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Building your own guitar or synthesizer is impressive enough. But when you decide to smash the two music makers together—and throw some lasers in for kicks—the end result is the jaw-droppingly awesome “Prism.”

This synth-guitar uses lasers as “strings,” allowing the player to select octaves, and a fretboard equipped with infrared rangefinders, to electronically detect your fingers’ positions and modify the pitch of the instrument.

Unlike a DIY Guitar Hero controller, it requires no special software and plugs into any amp, making setup a breeze.

The Prism is part laser synth, part guitar, pure fun

Aside from the lasers, the heart of the beast consists of a voltage-controlled oscillator, a low-frequency oscillator, and three selectable synth waves (sine, square, and triangle). And for something that’s been Frankensteined together, it doesn’t look too shabby either.

[via Instructables via Make]

Parts of an electric guitar on a workbench.
The starter guitar: The circuit boards, sensors, and lasers of the Prism were built into this old, unwanted electric guitar. jeff-o / Instructables
The body of an electric guitar with a circuit board inside it.
Here’s a look at the guitar sanded down and fitted for its custom PCB. jeff-o / Instructables
A printed circuit board on a blue surface.
A closeup look at the PCB used to power the Prism. Each resistor, capacitor and transistor was assembled by hand. jeff-o / Instructables
A block of laser sensors on a DIY electric guitar.
The completed block of laser sensors act as a photoresistor, letting you change octaves depending on the combinations of blocked laser light paths. jeff-o / Instructables
The wiring under lasers on a DIY electric guitar.
A glance at the wiring underside of the lasers. jeff-o / Instructables
A bunch of wires attached to a PCB on a blue surface.
Each component on the PCB is tested before it’s dumped into the Prism. jeff-o / Instructables
A homemade electric guitar with a circuit board exposed and wires coming out.
Freshly painted up, the Prism is ready to have its parts put in place. jeff-o / Instructables
The laser strings of a homemade electric guitar.
The Prism has three selectable wave generators (triangle, square, sine), a low voltage oscillator, and a low frequency oscillator. jeff-o / Instructables
The controls of the Prism, a homemade guitar synthesizer.
The Prism makes use of no Midi controllers, computers, or special software. Playing it is as easy as plugging the synth-guitar into an amp. jeff-o / Instructables
A homemade electric guitar synthesizer with laser "strings."
A range finder was installed on the Prism’s neck to provide a Theramin-like effect of pitch bending. jeff-o / Instructables
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