FuseTar 'Lucifer' a New Triple Neck Guitar and Setar Hybrid

Fusetar Lucifer, is a triple-necked, 16-stringed, new hand-made music instrument, created by Iranian multi- instrumentalist and composerShahab Tolouie.

Approximately two years ago, Shahab Tolouie began the realization of his long-term idea to gather the diverse strands of persian, jazz and flamenco together in a manner that incorporates modern technologies in one instrument to attain the precise timbres that are optimal for live performance of his original style - Persian-Flamenco fusion.

The name is derived from “fuse” – English for “fusion” and “tar” – Farsi for “strings”; hence ‘fusion of strings’. The nickname Lucifer is that of the mythological morning star, the bearer of light.

<o>It took a year and half for two luthiers Mehr & Owrang (Crimson Oath) to build the FuseTar. It is made of thirteen different types of wood and weighs 2.1 kg. With an acoustic chamber approximately 2cm larger than that on a regular guitar, the FuseTar possesses three necks. The uppermost is a fretless neck, which makes possible to play the quarter-tones peculiar to eastern music. The middle neck is the ‘guitar neck’, a combination flamenco/jazz guitar configured with the “true temperament” fretting technology, which produces more accurate intonations and longer sustain than a normal guitar and is used, for example, by John McLaughlin and Steve Vai. The third neck is a Persian ‘setar neck’ with four strings fretted for quartertones, a traditional instrument whose roots stretch back 2,000 years. This is the first time a traditional Persian instrument has been modernized with the fixed, “true temperament” fretting system. At the same time FuseTar is a unique work of art - carefully decorated by elements from three the most significant historical periods of Persian Empire (Achaemenid: the Lion-griffin - a protector from evil, Parthian & Sassanid: Derafsh Kaviani - symbol of independence and freedom. Lion and Sun - always been associated with Persian royalty). And Faravahar - the best-known symbol of Zoroastrianism.