guitars. My friend Xantherus might like to note that there is a virtual guitar that bears some likeness to a Flying V, though obviously it isn't actually one. So if you're disappointed that you can't get your hands on a Gibson, why not step up to the bespoke world of Patrick Hufschmid?

Here's a few snaps of the store - and of me twanging the MasterCoustic Dreadnought Spruce, which comes with a stack of animations and effects: