Yamaha has picked up a major award for its TransAcoustic guitar in the US magazine Popular Science’s 2016 awards.
Each year, the magazine’s editors review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year – breakthrough products and technologies that represent a significant leap in their categories. The Best of What’s New winners are included in the November/December issue of Popular Science, which has been the most widely read issue of the year since the debut of Best of What’s New in 1988. Awards are presented to new products and technologies in 11 categories including: automotive, aviation, computing, engineering, gadgets, entertainment, security, software, home, health and recreation.
The Yamaha TransAcoustic guitar features an entirely new concept in acoustic guitar technology in the form of an actuator – a metal device inside the guitar. When played, the instrument’s strings cause the actuator to vibrate, which is then conveyed to the guitar body and the air around the guitar. This creates authentic reverb and chorus effects without needing any external amplification or effects.
The TransAcoustic wasn’t the only award Yamaha scored in this year’s Popular Science awards as the company also won an accolade for its YSP-5600 sound bar.