If you’ve been online in the past three months, you’ve likely heard of the Canadian instrumental duo Angine de Poitrine. The band blew the hell up after appearing on the nonprofit radio station KEXP – mostly because their music is awesome, but the costumes and the microtonal instruments didn’t hurt the intrigue either.
Now in an interesting twist, Eastwood Guitars has rolled out their own version of guitarist and bassist Khn de Poitrine’s double necked monster. The guitar of part of Eastwood’s crowdfunded production, and has already made its goal – so this thing is real.
A lot of comments on the brand’s Facebook are accusing them of ripping off Khn de Poitrine, though they do clarify things a bit on their product page: “A while back, Raphael Le Breton (the luthier behind Angine de Poitrine) reached out to us about creating a tribute to the now world-famous double neck he built for Khn de Poitrine,” wrote Eastwood.
“After discussions with both Raphael and the band, Khn ultimately decided he would prefer not to have a signature replica of his guitar made available for purchase, and that’s a decision we fully respect.
“What did come out of those conversations, however, was something unexpected: many years ago, Khn had approached us with a request to build a white, microtonal version of our Eastwood 4/6 Doubleneck featuring black appointments.
“At the time, we weren’t able to accommodate the request. Now, thanks to our Guitstarter program, we’re able to bring that vision to life. It’s the Microtonal Doubleneck that could have been! (Polka dots not included.)”
What Eastwood doesn’t really clarify here is whether Khn de Poitrine is currently involved in this endeavor or if this is a product of a former conversation only. If it’s the former, awesome; if it’s the latter, I’m sure those negative comments won’t be the last ones.
Personally, I’m guessing it’s the latter considering Eastwood didn’t put the polka dots on there.
