Loog presented three new guitars on the Kickstarter crowfunding platform, including the first with six strings of the company, with several novelties. Loog Guitar, the Uruguayan company which sells electric guitar specially designed for beginners, launched its new line of instruments.

Among them, its first with six strings, which includes a built-in speaker, and the support of augmented reality with the company's application, which provides a new learning experience.

It is the fourth project that Loog presents on the Kickstarter crowfunding platform, where it has sought funds for each of these since its founding in 2011. The current goal is US $ 100,000, which is expected to be reached by October 4.

Three weeks before the final deadline, they already have US $ 70,000. Rafael Atijas, founder of Loog, explained that augmented reality plays a totally innovative role in learning. How does it work? "It allows a fairly natural dynamic for the person. It's like communicating with a mirror. Users see themselves holding the guitar and see dots indicating where to put their fingers on", he said.

Atijas acknowledged that the technology they will add to the app - for now only on iOS and not on Android - includes the classic learning methods of following the music of the songs and a chord catalog. This function is not yet as sophisticated, but he believes that its potential is great and that it will help "learn how to play a lot easier," he added.

As for the speaker built into the guitar - called an internal speaker in the jargon of musicians - Loog's founder said they saw it as a suitable implement for a younger audience. Anyway, if users want more volume they have the possibility to connect it with an amplifier.

"I am the first to recognize that there is no point in an internal amplifier in a Stratocaster or a Les Pauls - two classic electric guitars on the market - but for children not to be plugging in cables the solution is good. Especially in the way that we did: we care that it didn't look like a Frankestein", Atijas pointed out

Rafael, who devised Loog as a master's thesis project for the University of New York in 2010, is a Uruguayan story of international success. He remembered that he felt joy when he saw Ronnie Wood, guitarist of the Rolling Stones, play one of his guitars with his children in a video.

"It was like legitimizing making guitars with three leathers instead of six. Sometimes people tell us that three strings is not a guitar and then you see Ron Wood with a Loog and it's amazing," he said.

"For now we are focused on beginners. Now we are launching the first six-string guitar also designed for adults, but regardless of the age of the public, we continue in that approach because we believe we offer something good: the combination of the instrument with the contents that we develop, "concluded Atijas. About the future of Loog, he does not close the door to expansion into other instruments or markets, given that China is on its horizon.

Representing Uruguay

Last year Loog Guitars was part of the "Country Brand" fair in Uruguay, a fair with more than 60 representative companies in the country. Companies from different fields such as food, beverages, textiles, industrial design, footwear, jewelry, publishing houses, crafts, musical instruments, among others, showed the local public their most representative products in the world.

Rodolfo Kunin, in charge of Loog Guitars in Uruguay, expressed that the company had already participated in the first edition of this fair and that it considers that the event serves so that people can approach the products and try them. "Being here allows us to show ourselves.

It is a product that was born in Uruguay but also a little outside. Today we are present in several countries, but we operate in Uruguay as an electronic commerce center," Kunin explained, adding that the guitars that the public are experimenting at the fair can then be ordered online.

The fair was organized by the Uruguay XXI, an investment and export promotion public agency. While the 2017 edition was held in a single day, the 2018 one lasted two days, at the request of the companies themselves.

"It is an event that we are convinced is here to stay," added the manager of Uruguay XXI Antonio Carámbula.

Crowfunding expert

Crowfunding refers to any capital formation where the financing needs of an organization or an individual are communicated through an open call to a group of people.

Loog Guitars reached the international market through various financing campaigns through the Kickstarter platform. In their previous campaign, they raised more than $ 350,000 thanks to the donation of more than 2,000 people from all over the world.