Bond Electraglide
The Bond Electraglide was a solid body carbon fibre electric guitar manufactured by the Bond Guitar Company from 1984 to 1986. The Electraglide is visually styled on the Gibson Melody Maker (with the 1962–onwards double cut-away), with a unique stepped anodized aluminum fingerboard instead of traditional frets.
| Bond Electraglide | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Bond Guitar Company |
| Period | 1984–1986 |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Solid |
| Woods | |
| Body | Carbon fiber |
| Neck | Carbon fiber |
| Fretboard | Anodized aluminum stepped fingerboard |
| Hardware | |
| Pickup(s) | 3 humbucker pick-ups |
| Colors available | |
| Black | |
Pickup switching, volume and tone controls were completely digital, powered by a large internal motherboard, and the player selected pickups via five push-buttons; the volume, treble and bass were incremented numerically via digital rocker switches, confirmed by a three-colour LED readout. Due to the state of digital technology at the time, the system required an external power supply pack, and was relatively bulky. Between 1,000 and 1,400 guitars were produced.
The Edge of U2 used the guitar extensively on The Joshua Tree, including the solo on "One Tree Hill", as well as on "Exit", and "Mothers of the Disappeared". He said of the guitar: "The strings started to vibrate on the fretboard... the guitar having no true frets, it created a different kind of effect. It was an attempt to sound obnoxious."
British guitarist Mick Jones is known to have used a Bond Electraglide with his band Big Audio Dynamite in the mid-1980s. Will Sergeant of Echo & the Bunnymen, John Turnbull, and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics were also Electraglide users.
The Bond Guitar Company was set up by Andrew Bond (who died in 1999) in Muir of Ord, Scotland, in 1984. The company ceased trading in 1986.
A Bond Electraglide was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2013.
Though being quite costly at the time the company was active, they never maintained their value on the second hand market.
The Dutch guitar manufacturer Aristides Instruments endeavours on a similar path since 2007. However, they use a specifically designed composite (dubbed Arium), rather than regular carbon fibre.