Louis Luk is founder and CEO of LAVA MUSIC, which was founded in 2013 by Louis in the campus of Musicians Institute Hollywood. It builds instruments and education services with the integration of software, hardware and humanity. LAVA released the world’s first unibody carbon fiber guitar LAVA ME in 2017, and reinvented it as the world’s first smart guitar in 2021. Now, LAVA is the world’s largest carbon fiber guitar manufacture. It has obtained over 100 patents, won 7 international design awards, and served musicians in 90+ countries.

Show notes:

4:00 Why there hasn’t been any innovation in guitar design for so long.

7:00 How redesigning the tools impact creativity

9:00 Louis’ background story and how the company began

10:20 Original aspirations in music

13:45 How the concept to redesign the guitar came about

14:15 Stories of trail and error, and how material science brought LAVA to the next level

19:30 Future potential of new material ‘Air Sonic’

21:20 Thoughts on the term ’Made in China’

26:00 The difficulties of incorporating touchscreen and software into newest design

34:00 Thoughts on how technology will change the future of music