Electric guitar (Pro II U series Urchin Deluxe model)

The dramatic curves of the Urchin guitar might have been inspired by the spiny points of the instrument's sea-dwelling namesake, or they might suggest the sinister fins of a shark. Regardless, the reference to ocean life is evident, with the deeply shaded blue-black varnish over a striped maple veneer that suggests ripples in a sandy beach as the ocean breaks over it. Various other guitar models from the 1980s experimented with abstract, pointed designs, as heavy-metal bands sometimes used their instrument's weapon-like appearance as a visual complement to the loud, thrashing music that was their trademark. Probably inspired by the work of B.C. Rich, a California guitar maker who started building guitars with similarly spiky outlines a decade earlier, the Urchin never sold as well as the company's more traditionally shaped models of classic American guitars.

Arai Company (Aria trademark), Nagoya, Japan

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/electric-guitar-pro-ii-u-series-urchin-deluxe-model-128698

1984

Overall: 103.5 x 38.1 x 4.5cm (40 3/4 x 15 x 1 3/4in.)

Ash, maple, rosewood, plastic, steel, brass, nickel silver

Overall: 103.5 x 38.1 x 4.5cm (40 3/4 x 15 x 1 3/4in.)