Creating a Six String Diddley Bow

Design Standpoint

After spending some time exploring what Industrial Design is to me, I decided to go with perhaps its broadest and overall meaning (to me), and that is, at the end of the day, simply designing something cool.

‘Cool’ can mean aesthetically pleasing, affordable, effective, practical or any number of other definitions depending on the personal opinions of any person coming in contact with the design in question.

So, whilst thinking about the significance of personal opinion, I started to think I about what I think is cool, and one of the leading things that I like, is music. So I decided to explore things I could do in the field of music with the concept of “A new way of seeing”.

My inspiration for my clip came from the Documentary like movie called ‘It Might Get Loud’ featuring Jack White from the White Stripes, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and The Edge from U2. In it, Jack White builds what is called an electric Diddley Bow, which is a single string slide guitar, and he makes it out of odds and ends lying around such a as a coke bottle and a plank of wood. This got me think about the concept of creating something from nothing. But I wanted to up Jack Whites Diddley Bow and create a six-string electric slide guitar from materials found around my house.

                                (Opening Scene: Jack White making Diddley Bow)

Industrial Design to me is looking at a problem, requirement or desire and producing something that solves the problem or satisfies the desire with the previously mentioned qualities such as affordability or appealing aesthetics etc. My clip looks at a desire to have a slide guitar and the problem of cost and addresses both of those factors by creating one cheaply from resources that can be found lying around.

References:

Ellis, Bert (Producer), & Guggenheim, Davis (Director). (2008). It Might Get Loud. United States of America: Thomas Tull Productions.