Teuffel Guitars Birdfish

I see that there hasn't been a Birdfish review in a while, so I thought that I'd tell you about mine...

My Birdfish is number 169, made in 2005. (Or was it early 2006? I don't remember.) It's a non-midi model. I won't re-describe the features that others have already talked about. I will say that the ability to use different combinations of pickups at different heights and orientations has given me many many hours of pleasure. I find that different amps like different guitars; when you add that element to the mix the number of combinations is staggering.

Ergonomically the Birdfish is, as you might guess, kind of unique. I find that it forces me into good playing position -- any other position is less comfortable. For some players that might be a problem; it's not really for me: I'm kind of thankful for the encouragement to play properly. I play sitting down a lot and I play in classical position. I find that the Birdfish is good for my position, but that's not to say that other positions would be uncomfortable; I'm just not qualified to judge.

Playing the Birdfish is a special experience. It's a little like I imagine making love to a supermodel would be. No fat. Extremely beautiful. Aesthetic. Intense.

As mentioned above, I love the ability to mix and match, searching for tones that I like. I've been playing the Birdfish now for over a year and I've tried every possible configuration many times with eight different amps. (That's lots of hours...)

The humbucker sounds are very focused and the variety possible with the three different types of humbucker is big. The single coils are quite Strat-like. The difference made by switching the resonators is subtle but real.

All of the sounds that you get with the Birdfish are useful. (This has not been my experience on most guitars even though they are far less flexible than the Birdfish, so I think that this is quite an accomplishment for Ulrich.) My favourite configuration is with the high output humbucker in the bridge position and the two single coils in middle and neck positions. I like the swampash resonators with this pickup configuration.

How does it differ from other guitars in terms of sound (besides the variety, of course)? I would say tighter, more focused, always very musical. For any particular pickup configuration, if you were to buy the best guitar you could with that permanent configuration, the Birdfish would sound as good or better. Let me be clear here: I'm actually saying that the Birdfish does Strat sounds better than a Strat, Les Paul sounds better than a Les Paul and PRS sounds better than a PRS. I don't know how that's possible in one guitar, but it is.

The only sounds that I use a lot on a couple of my other guitars that the Birdfish doesn't do are: it can't duplicate the wild sound of P90s; and it doesn't have the articulate sounds that you can get from mixing electric and piezo pickups. Otherwise, it does all of the tradional single coil and humbucker sounds.

Don't expect the Birdfish to sound as radical as it looks. It doesn't. It's more exceptional in the quality of sounds than the uniqueness.

My Birdfish was perfectly set up. The craftmanship is of the highest calibre. No imperfections at all.

I don't gig with the Birdfish, so I can't comment on hard use. It is a lot more robust than it looks, so possibly it would stand up to some abuse.

I got the hard travel case with mine (in addition to the nubuk leather case that is just too cool to not have). I would certainly recommend the hard case to a gigging musician.

Ulrich was very helpful and polite during the process of purchasing my Birdfish. I haven't had any problems with the instrument and so can't comment on his after-sale support.

I've been playing 35 years or so. I've got quite a number of guitars, some of them world class, made by very well respected luthiers, others made by traditional manufacturers (I like my PRSs best when it comes to "off the shelf" guitars). I also have a bunch of amps, all pure tube, almost all of them "boutique". So I really love my Gear and I really enjoy the search for Tone! I don't gig.

What I love most about my Birdfish is that it is a piece of art in terms of its appearance, its concept and its execution.

Mine is the Birdfish # 167, built in 2005. It has no MIDI but some little custom changes (I will discribe them later).
After some days playing this instrument I realize what fine construction details are done to get that sound. For example: the back of the neck is rounded over the whole length to give the wood the same tension at every place - and the fitting for the neck in the sculpture "bird" has to be exactly in the same radius.
I always thought this guitar was constructed only to have exchangeable parts. But Ulrich Teuffel told me abuot the idea that it was done to improve the SOUND and the sensivity! The idea is that the vibration of the strings should "dig" into the wood and get all resonation out of it thats possible. Ulrich Teuffel did this as he formed the body to a "C" (the bird horizontal - the tonebars vertical - and the fish horizontal) This construction lets the energy of the vibration of the strings go deeper into the wood (tonebars and neck) to get the "natural harmonic distortion" (a very "woody" sound) out of the wood (you hear it very good when you pick the strings a little harder - an the guitar comes alive). That was much more important to me. To have a guitar that lets you customize your wishes in body wood or pickup constellation is a very very great idea - but when it has an outrageous good sound too - that?s heaven!
I?m a little bored of the old fashioned look of all the usual guitars and I wish there would be more unusual guitars like the birdfish on the market. I?m now the proud owner of this piece of art and now I?m shure that I don?t want play guitars that everyone plays. It?s the search for a little revolution (for what the electric guitar was once a synononym).

I like playing distorted and the sound of the guitar must be always transparent. My amp is a LARRY/Geramny (a kind of Marshall sound with point to point wiring) an I use one EVM12L. No effects, only a Fulltone TTE (tape echo) for a rounded sound.
I love the alder tonebars (now they have changed from swamp ash to alder - swamp ash has only bass and heights - alder has also good mids). For example what I like about the sound of the birdfish is that it has lows and mids that are very "alive" and that are really crisp AND at the same time heights have very "musical" upertones that comine to a substantial round sound and let me think of a bell. What I mean: there is a crisp but fundamental side of the tone and at the same time upertones that are very round and beautiful. This sound will cut through every mix but is NOT harsh or has only heights that could be boring. But you would never tell the sound dark. It?s airy.
I love the sound of the neck single coil - it?s Hendrix pure. I always looked for this sound and the birdfish does it stratier than a Strat.
The sound you hear is always WOOD. My fear that the guitar could sound sterile (because of the metal) was not right. Even this kind of construction brings jusst the wood to your ears. If you make your pick attack a little stronger you get the "natural distortion" out of the wood.
The sound is NEVER muddy but on the other side really not harsh like glas. It?s somewhat beautiful AIRY but with the feet on earth. I wonder why it has the full spectrum of all frequencies combined with the "bodyness" of a solidbody guitar with very good tonewood.
A good guitar for me is one with VERY VERY quick attack and a really good sound that INSPIRES. The birdfish does that all without any doubts.
And it has a very good "projection". I mean that you think that the guitar is there in the speakers and not at your body.
It can be that I will have the wish for a customized humbucker but I have to check how I like the three that came with the instrument. Ulrich Teuffel said that these three represent nearly all voicings of usual humbuckers. I have to experiment with them. If I have the wish to get another voicing out of my HB I?m shure Mr. Teuffel is helpful to wind one to my wishes.

I needed one day or so to get used to the new feel of the unusual construction (I don?t like playind seated) and now I think it is very comfortable. The tonebars give your arm a new kind of support. The litte finger of my right hand has no place whre I can put it on - but I don?t miss it - it helpes my playing technique (getting faster).
Until the birdfish I was only in guitar heaven when I played .009 strings. The birdfish makes me love .010 strings. Yes - there is more tension under my fingers but I have a better controll about the voice of every note. I think this is because of the very quick attack.

One of my great fears was that the guitar is not very solid, but now (holding it in hands) I NEVER have the idea the construction is weak. Ulrich Teuffel has a very strong playing style with .010 strings and the guitar stays in tune. Every detail is built with precision that is very unusual for this buisness.
Strap buttons is the Schaller locking system.
The chrome surface of the bird and the fish is very good workmanship. It is polished and Ulrich Teuffel takes great care for a smooth organic light reflection.

I am one of the lucky ones that live not very far away from Ulrich Teuffel. I had some custom wishes (thickness and shape of the neck, fret dimensions, fretboard radius, serial number) and Mr. Teuffel did all that was possible to make me happy (not everything is possible because the construction of the birdfish is well thought and some parts must stay as they are).
I stayed some hours at his shop to get the neck shape how I like it (he was very patient with me).
then I had the idea to have the leather gig bag in blue leather and Ulrich Teuffel helped me to make it true - thanks!!
Mr. Teuffel showed me the prototype of the birdfish - the "Birdfish Les Pauls Log" and the development of the guitar (Should have done some photogarphs...).
He showed me a lot of new projects, ideas and his precission machines in his shop. This man has ideas and visions that make me very excited and I?m curious what comes next.
It?s true: the development of the electric guitar is not finished today - it can become an instrument that defines sounds that lie in the future. Ulrich Teuffel is one of the luthiers that knows how to use all the high end technology of our space age time and he is able to build new types of electric guitars that have sounds, playability and looks for the 21st century.

I play the guitar since 16 years. I own some PRSs (Artist II, Santana) and an Auerswald DIVA (I LOVE this guitar). Okay - I?m not a player that has a lot of experience(autodidact), but I?m very very critical with my TONE and especially with PLAYABILITY. And I?m very confident with the birdfish!!!

Made in Germany at the Ulm workshop of premier luthier Ulrich Teuffel. Serial #85 (I'm not sure of the year).

Will not go into too much detail as it has been covered by previous reviewers.

It comes standard with 5 pickups (3 humbuckers and 2 single coils) and two sets of tonebars.

Unique modular design allows you to change and reposition pickups, change tonebars from swamp ash to maple to mahogany (if you have the new mahogany tonebars) painlessly within minutes.

Comes with a hex key set that allows you to easily dismantle the guitar down to the smallest component. Here I find the analogy some have made with a firearm quite apt, in that it can be easily stripped down in like manner.

I play rockish, bluesy, jazzy guitar largely influenced by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, John Mclaughlin, Carlos Santana, George Benson, Larry Carlton, Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Al Dimeola and Eric Johnson. Also dabbling with electronica a la Mr. Scruff, Aphex Twin, Tangerine Dream, etc. The Birdfish covers them all with aplomb. It's tone is magical.

This guitar is far superior tonally to anything else I own (Tom Anderson, Ibanez Jem, Strat, Epi's).

Plat my guitars through a Tech 21 Trademark 10. By far the best amp for the money out there. Like another reviewer said, I had to look in the back to see if ther were tubes in there. Will soon get a trademark 30.

The Birdfish will do all the styles I play and more. It is many different guitars in one, but unlike many compromise guitars, it excels at them all. Will do everything except hollowbody sounds.

Superb workmanship. Bought it used so I intend to take it to Germany for Ulrich Teuffel to touch up sometime soon.

It will withstand live playing as it is solid as a tank. somehow I would not want to play too much live with it though. It is a collector's item and as such I would rather play it more in my bedroom or studio (one and the same) to avoid damage.

Will not play any instrument live without a backup.

Ulrich Teuffel is rightfully proud of his masterpeice and is interested in the well being of each and every one of his "children". He answered all my e-mails promptly and courteously even before I bought the guitar.

Been playing 34 years now. I own a Tom Anderson Hollow-T Drop-Top, Ibanez Jem 7DBK, Epiphone Sheraton loaded with Duncans, and an Epiphone Emperor Regent, all lovely guitars in addition to the Birdfish.

I compared it to other boutique guitars (Anderson, PRS, etc.) before buying.

What I love most about it are the TONE and the sheer BUILD QUALITY of the thing. The volume and tone controls have a real quality feel to them.

Line 6 Pod Classic and XT Live as well as the Tech 21 Trademark 10 mentioned earlier. A few pedals also - Boss BD2, SD1, CE5, PS5, and Aphex Guitar Exciter and Optical Compressor.

I run a little project studio out of my bedroom so I have a whole lot of other stuff too PC's, synths, etc.

Changing strings can be awkward until you get used to it. I wish it had MIDI but that is a retrofit away, and I plan on doing it soon.

If it were stolen (heavens forbid!!!) I would set INTERPOL, the FBI, CIA, KGB, MOSSAD and the MI5 on the fellow as replacing it would not be easy.

The Birdfish is undoubtly one of the most important guitars of the 20th century. You will find it in museums, literature and of course on stage and in the studio of world class musicians. Please refer to the numerous features of this guitar to Teuffels website or to the fantastic 45min DVD feature about Teuffel on GOURMET GUITARS (www.gourmetguitars.de) Volume 1. Billy Gibbons used this guitar on 4 tracks of the new "Mescalero" album.

The Birdfish is well suited to basically all styes of music. Players from Metal to Blues used it on numerous recordings. The sound goes more to the Fender side! We love it in our studio in combination with modern amps (Bogner Uberschall) and lots of crazy stompboxes (ZVex, LastGasp, Lovetone, Jacques). Due to the extreme precision of tonal development it works great with lots of effects. Again, check out "Mescalero"!
If you play it with Vox Style amps (we love our Matchless Phoenix 35 and our Vox AC 30 handwired) the Birdfish has lots of twang and snap! Very fast, very precise. Great vintage tone too - but we have so many other guitars that we actually use the old cats for this purpose. ;-)

We picked up the guitar at Teuffels workshop somewhere in the Black Forest in Germany. He build the neck shape to our taste and set it up to our specs! 100% German precision! It plays great and looks awesome!

The guitar is build like a German Koenigstiger tank. It will outlive us easily! Rock solid!

Ulrich Teuffel is one of the nicest guys we have met in the business. He is very helpful, takes care of everything and responds immediately to any sort of questions!

We are running a professional recording studio specializing in avant-garde guitar recordings. We own Gibson Murphy's, Fender Relics, Vintage Charvels, Tom Anderson, James Tyler, James Trussart, Pagelli, etc We have instant availability of PRS Private Stocks, Huber, Morgaine and vintage guitars. We use these babys on a daily basis with Matchless, Soldano, Bogner, Fender, VHT, Custom Audio and Jacques GI Joe. The Teuffel Birdfish was a must have for us! It is way cool, great value and at least as good as the above mentioned guitars! It is also a piece of art with a great collectors value (Limited to 500!). It comes in a professional Teuffel-designed flightcase and the super cool leather gig-bag.

My birdfish is a very rare one with the Roland GK2a compatible RMC Piezo Pickup Bridge. For that the control box houses the 13 Pin Connection Jackett and the UP/DOWN-Programm Switches.
All the other features are the same as already stated in the other reviews. Along with the guitar I also ordered more different pickups, a third set of mahogany resonator tubes and some spare parts like the string locking mechanism and the tuning bridge.

Since you can adjust and combine the different pickups in various ways there are tons of possibilities to get ANY classic and modern sound. Don't get fooled by the looks.

Due to the impeccable craftsmanship and the expertise of Uli Teuffel everything was set up perfect.

Since I own the birdfish only for about a month I can only expect it being very reliable/durable. The fine craftsmanship is outstanding.

I met Uli Teuffel at the Frankfurt music fair in March 2000. When we talked about putting a midi pickup in this piece of art I could not foresee how much work Uli Teuffel put into this customer suggestion. For about nine month he experimented with different pickups (he also gave me one of the first prototype pickups based upon the Roland GK 2a molded in the same blue coloured resin like the magnetic pickups)and constantly reported about the progress. Beside that, he's an absolute guitar expert and is eager even on minor details like f.e. an ebony wooden bar behind the RMC pickup to slightly alter the tone by decreasing the string angle.
Because of that I already ordered my next Teuffel guitar, a coco.

Althoug the instructions for submitting a review suggests that nothing is perfect my opinion is that this guitar IS PERFECT!
I play guitar for about 25 years now merely as a hobby. Mostly I use my Boogie Mk III, Mk IV and Soldano X99 along with a Boogie 2:90 power amp. Effects are a TC 2290 Digital Delay and a TC M5000 Reverb Mainframe.
Compared to my other guitars (especially to my 2 PRS DRAGON I, 1 DRAGON II, 12 PRS Signatures, 16 PRS Artists and my '59 Les Paul Sunburst) I must confess that the birdfish sounds absolutely wonderful. It really makes me think about selling these other guitars.
This one guitar performs all the classic and modern sounds - and in my special case - sounds also perfect in conjunction with my Roland VG 8 and VG 88.

If you're looking for technical details on the birdfish just
visit the homepage of its constructor at http://www.teuffelguitars.de
There you will find all the details on the whats and also on the
whys. This is one special thing on all Teuffel guitars as every model
has its own philosophy behind. So just read it on Mr. Teuffels
homepage as he surely can express better what these concepts are.

For the features: as you will see, there are plenty of them. The
whole component concept is very unique and actually I dont know
any other guitar that matches the birdfishes feature ritchness.

As you now may know (did you look at his homepage?), you can combine
different pickups and woods and pickup positions all as you like.
The thing I really did not expect at all, is that the birdfish
is able to produce perfect vintage tones (and lots of different).
You wouldn't expect this because of the birdifshes futuristic
design, but they are all there. So the sound is simply a wow!
But not only these vintage sounds are there, you also have the
possibility to configure a very unique sounding guitar if you
play around with unconventional pickup positions and so on.
But not only the number of sounds is impressing, also the quality
is astouning. All I can say is, listen for yourself, because
you would never expect a sound like this from a guitar with this
look.
(A tip: Take some time and experiment a bit with the different
pickups to see how different this beast can sound.)

The guitar was perfectly set up. The chrome parts and everything
else is also done perfect. I cant give any slight negative comment.
Its simply done perfect.
One thing about the handling. The guitar is perfectly balanced but when you play it for the first time you will notice that it feels a
bit different from your usual strat. If I had to describe it, I would
say your right arm has a (minimal) different angle. So you may have
to play a bit until you feel comfortable with this position but after
that you will see that this is the better position for your arm.
Your right hand will get tiered much slower.

I cant comment to much on this, as I only play this guitar at home
(I dont play in a band right now). And to be honest I'm not sure
if I would take it to a gig because I would fear anybody could steal
this baby.
So all I can say is that the birdfish looks and feels solid as
a rock. I don't think there are any problems with reliability or
durability.

As I till now had no single problem I also cant comment on this.
But as I bought the guitar directly from Mr Teuffel I can say he
is a very nice guy and I dont have a single doubt that he would
would be very helpfull as he really stands behind his guitars.

What can I say about a guitar like this. I'm so glad I bought one
even so its a lot of money for me. This guitar is worth any penny
of it and if you see how hard this guitar is to build you know that
you cant get a similar thing (if it would exist) for any less.

This is simply most versatile guitar on the market. It sounds perfectly and feels also perfect. If you can afford one go and check
it out. You will see what I mean. Its outstanding.

I purchased this guitar with its sturdy leather bag and accessories new in March 2000 from California Guitars in Paris. The guitar borrows the Steinberger headless design, but takes it to revolutionary extremes. I suggest you visit teuffelguitars.com for an idea of how radical the design is. The designer/builder, Ulrich Teuffel, builds all the components, with the exception of the tailpiece, bridge and neck end string clamp by hand. The body of the guitar consists of two resonators made of swamp ash which can be replaced in under five minutes with another set of resonators made from maple that are included as part of the birdfish package. The resonators are protected by a durable coating that feels like sealskin. The guitar comes with three humbuckers and two single coils, all of which are wired differently for different sounds and are covered with the same coating as the resonators. A maximum of three pickups can be mounted on the guitar at any one time, routed through a five-position selector a la Strat. Changing pickups takes less than thirty seconds. You can change the position of the pickups in every imaginable way. The 25.5" neck is bird's eye maple, with a satin finish. It has a great vintage feel, full but not too substantial. The high narrow frets are immaculately installed. All in all, a real "played in" feel. The struts ("bird" at neck, "fish" at bridge) are vacuum cast chromed aluminum and look and feel like something you'd expect to see at some snooty art gallery. The pickup wiring harness is well secured and built to last. Quality craftsmanship of this caliber is extremely rare, especially considering the number of different materials used. The only thing the guitar doesn't have is a whammy bar simply because there's physically no room for one.

I play blues, rock, pop, country, the usual stuff. This guitar is the most versatile instrument I've ever seen. Let's take the pickups first. One single coil (labelled "L" for "light") gives extremely clear, chimey sounds that are not too spiky like some single coils. It sounds great in the middle and neck positions, but it is less effective in the bridge because of its lower output. Depending on how you place it, you can get steelier sounds or quasi-acoustic timbres. the other single coil (labelled "R" for "rough") has more output and a bit more grit. It's fantastic in the neck position for SRV sounds and works well in the bridge position for tele type dirty twang. The two single coils are reverse wound, so when used together the hum disappears. The three humbuckers are labelled with one, two and three dots, respectively. Humbucker #1 is the cleanest sounding one of the bunch: a dip in the midrange with full lows and shimmering highs. It works extremely well in the bridge as a complement to the two single coils in the middle and neck. Great for blues, jazz and country sounds either at the neck or at the bridge. Humbucker #2 has a very even response with slighter higher output and smoother delivery. It's the "hi-fi" sounding pickup of the bunch. I've used it less because I prefer rootsier sounds most of the time, but it does have its place in my sonic palette. Humbucker #3 is great for high gain lead sounds. It's thick without being muddy and works for sucked mids riffage as well as for single-note wailing. Of course, the fact that you can change the positions of the pickups so easily enables you to discover all kinds of tonal variations. A simple rotation of the bridge pickup from perfectly perpendicular to the strings to a slight slant (either Strat-wise or Mosrite-wise) reveals all sorts of little changes in color. A masterful design, indeed! But that's not all. Don't forget the resonators! The guitar is built so that all the string vibration from the nut to the bridge flows through the resonators. Change the resonators and you change the fundamental tone of the body wood. The change is more than merely subtle, and the design is not just some wierdo mumbo-jumbo. The ash resonators yield a very open sound, like an old Strat or Tele. The sound is very percussive with a lovely ping when you pluck or slap the strings. Trills and tapping on the wound strings with a clean sound reveals an immediate chewiness, you can hear every harmonic nuance. The maple resonators give a thicker sound with more midrange presence and authoritative attack, not like a Les Paul, of course, but more like my Trussart/Warmoth Strat with Barden pickups. Teuffel tells me that he has also developed a set of mahogany resonators, but I've yet to check them out.

The manufacture of this guitar is simply fabulous. The more I play it the more I marvel at the amount of thought that went into every single part, down to the smallest hex bolt. The guitar comes with a three-year warranty, but having dealt with Ulrich Teuffel extensively by e-mail, I can assure you that he will stand behind his product forever. A few days after I brought the guitar home, I noticed a miniscule blister in the chrome plating on the "bird" strut. This guitar probably spent nine months being handled and drooled over by flabbergasted customers before I bought it. Who knows what happened to it. The upshot of the story is that Ulrich is sending me a new "bird" no questions asked. As he said to me, "This is not normal. But you know chrome plating cast aluminum is a complex process. Still, when it leaves my shop it must be perfect." German engineering and build quality, in this case, are not mere hype.

I haven't had any problems with the finish wearing off either on the chrome parts or on the resonators. But then again, I haven't had the guitar that long. I don't gig with this guitar because I am no longer a gigging musician. I use it for studio work. If I were to gig with it, I would make sure to have a mega insurance policy on it, though. The guitar comes with strap locks, so it shouldn't fall off, but if it did, the pickup selector switch would certainly take a beating. But the whole electronics assembly can be easily removed for service. It may look fragile, but this guitar is no less so than a PRS. It's just not the kind of instrument you want to let get banged up.

Like I said above, Ulrich Teuffel cares about his product the way any genuine craftsman should. That same care is extended to his customers. He has always answered my e-mails promptly and in depth, even before I was a customer. A pleasure to deal with such a professional person.

I have been playing the guitar as a serious amateur for twenty years (already?). I haven't owned tons of guitars. I still have my first guitar, a 1979 The Paul. I also have a James Trussart/Warmoth Strat with Joe Barden pickups and a Taylor 810 dreadnought. My experience with Steinberger-type guitars began with a Korean-made Hohner copy. Crap pickups, even crappier frets, but small and light. Then I graduated to the real thing, a Steinberger GM with a TransTrem. Great guitar for use through FX processors, but no soul whatsoever when played through a real amp, in this case a Matchless Lightning. I first saw the Birdfish about two years ago and thought it looked stunning but simply assumed that it would sound worse than the Steinberger. I mean, a guitar with all that metal has to sound and feel metallic, right? When, on a whim, I decided to give it a real test drive in December 1999, I was floored by how comfortable it was to play and by the fantastic array of organic tones the guitar was capable of producing. I put it through as many of its paces as I could during two one-hour sessions, changing pickups, resonators, amp settings, through a Pandora PX3, you name it. In side by side comparisons with the Steinberger, the Birdfish displayed tons more character and finesse in every category. I simply could not afford not to afford it. So I kept saving my money and did the deed a few months later. No regrets at all. The way I look at it, I got the sonic equivalent of several excellent guitars for the price of a really nice PRS. In addition, the Birdfish is simply beautiful to behold. The pictures on Teuffel's web site don't do its sexy three-dimensionality justice. Everyone who has seen this guitar is impressed by its beauty, intrigued by its design, turned on by its tones. Billy Gibbons has one, and he knows something about rare guitars. By the way, mine is #70. Ulrich plans on building 500, and he's probably sold about 100 so far. If you're interested, I suggest you hurry up.

The birdfish guitar is the aristotelian ideal of a guitar. Like the Eames chair or the geodesic dome or the dymaxion car--it reduces the form to its required elements. The birdfish is Les Paul's log fully realized--the complete elimination of the actual body, leaving behind only the spirit. Other creations that exist on the same plane include the a-frame, the quonset, the flying wing, the twist, delta, tetrahedrons, the pin, the thong, and pong. But it is more, because it is also a tool which a skilled technician can use to create the essential building blocks of the universe itself--vibration and harmony. Almost frighteningly it extrudes into multiple dimensions at once, simultaneously filling niches we can only conceive of serially. It's too quick for our mortal minds, slipping away and transfiguring itself each time we try to pin it down. In this way we escape the kind of nausea Sartre experienced when he saw the world as it is, stripped of meaning. Instead of becoming something dead, gray, and poorly realized, the more clearly we see it, the more mercurial and protean the birdfish becomes until it seems like a spinning and flashing carnival ride for the senses. It's a hypercube, a Dali nightmare on canvas sprung to life.