Bunker Touch Guitar


The Bunker Touch Guitar is a double-necked touch guitar developed by Dave Bunker.

Development

Dave Bunker developed and patented the first double-necked tap/touch-style guitar, which he called the Duo'Lectar. Bunker introduced this new instrument nationally in 1955 on the Ozark Jubilee television program, and demonstrated it for the Portland Oregonian newspaper in 1960. With the addition of patented refinements, the Duo'Lectar became popularly known as the Bunker Touch Guitar.

Play

Except for its twin necks, the Bunker Touch Guitar is similar in appearance to a typical guitar. However, it is dissimilar in its style of play. Strings on the Bunker Touch Guitar are not strummed or plucked, as in the traditional, single-necked guitar. Instead, all strings respond to touch or tap. On the Bunker Touch Guitar, a note sounds when a string is held down and stops when it is released. The left hand plays bass lines on the lower neck, while the right hand simultaneously plays lead lines on the upper neck. It has no head at the top end of the necks because its tuning keys are located at the base-edge of the instrument.

Use

The importance of the early Touch guitar to the standard single-neck guitar's evolution was acknowledged by its display at Seattle's Experience Music Project Museum when it opened in 2000. Dave Bunker detailed the development of his invention in a videotaped interview conducted by the museum. His uniquely designed touch guitar continued to mature, and was featured in headline shows at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from 1964 through 1974.
Selected patents incorporated specifically into the Bunker Touch Guitar have also been used in other contemporary guitar designs. The touch technique has been popularized by guitarists Eddie Van Halen, Stanley Jordan, Steve Vai, and Jeff Healey.