The Infinite Guitar was created by Michael Brook

Michael Brook

Michael Brook is a Canadian guitarist, inventor, producer, and film music composer. He plays in many genres, including rock, electronica, world music, minimalism and film scores....

, as a way of allowing an electric guitar

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 note to be held with infinite sustain (hence the name). It consists of an electronic circuit that takes the signal from a standard guitar pickup, amplifies it, and feeds it back into a separate pickup coil. When set up and used correctly, the result is a continuous sustained note that can be used as is, or treated to create new sounds or emulate traditional instruments.

In addition to his own instrument, based on a Tokai Strat copy, Brook produced two Infinite Guitars, one of which belongs to Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois

Daniel Lanois born September 19, 1951 in Hull, Quebec) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has released a number of albums of his own work and has produced albums for a wide variety of artists, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Emmylou Harris, Willie...

. The other belongs to The Edge

The Edge

David Howell Evans , more widely known by his stage name The Edge , is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record...

 of U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

, who famously used it on "With or Without You

With or Without You

"With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree, and was released as the album's first single on 21 March 1987...

" from 1987's The Joshua Tree

The Joshua Tree

The Joshua Tree is the fifth studio album by rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 on Island Records. In contrast to the ambient experimentation of their 1984 release The Unforgettable Fire, U2 aimed for a harder-hitting sound on The Joshua...

.

The principle has been the subject of patent litigation in the past, and is currently available commercially in several forms, including the Sustainiac, the Fernandes Sustainer and the Vibesware Guitar Resonator.

External links

• Infinite Guitar article on Breakdown (Brook fan site), with details of the instrument's history, and legal issues surrounding commercial devices based on the Infinite Guitar principles.
• 1995 Interview with Brook, in Sound On Sound magazine, including a sidebar of Brook's guitar setup.