Is it a gimmick that will go the way of the briefly popular but always hugely uncool synth guitar?
Or a revolutionary musical instrument that will change the way we think about the axe?
Guitarists around the world will ultimately make the call on high-tech German luthier Robin Stummvoll’s new Verso Sine guitar. But for now business is thriving.
Stummvoll crafts his guitars in a workshop in the German city Kassel.
“I personally hand-select each piece of wood, ensuring the instrument is crafted to last a lifetime,” he said. “Only native German woods are used, carefully stored and dried for years, sometimes decades.”
He said the guitar necks are finished with a durable, thin resin coat, rubbed in and followed by layers of natural oils “for a smooth, organic feel”.
The solid ash body is coated with traditional linseed oil paint.
So what makes the solid body Verso Sine so different from your traditional six-string electric guitar? First, it comes in six or seven-string varieties.
But the real innovation comes in the “Sine Pad”, a flat piece of powder-coated steel that sits, slightly raised, over the body of the guitar.
The spring-loaded Sine Pad can be pushed down, altering the pickup to string distance, thus allowing volume shifts, “enabling a mechanical, expressive swell or tremolo effect”.
“Pressing the Sine Pad is a deeply satisfying and natural gesture, offering a whole new perspective on the instrument,” Stummvoll said. He described the guitar as “visionary and creative, simplistic yet avant-garde”.
A video shows the guitar in action. On the surface, the Verso Sine seems to be able to take on the duties of volume control, a whammy bar and a few pedals, and create a fuller, airy sound that could be useful in creating synth-sounding pads for ambient music.
An optional add-on for “pedal nerds, synth geeks, and producers” is developed with Lehle. The Lehle Expression is described as a “compact module [using] a wear-free magnetic hall sensor to measure the distance to the Sine Pad”.
“This generates a control signal that can be used in four ways:
- Expression – two expression outputs allow you to control two pedals (or synths) with expression capabilities;
- USB Midi – Control any parameter in your DAW by connecting via a USB-B;
- Control Voltage – Control your analog synths that accept CV.
- Switch – It can switch your amp or pedal using an internal relay.”
There are various price points depending on the specs. We filled out a form for a left-handed seven string with the Lehle Expression – 3,390 euros (A$5,600).
Orders for 2025 are now closed, Stummvoll said, but he is accepting orders for 2026.
