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As an amateur musical dabbler, I'm tethered to the computer, letting digital rule the day to avoid the complexities and expense of setting up recording equipment. Of all the instruments such an approach precludes, the guitar is the most-missed. Fancy digital guitars exist, but Hammacher Schlemmer's saucy USB axe, complete with analog-to-digital conversion software, brings such high-end toys into the realm of affordability: the innovation is in it's $200 price tag.
Resembling any other basic guitar, it has three pickups, tone and volume knobs, a tremolo arm, and a standard quarter-inch input for use with a standard amplifier. The USB-features are bus-powered, so only a single cable will be needed for digital use.
H.S. also offers a Digital Trumpet, though at $400, it's pushing the affordability that makes such things attractive to dilatenttes like myself.
Product Page [Hammacher Schlemmer via Gizmodo]
