The one stringed guitar, also known as a Unitar is a somewhat less known version of the standard electric guitar. Although rare, the one-string guitar is sometimes heard, particularly in Delta blues, where improvised folk instruments were popular in the 1930s and 1940s.
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History
Eddie "One String" Jones had some regional success with a Mississippi blues musician, Lonnie Pitchford, who played a similar homemade instrument. In a more contemporary style, Little Willie Joe, the inventor of the Unitar, had a considerable rhythm and blues instrumental hit in the 1950s with "Twitchy", recorded with the Rene Hall Orchestra.
Design
The homemade unitar often has been made with a piezoelectric sensor as a pickup on the unitar, requiring that an external amp be attached to operate. PVC piping is a common neck material. Like a normal electric guitar, it needs no reverberating back like an acoustic guitar needs.