Loog started as an academic project in 2010 when Rafael Atijas developed the concept as his Master’s thesis at New York University. The fact that The Loog Guitar was conceived in a university actually explains a lot about the company’s culture: the main goal is not to make the most profit, but to offer a product that is unique and well-designed.
In March 2011, The Loog Guitar was launched via Kickstarter, a fundraising website for creative projects. Loog Guitars set the goal to raise $15,000 and instead ended up raising $65,618 from people all over the world they believed in the project and wanted to play a part in bringing this idea to life. Thanks to them, The Loog Guitar is now a reality.
Loog Guitars is driven by a passion for music and sustainable design. Loog Guitars sources their wood only from responsibly managed forests and are committed to quality and safety standards that meet or exceed government regulations.
Why 3 strings?
We love 6-string guitars, but we believe that they can be overwhelming for little kids and beginners. With its 3 strings, the Loog Guitar makes it easier and faster to play music, offering a more stimulating experience that allows children to play music right from the start.
We also think that the electric Loog could be a cool instrument for grownups and seasoned players. The constraint of less strings actually acts as a trigger for creativity and many professional players find themselves rediscovering ways to play when they grab a 3-string guitar. Like our friend Dinamita here:
The Electric Loog II yellow Guitars come in a vintagey color palette and -as with the original Loog- all parts are interchangeable.
In this way, you can get the blue guitar and if after a couple of months you feel like changing to the red guitar, you can just buy the body, easily attach it and have a brand new looking guitar without the cost of a whole new guitar.
And this is not just about convenience. Pulling your guitar apart, assembling it again and customizing it as you want is actually a big part of what the Loog is all about: when you build your own guitar, you feel a deep connection to it. It is an experience that helps you understand and love the instrument and that is why we’ll ship the electric Loog unassembled for you to put it together at home. (No special tools or expertise is required and in just 15 minutes you’ll have your Electric Loog Guitar assembled and ready to play.)
Design Process and Kickstarter
We worked on the design for 10 months with a team of very talented folks: Joaquín Uribe (musician and industrial designer) and Cedrés & Vargas, luthiers specialized in electric guitars who own the guitar workshop you can see in the video above. Then we turned -once again- to Kickstarter to see if there were enough people out there interested in getting a 3-string electric guitar. Once again, we were blown away by their support and thanks to them, the Electric Loog Guitars are in production and will be shipping in Spring 2014.
