Unitar (instrument)
One-stringed guitar
title: "Unitar (instrument)" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["guitars"] description: "One-stringed guitar" topic_path: "general/guitars" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitar_(instrument)" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary One-stringed guitar ::
The unitar is a one-string electric guitar. Although rare, the one-string guitar is sometimes heard, particularly in Delta blues, where improvised folk instruments were popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
History
Eddie "One String" Jones had some regional success with a Mississippi blues musician, Lonnie Pitchford, who played a similar homemade instrument. In a more contemporary style, Little Willie Joe Duncan, the inventor of the Unitar, had a considerable rhythm and blues instrumental hit in the 1950s with "Twitchy", recorded with the Rene Hall Orchestra.
Design
The home-made unitar often has a piezoelectric sensor as a pick-up, requiring an external amplifier to be attached to produce a satisfactory sound. PVC piping is a common neck material. As with a normal electric guitar, the unitar does not require a reverberating body like an acoustic guitar.
Notable players
References
References
- "Building a Unitar".
- (5 April 2010). "TheHoundBlog: Willie Joe Duncan & his Unitar".
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