The folks over at teslacoil.net have successfully combined the mysterious world of Nikola Tesla with the addicting habits of video games. The result? A modified Guitar Hero guitar that throws extremely loud 4 to 5-foot bolts of lightning.

This lightning guitar (shown below) is complete with a 5-foot solid state Tesla coil, and an altered Xbox 360 Guitar Hero guitar with working frets, strum, pots, and a whammy bar; all of which control the frequency and behavior of the lightning.

Each fret has its own pot for tuning; which, when depressed and strummed, will change the visible and audible frequency of the arcs, allowing the lightning guitar to cover a wide range of tones.

Zapman, from JM Labs/teslacoil.net has provided 3 videos of the unit in operation:

Video 1: a demonstration of how the controls on the lighting guitar work.

Video 2: a demonstration of two fluorescent bulbs, in the shape of a cross, lighting up simply by being close to the Tesla coil.

Video 3: Metallica anyone?

Teslacoil.net has designed, built, and tested 2 units, one of which is currently up for bids on eBay.

The setup rightfully comes with a manual for operation and safety (due to the several thousand kilovolts running through the system).

While this isn’t the first musical Tesla coil, you have to love a high voltage toy that comes with a “not responsible for any death/deaths or injury/injuries that may result from the use of” warning.

Related:

Entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 1:06 pm under Technology.

Read more entries by George Gardner.
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