Donner’s Hush-I Silent Guitar Demo
The travel-ready headless instrument is a novel design weighing, as Guitar World Tech Editor Paul Riario says in this demo, “pretty much the same as a laptop and coming in a travel bag that’s as long as a yardstick.”
Transcript
00:00What's up?
00:10Paul here from Guitar World, and today we're going to be checking out a travel-ready, headless
00:14guitar from Donner that I'm currently obsessed with.
00:17The Hush One Silent Guitar.
00:20Let's check it out.
00:28Donner makes a dizzying amount of musical products, and the Hush One Silent Guitar is
00:33a novel design from Donner, weighing pretty much the same as a laptop and coming in a
00:38travel bag that's as long as a yardstick.
00:41It even comes with headphones.
01:00Let's take a look at some of the key features of the guitar.
01:02The first thing to note is, as I mentioned before, is its matte-finished hush shape that
01:07comes in either a maple or a mahogany body.
01:10In this case, I have a mahogany hush.
01:12The neck has a progressive neck curvature that encourages stress-free comfort for your
01:18wrist, and 20 rounded frets that feel smooth and won't nick you as you're playing.
01:23The guitar comes with a piezo pickup and Donner's custom-designed preamp with 2-band EQ adjustment
01:29and phase button to eliminate feedback.
01:32It also has a headphone output, an AUX MP3 input, and a guitar output.
01:38It takes a 9-volt battery and will last up to 50 hours.
01:42Because of its headless design that's ideal for traveling, the guitar does come with removable
01:47upper and lower frames to convert it into a more traditional guitar and also to make
01:53it easy to play on your lap.
01:55Let me show you how that's done.
02:00So here are the two upper and lower frames, and you can see they kind of follow that silhouette
02:07of a traditional guitar body, and I'll show you how that works.
02:11Really quick, on the guitar itself, there are two holes, one here, one here for the
02:18upper frame, and then one drill hole for the bottom frame.
02:26So it couldn't be simpler.
02:28All you have to do is attach, line it up to the holes, push down, and the same goes for
02:37the bottom one.
02:40Just like that.
02:42And now we have a more comfortable and traditional guitar silhouette.
02:46Also another great thing about the way this guitar is the setup is great because the action
02:49is nice and low, so you can really just solo on this as well.
03:07You'll notice the tuners are headless and are located at the bottom of the guitar, so
03:20they are out of the way and reduce the chances of knocking it out of tune.
03:26You'll also need to use the Allen wrench tuning key to adjust the tuners and drop it back
03:31into its hidden magnetic holder once you're done tuning, like so.
03:36So here is that magnetic Allen tuning key.
03:39Sits here firmly because it's magnetic.
03:42Just pop it out, and to simply start moving the tuning gears, pop it in like that.
03:49Move it left or right, depending which way you're going.
03:52Just follow suit.
03:53Makes it easier.
03:54You can use the actual headless gears and move it back and forth, only thing is there's
04:00not enough grip, so that's why you probably need a little bit more of this tuning key
04:05to get a quicker travel.
04:07What's really surprising is how full and balanced the tone is coming from the headless designed
04:12guitar.
04:13The Hush One silent guitar is a fantastic guitar because it appeals to all players.
04:21If you're a beginner, it's great if you use its headphone and aux inputs to quietly practice
04:26and immerse yourself in its sound, or if you're a more casual and advanced player, it has
04:31a really comfortable neck profile that allows you to freely move all across the neck without
04:37any stress to your wrist.
04:39And if you want to take it out live, the onboard two-band EQ is tailor-made to take this guitar
04:43onstage.
04:44With a truly plug-and-play pickup system and the ability to play anytime and anywhere in
04:58utmost comfort, the Hush One silent guitar is truly the ultimate portable travel and
05:03gig ready guitar.
05:05Definitely check it out.