Commodore 64 Gains Bass Guitar Parts

The Commodore 64 is unusual by default, being a remake of the original keyboard PC, but we have clear proof that it can become much stranger still.

Jeri Ellsworth put her imagination to the test when thinking up a way to more easily record and edit herself playing the guitar.

In the end, she took the neck of a bass guitar and built it straight into the Commodore 64 itself.

The sound is controlled through the on-board Sound Interface Device (SID) chip, while piezo pickups capture the vibrations from the strings and amplify them, after which they low-pass filter them and, finally, allow the SID to take over.

Sure, 18 AA batteries had to be installed for everything to work, and the power was drained in eight hours flat, but that's more than enough to get her through a concert.