String thing.

Build a better electric guitar and the design world just might give you positive feedback.

Ravi K. Sawhney and his colleagues at RKS Guitars in Thousand Oaks started working on a breakthrough electric guitar concept five years ago. They eventually created what they call an "open architecture" model that recently earned an award from the Industrial Design Society of America.

The model, billed as a revolutionary redesign of the standard electric guitar, features a neck-through-body unified form, where the belly of the guitar is stripped open and lined with ribs. Such innovations not only result in a new look, but the company claims they add to the instrument's "balance, ergonomics and tone."

Sawhney is co-founder of 25-year-old RKS, along with Dave Mason, who launched a prominent solo career after an early stint in the 1960s rock group Traffic. In trying to explain the difference in sound created by the "Open Architecture" design, Sawhney said: "You recognize it when you hear it. You feel it when you hear a live electric guitar. There's something that resonates. It's almost primal."

The new guitars started selling over a year ago. Prices range from $2,500 and up.