The Bond Electraglide was a very unusual, little-known guitar made in Scotland by Andrew Bond in 1984-5.
The guitar was highly odd, featuring a carbon-fibre body, very complex digital readouts instead of controls, and a neck which featured no frets, instead a “stepped” fingerboard, where the frets were replaced with saw-tooth shaped steps.
The player selected pickups via five pushbuttons; volume, treble and bass were incremented numerically via digital rocker switches, confirmed by a three-colour LED readout.
The guitar was launched at the 1984 NAMM show in America. Apart from the various gimmicks featured on the guitar, including the required use of an external power supply, it played normally and sounded normal, with three single-coil pickups and a normal body shape.
The Electraglide was a big shock to the traditional guitar buying public, and was very unsuccessful, (even though I have personally nearly bought one a couple of times).
It sold no more than 1000 units, and was all but forgotten by 1986. There were some notable users however;
British guitarist Mick Jones is known to have used a Bond Electraglide with his band Big Audio Dynamite in the mid 1980s. The Edge used his extensively on The Joshua Tree, including the solo on “One Tree Hill”, as well as on “Exit,” and “Mothers of the Disappeared”.
Will Sargeant from Echo and The Bunnymen was also an Electraglide user.
They actually came with a variety of strange digital controls, including one that had something that looked like a calculator on it.
The sound was OKish I suppose. Not exactly classic. The need for an external PSU was a right royal pain in the butt, no least because it meant that you had to have, or make, a specific type of guitar lead for it.
Finally, the stepped fretboard, while interesting, turned out to be really hard to play.
Nice try though by Mr Bond, it was the 80s after all!
I guess you are right…they were just too different to play, and not different enough sounding to warrant the effort. A nice curio though!
I am now an owner of a Bond looking to chat over some issues about the action of guitat and reccimended string guages and other tips .
I own 2 of these and although not played very much now managed to get great sounds from them. 1 has a factory fitted volume control pot which I have never seen before so I reckon it was a prototype or tester but what a difference it makes instead of messing around with the rocker switches. Takes a bit to get used to fingerboard though.
Hi Andy, want to send us some pics? we’ll feature them as a new post..cheers, Flyssy
I had one of these not long after they came out. I actually liked the digital controls, and it did have some unusual sounds. The problem I had was that despite all the “NO fret buzz!!!” hype, the thing buzzed all over the neck no matter how it was set-up, and playing lead on it was horrible.
I got rid of it after a few years – I got all of £150 for it. At the time I heard that when they went bust, staff were all paid off with guitars, meaning the 2nd hand market was flooded with used Electraglides just at the point I was selling mine.
If anyone’s ever looking to sell theirs, I’d be interested now. I’d pay more than £150 for it too!
Hi, been off the site for a while but will try to send a pic.
I designed the electronics for the prototype bond guitar and worked in the factory in Scotland.I now own the guitar used by The Edge on “the joshua tree” which was returned to have a kayler flyer tremolo added and completely redesigned audio circuits .The carbon fibre mould needed to be modified to accomodate the trem at a cost of around £250000 .The company then went bust and they owed me money ,so Andrew Bond (the inventor of the stepped neck ) gave me the guitar.
Wow, great story Dave…How about posting some pics of the guitar on our facebook page? cheers, Flyssy
Hello to Dave Sidley, from France, I am a bond user. I am very interested in the Bond story. I have several (4) Electraglide at the time.
I tried without success to have a contact in Muir of Ord with someone who knows the story, but is seems to be forgotten. Can you explain to us how some people including you put so many innovations in a guitar project ??? Carbon frame, resin flesh, alu stepboard, electronics … Sure it was an engineer guitar, the market was not ready. tell us your dream in the eighties please.
Pascal.
Note : the stepboard is great ++ for bootleneck play .
Just been given a Bond Electraglide (0086) today Hasn’t been used for about 20 years or more and has no psu. Previous owner had wired PP9 inline with the stereo guitar jack input. All lights up and kinda of works except probably one PU, but with excess amount of earth hum.
Could someone tell me what voltage the PSU should be. plus anyother useful info. Not sure I rate it for normal playing but interested in that Pascal says it’s good for slide
I suppose psu is the electric lead transformer ? I measured 15 Volts once after the transfo condensers.
the stepboard is really fine for slide to my point of view, smooth for the bottleneck, no noise.
I have one modified Bond : all electronics cancelled, no active circuit, just a HSH Mighty Mite set and normal switches and pots. All home modified – including a special pickguard.
For slide : I modified a Tune’ o Matic bridge, grinding a bit the high and bass strings saddle grooves so that the central strings are higher, and the contact (bootleneck) pressure is same for each string (inspired by the violin bridge shape). I find this easy to play .
Note that the carbon construction is great to cancel radiations hum. And the Bond transformer containts a pair of big condensers to eliminate lead hum.
If you like to make fast shredding solos … give up. The stepboard is great for chords to my point of view. Cannot make bents.
One last thing : whatever temperature and humidity, this guitar doesn’t mind thanks to carbon, it is a perfect companion for vacations in the desert or in Alaska. Pascal
Stuart says he had buzz problems … very surprising. The stepboard is machined in a piece of aluminium, i can hardly believe in a machining mistake. There is no fret so no levelling trouble.
BUT !
The neck is perfectly straight, you cannot set a curve with a truss rod adjustment if you are used to that . This means that …
If you usually play strongly (bear play) then you NEED this curve … no way.
The height of the nut and the bridge MUST be set exactly according to your play. The nut setting is a pair of very small screws, almost invisible. If nut is too low, buzz is garantied.
Il you use 9/42 strings, those strings are thin, so they move easily , once again, no neck curve means a higher risk of buzz. I would suggest a 10/46 jauge with such a straight neck.
Have a great day, Pascal
Hi,
Can anyone send me some photos of the power supply, my bond is currently mute… If there are any details in the underside this would be great, a look inside the thing would be fantastic. Any details would be great.. I will get the soldering iron fired up & try to make another.
Thanks in advance J.
Hi,
I’ve had my Bond for over 20 years, hardly ever gets played but still in great nick.
Having a clear out, due to 1st baby on the way. Anybody know of any decent sites that I could try selling it on and any idea what I could expect to get for it.
Cheers
Mattyegg
Hi,
Mattyegg-are you in UK?-I am about to buy one on ebay but if you want to sell for same price thats cool with me if its all working..if not, cool,but am looking for a copy of the manual that comes with it if anyone can help …cheers
PS A good one went for 800 Euros before Xmas on eBay
Matty, i ended up buying it anyway as was ending and it’s me birthday today and wanted to treat myself, lol! Dave, as you know about these guitars, have you seen the ‘prototype’ on ebay just now–is that authentic or a luthier’s attempt to build one as somebody else has suggested on the listing
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270521543774&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123#ht_1020wt_1167
If you could post pics of The Edge’s guitar that would be cool– although a couple of things puzzle me about that-a) why he wouldn’t claim it back himself as it was his guitar and b) in the owners manual there are pics of a Bond with a Kahler trem already fitted –never seen one for sale or in a collection so dont know if any were ever sold/ distributed. Also, why would a company or an individual be willing to spend £250K to modify a single guitar with a trem?
Found this:
http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Custom-made-carbon-fibre-Bond-Electraglide-guitar_W0QQugidZ10000000007675375
just for info if anyone is interested in e-mailing the guy
..and finally, (sorry!), the guitar I am getting has a Bond power supply but with US lead–can it be converted back easily to UK 240V?. I have transformers etc here anyway but would obviously be better if I could get a simple fix..any info would be welcome. sorry for hijacking this a bit, but am v.excited about getting one- huge Bunnymen fan (& U2)-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfr9FyXMe4M
for Will Sergeant avec Bond
Cheers all
I have three bond electraglides with tremolo. One of the guitars has a not working pickup in the middle. Who knows a person skilled in the art, an expert, authority, technician, specialist etc.? Thanks.
I have three bond electraglides with tremolo. One of the guitars has a not working pickup in the middle. Who knows an expert? Thanks.
I won the auction for the prototype that was recently on ebay. I believe it is the real deal. I have another prototype that sold at Christies in the 90’s, Bond #4. The recent ebay one has enough similarity to convince me of its authenticity. Same electronics, bridge, nut, pots etc. Mr. Sidley, I’d love to discuss the prototypes with you.
Oops! My Christies prototype is #14, not #4.
Matthias, I don’t know an expert in bond’s specifically but is there a guitar repair shop near you? I go to Jimmy Egypt’s in Glasgow at CC Music, Flynn amps are downstairs–Stevie Flynn was v interested in the Bond when I took it in to get a TRS cable for it and the power supply flipped back to UK- BTW, unless you have the original Bond cable, normal cables don’t work–has to be TRS (tip ring sleeve or balanced cable) .
lbpesq, that’s really interesting. Congrats on your purchase–looks like it was a good price after all!
I have copies of owner’s manual and a leaflet if anyone is interested. Dave Stewart of Eurythmics is in cheesy pose on leaflet