Finding the guitar to be a "sweet-toned instrument, but [lacking] in projection power," R.E. Bates created a Franken-instrument: a combination of a guitar and a harp, aptly called the Harpitar. It has six strings, and it's strung like a guitar with a key difference: The strings are stretched across the body of a harp. All six strings are at the center, where "the greatest volume of tone is obtained."

The result, Bates said, is that "it combines the simple chromatic scale of the guitar with the peculiarly beautiful tones of the harp."