EYE-POPPING SOUND NEW GUITAR FORM ROCKS.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

THOUSAND OAKS - Jennifer Lopez's curves are inspiring more than hip-hugger jeans these days. Try electric guitars that fit the contours of the human body to enhance the bond between instrument and musician.

That's how industrial designer Ravi Sawhney conceived the blueprints for his new line of guitars. ``The body is like J.Lo's, but there's also some Ferrari influence,'' said Sawhney, whose Thousand Oaks-based company, RKS Guitars, won an award for best product design in a recent BusinessWeek cover story. One of Sawhney's guitars even made the cover of the magazine with its rib-cage-like body awash in ectoplasm green.

Few musicians, let alone designers, dare to reinvent the shape of an instrument that has remained relatively constant for at least half a century. And in the guitar world, the challenge is often too costly when up against legends like Fender's Stratocaster or Gibson's Les Paul.

But Sawhney, 49, had a vision shortly after he began playing guitar as a hobby five years ago: ``People buy guitars so they can feel close to what they aspire to be.''

Not that Sawhney had visions of becoming a rock star. Rather, he wanted to create an instrument that seems to channel a rock star. So, after partnering with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dave Mason, Sawhney saw his idea finally come to fruition in the form of a hollow-body guitar made of aircraft aluminum alloy and a wood-based polymer.

Suggested retail price: $2,000.

That puts the guitar in the serious strummer category when cost is used as a measurement of quality, according to Rick Peckham, assistant chairman of the guitar department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

The question is whether the RKS guitar will sell at a time when vintage is in. Of the 15- to 18-year-old guitar players Peckham has auditioned in the last several weeks, almost all were playing guitars designed in the 1950s.

``The pendulum is moving in one direction, and that's retro,'' said Peckham, who also noted that Jimi Hendrix is still a strong influence on younger musicians - and he played a Stratocaster.

In the last decade, Parker Guitars is on rarely traveled ground in attempting to popularize a new shape for the instrument. In 1992, the company introduced the Parker Fly, an electric guitar played by Joe Walsh of the Eagles. The Fly has an octopus-meets-Stratocaster body that is made of wood and covered in carbon and glass fibers.

Despite the Parker's edgy aesthetic, marketing it has been a struggle. ``You would think that all musicians are liberal people. But when it comes to their instruments, they are very conservative,'' said Kevin Lello, director of marketing at Parker Guitars, a subsidiary of U.S. Music Corp.

Introducing a new guitar is much like unveiling a new line of cosmetics. The bigger the stars using the product, the more likely it will sell. That's why Parker and other guitar manufacturers rely on endorsements.

``You live and die off them,'' Lello said.

Gretsch is in the process of marketing a new guitar with Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top and Bo Diddley standing in as the campaign's frontmen. The guitar, dubbed Billy-Bo, is shaped like an imperfect trapezoid and made of mahogany. Diddley designed a similar guitar in 1959.

Even so, funky shapes and fancy materials have never been the only selling points of an electric guitar. Instead, sound is among the most important factors, which is why Led Zepplin's Jimmy Page and countless others continue to enjoy tickling the frets of a Les Paul design from 1957.

``The reason certain guitars are classic is because they illicit certain sounds,'' said Paul Riario, technical editor at Guitar World magazine, who recently played an RKS guitar. ``And I thought the (RKS) look was compelling, but it didn't sound any different than other guitars.''

Riario described the look as ``spacelike, something I could see Billy Corgan (of Smashing Pumpkins fame and now a soloist) playing. And the hollow body of the guitar almost appears as if you're opening up a Goodyear Blimp.''

Others characterized the RKS guitar as having a chameleonlike appeal. ``And there is always room for innovation,'' said Ray Matuza, a senior contributing editor at 20th Century Guitar, a monthly magazine that showcases collectible instruments. ``The problem is guitar players can be a pretty narrow-minded, stubborn bunch of folks.''

And not every aspiring musician can afford a guitar that costs a couple of thousand dollars. High-end electric guitars usually cost between $1,500 and $2,500.

But Sawhney is unfazed. He knows what it's like to peddle a product. The lobby of his office is a time capsule filled with shower heads, vacuums and other products he created in the last several decades.

``And I know that, in the end, it's not going to be about how you feel. It's going to be about how the product makes you feel,'' he said.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Ravi Sawhney took an industrial designer's look at electric guitars and has rolled out RKS Guitars at Thousand Oaks to produce the award-winning results.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer