Aluminium sliding pickup guitar?

[Mick Bailey]

Could be a one-off, but can anyone identify the guitar in the clip? - best shot is at 2:04. Looks like a cross between a mini flying V, a Veleno, and a Doug Wilkes 'The Answer' sliding pickup guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xAw7nnP0G8

[TomCarlos]

I vote for "one-off." I think "Cold Love" was released in the late '70's? I did a search on "Bram Tchaikovsky" and "guitars" and came up blank.

That sliding pickup reminds me of the 1980's "Westone Rail" bass guitars. It has a sliding pickup, mounted on two rails. I guess the pickup leads were tucked in one of the rails. So the idea of a sliding pickup must have been out there and maybe used by others? The Westone had a short lived lifespan.

[Mick Bailey]

An acquaintance (Doug Wilkes) patented a sliding pickup guitar in the 70s called 'The Answer' The one Dave Gilmour bought sold for $93,750 in 2019. It's a really good system that works well and I'm surprised there aren't more guitars that use sliding pickups.

[pdf64]

Wasn’t Dougie 70 a couple of days ago?
The Answer http://wilkesguitars.co.uk/instruments/the-answer/

[Mick Bailey]

I didn't know - I've lost touch with a lot of people lately. Haven't seen him for a long time, though.

[Boy Howdy]

This is the first slider I'm aware of. First made in 1972. There was another guitar, Japanese I think, that had a sliding pickup. And there was the Gibson Graber bass, of course (1973).

[Mick Bailey]

That's very interesting - very similar to the Wilkes system and much earlier. Here's the Wilkes patent. I'm certain in my own mind that I saw a much earlier guitar of his than the patent filing date - maybe I'm wrong. I had an idea it was late 70s or maybe very early 80s. The reference to other relevant patents turns up some very interesting ideas - particularly Pat. #2964985 - very advanced thinking.

Wilkes Patent.pdf

[Helmholtz]

Reading the claims, the Wilkes patent only covers 2 or more independently sliding PU coils.
So won't apply to a single sliding PU.

[Mick Bailey]

I understood that from his description - I was thinking how similar the plastic sliding rails idea was, but the Wilkes' setup is much more musically useful, if a little complicated to recall exactly where the pickups were positioned for a certain sound. Nowadays you could use stepper motors and a processor to position the pickups and save the configuration. Just like memory seat adjustments on cars, or motorised faders.

[Chuck H]

This is the first slider I'm aware of. First made in 1972. There was another guitar, Japanese I think, that had a sliding pickup. And there was the Gibson Graber bass, of course (1973).

I image searched "sliding pickup" "guitar" and found this 1959 Framus Hollywood.

[Mick Bailey]

Presumably the button slides the pickup. If it does, it appears to be quite performance-oriented.