The Springtime is an experimental electric guitar with seven strings and three outputs. The instrument was created in 2008 by Dutch luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 Yuri Landman

Yuri Landman

Yuri Landman is a Dutch experimental luthier who has made several experimental electric string instruments for a list of artists including Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Liars, Jad Fair of Half Japanese and Liam Finn...

 for guitar player Laura-Mary Carter of Blood Red Shoes

Blood Red Shoes

Blood Red Shoes are an indie rock duo from Brighton, England. They have released two full-length albums, Box of Secrets and Fire Like This, plus a slew of early singles on limited 7" vinyl pressings.-Formation:...

.

Technical information

The string set up of the guitar is 1 bass string, 3 wound guitar strings for the chords and a cluster of 3 unwound string tuned off-key

Off-key

Off-key is a term often used to denote musical content that is not at the expected frequency or pitch period, either with respect to some absolute reference frequency, or in a ratiometric sense Off-key is a term often used to denote musical content that is not at the expected frequency or pitch...

 unison

Unison

In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...

, causing a rapid vibrating tone

Beat (acoustics)

In acoustics, a beat is an interference between two sounds of slightly different frequencies, perceived as periodic variations in volume whose rate is the difference between the two frequencies....

. Each group of strings has its own individual output for three amplifiers to preserve tonal interference. The sound simulates three musicians at once; a bass player

Bass Player

Bass player can refer to:*Bass Player , an album by Rhombus*Bass Player , a magazine for bassists*Bassist, or bass player, a musician who plays the bass guitar...

, a rhythm guitar

Rhythm guitar

Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

ist and a solo guitarist

Guitar solo

In popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...

 or a Greek electric bouzouki

Bouzouki

The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...

. The instrument also is fitted with a so called tailed bridge

Tailed bridge guitar

Some electric guitars have an extended bridge for their tremolo system, named a tailed bridge guitar because of its shape. Most of these tailed bridge guitars were designed in the sixties and used in surf music....

 (as on a Fender Jaguar) to increase overtone

Overtone

An overtone is any frequency higher than the fundamental frequency of a sound. The fundamental and the overtones together are called partials. Harmonics are partials whose frequencies are whole number multiples of the fundamental These overlapping terms are variously used when discussing the...

 possibilities. The electronics contain switches to change the 3-way system to stereo or mono if fewer amplifiers are available.

Landman handed over his prototype to Carter before their sold out gig on May 19, 2008 in the venue Doornroosje in Nijmegen, Holland.

This is the first guitar created by Landman which is put in serial production. The reproductions have a red or blank body.

Springtime II

A few months after the first Springtime, Landman built the Springtime II on specifications made up by Lou Barlow

Lou Barlow

Louis Knox Barlow is an American alternative rock musician and songwriter. A founding member of the groups Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh and The Folk Implosion. Barlow is credited with helping to pioneer the lo-fi style of rock music in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

. Barlow's version has eight tuning pegs, two of them unused, but available for an alternative seven or eight string set up. The other six employ the strings for the instruments in four positions similar to a bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, but the upper two positions are double coursed strings

Course (music)

A course is a pair or more of adjacent strings tuned to unison or an octave and usually played together as if a single string. It may also refer to a single string normally played on its own on an instrument with other multi-string courses, for example the bass string on a nine string baroque...

. Because of this the instrument remains a six string guitar. Also the pickup configuration is different and four single coil

Single coil

A single coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer, or pickup, for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal...

s are present instead of three. The lowest positioned pickup is left out and a regular bridge and neck pickup are placed aside of the rotated pickup duo. The velcro

Velcro

Velcro is the brand name of the first commercially marketed fabric hook-and-loop fastener, invented in 1948 by the Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral...

 tape to mute undesired string resonance from the tailed bridge is also not present on this version.

Also other alternate versions of the Springtime exist. For Mauro Pawlowski

Mauro Pawlowski

Mauro Antonio Pawlowski is one of the key figures in the Belgian contemporary music scene. He was born in Koersel and is of Italian and Polish descent....

 of dEUS Landman made an alternate version with nine tuning pegs and an additional pick up in the tail to explore the possibilities of creating third bridge

3rd Bridge

The 3rd bridge is an extended playing technique used on some string instruments , that allows a musician to produce distinctive timbres and overtones that are unavailable on a conventional string instrument with two bridges...

 sounds. This pick up has a separate output. Also a fifth pick up was added, similar to the bridge pick up present at Barlow's version. Also a red version for Meric Long of The Dodos

The Dodos

The Dodos are an American indie rock band consisting of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber.- History :The Dodos began playing music together in 2005, when musician Meric Long, who had been gigging steadily in San Francisco as a solo singer-songwriter, was introduced to Logan Kroeber through a mutual...

 is made with an alternate pickup and string configuration.

A red version of the Springtime appears on the bonus DVD of Placebo

Placebo (band)

Placebo are a British rock band from London, England, formed in 1994 by singer and guitarist Brian Molko and bass guitarist Stefan Olsdal. The band was joined by drummer Robert Schultzberg, who was later replaced by Steve Hewitt after conflicts with Molko. Hewitt left the band in October 2007 and...

's Battle for the Sun

Battle for the Sun

Battle for the Sun is the sixth studio album by British alternative rock band Placebo, released in 2009 on Solitary Man Records, Vagrant Records, Universal Records, and PIAS Recordings.-Production and recording:...

deluxe edition, where Brian Molko

Brian Molko

Brian Molko is a songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the band Placebo. He is known in particular for his high-pitched vocals, androgynous appearance, and unique, Sonic Youth-influenced guitar style and tuning.-Early life:Born to an American father of French-Italian heritage and a Scottish...

 is testing and discussing possibilities of the instrument with the cameraman.

Additional Dutch sources

• Article on myownmusicindustry.nl
• Article on The Dutch Rock & Pop Institute
  The Dutch Rock & Pop Institute
  The Dutch Rock & Pop Institute was a centre for the Dutch popular music culture. Established since 1975, the Dutch Rock & Pop Institute was funded by the Dutch Ministry of Culture to promote Dutch music at home and abroad. Apart from pop and rock, it also promotes hiphop, urban, dance, crossover,...
  
   website
• Article on VPRO
  VPRO
  The VPRO was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization. Falling under the Protestant pillar, it represented the Liberal Protestant current...
  
  's 3VOOR12
  3VOOR12
  3VOOR12 is a multimedia platform of the Netherlands Public Broadcasting VPRO for alternative pop.3VOOR12 has 2 digital television channels , different radio channels ranging from punk, Roots and Alternative rock to metal), radioprograms on 3FM, a website and a weekly live event...
  
  website