When I first started playing the French horn, it took years of practice before I produced anything that resembled music. It’s this dedication that often stops many potential musicians at the starting gate. To remedy this dilemma, the Fret Zeppelin is a device that puts a fun, modern spin on learning a new instrument.
The system wirelessly connects to your smartphone through a companion app. The wireless connection is currently sustained via Bluetooth, but the team soon hopes to expand connectivity over WiFi. Eager and excited new guitarists can follow LED-illuminated finger positions, basic chords and scales, and even entire songs. If users need a break from music learning, the device can put on a crazy light show using all 144 LEDs. Sliding right under the neck of the guitar, the adhesive LED strip is half the height of a standard fret, maintaining the integrity of the strings over time.
The research and development of the Fret Zeppelin began five years ago, starting with a prototype breadboard design. Next, the team tested a fiber optics approach, but the dimensions proved to be too thick, which paved the way for an LED-based strategy. After dimension calculations, simultaneous multi-fret testing, and flexible material experiments, the circuit board structure was ready for the prototype phase.
Recently launched on Kickstarter, Fret Zeppelin is currently in pre-production, and the team hopes to ship products by October 2017. Check out this interesting prototype design in the video below!
