Baxter gets his hands on the uber-rare Teuffel Birdfish!

The Teuffel Guitars Birdfish has been declared "one of the most important guitars of the 20th century". One glance and it's easy to see why the Birdfish design has won many awards and is on display in several museums. Not only is the Birdfish at the forefront of contemporary instrument design, it is an incredibly versatile sonic tool and a work of art. Ulrich Teuffel is truly the DaVinci of guitar design. Birdfish is his masterpiece.

The concept behind the Birdfish was to build a guitar where the fundamental elements- the tonewoods and the pickups- are put together in a modular fashion. This design not only allows unlimited tonal possibilities but also results in a very lively and percussive tone.

The body consists of two tonebars which are screwed on both central elements "bird" and "fish". The neck is bolted onto the upper element "bird" while the lower "fish" carries the control box in which you find the guitar electronics. A rail between "bird" and "fish" holds the slideable pickups. All three pickups can be exchanged with each other within seconds.

All of the parts (including some of the screws) are painstakingly manufactured by Ulrich Teuffel in his workshop to exacting specifications. This guarantees that all parts harmonize together in the best manner. Only the Tune-o-matic bridge comes from Gotoh and Schaller.

The main elements, bird and fish, are carved from a solid block of aluminum, hand-sanded, then plated and polished. This material has the property of transferring vibrations without adding coloration, so what you hear with the birdfish is the tone of the neck and the tone bars.

All of the other parts are also hand-made and no detail is overlooked: The strap pins are designed to appear more elegant. The wire clamp is practically a piece of jewelry- cast in brass and buffed to a high gloss by hand before chrome plating. Even the stainless steel hex screws are hand-polished.

The tone bars define the basic sound of the Birdfish, like the body wood of a traditional guitar. Two sets are included: One pair is made of American Alder while the other is made of selected Michigan Maple. They are interchangeable and mixing them up allows the birdfish to alter its basic character. Their design allows them to react to every subtle nuance of the string vibrations and the result is a percussive and twangy attack.

The pickups are easily movable and interchangeable by hand. Five different pickups are included: Two single coils and three humbuckers. The character of the single coils is vintage. The tone of the humbuckers is like a P90, a PAF and a hot PAF. Each pickup can be placed in every position. They use custom-made AlNiCo Magnets and are wound and tuned in the Teuffel workshop.