Behold The Lolo

The grant proposal was accepted!  Thanks to the Faculty Grants Committee of MSU we've been funded for our first research project. The project titled "The effect of learning to play an adaptive guitar on upper extremity function and motivation in individuals following a cerebrovascular accident" will begin this year at the McQueary College of Health and Human Services.

There is a lot of work yet to come but we've taken the first step to bringing adaptive instruments and conventional therapy together. If you'd like more information on the study don't hesitate to contact us. 

After Lolo passed away I brought the project home to Springfield, MO and set it on a shelf for a number of months. I was busy at work... I was disheartened that I was unable to complete it for him... I was distracted by the fact that my nonprofit was failing due to lack of funds... Then the most wonderous thing happened. I lost my job.

In January of 2019 I shifted my focus back to the guitar. I finished the resonance box, the electronics and the slide. It was done. It worked. I needed somebody to play it. I had already decided that this should be made available to individuals who, for any number of reasons, could not form the chords with their left hand. I reached out to our local universities and the first of so many surprises began slapping me in the face.

6 months later doctors working at Missouri State University have decided that a true clinical study is the only way to gauge all the benefits from using The Lolo as a part of a patient's therapy program. They are currently seeking a grant to allow for the construction of more instruments to be used in this clinical trial.

I'd like to match the funds they're raising in an effort to push the research as far as we possible can.