Doc rocks with imaginative guitar designs
Lakewood oral surgeon saw Musicvox guitar featured in movie
BY TALI ISRAELI
Staff Writer

Dr. Matthew Eichen shows the Musicvox Spaceranger guitar he designed that was played by the band Ming Tea in “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

LAKEWOOD — Most people do not associate oral surgery with rock and roll, but don’t tell that to Dr. Matthew Eichen.

Eichen, 42, has been a practicing oral surgeon for more than 15 years and has been designing vintage guitars since 1996. He trained at Mount Sinai in Manhattan and is currently an associate professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a clinical professor at Hahnemann Hospital in Philadelphia. In addition to maintaining a dental office in Cherry Hill, Eichen recently opened an office on Route 9 near Route 70 in the township.

Although his career sights are set on oral surgery, Eichen’s passion focuses more on the creative side of life. He has been playing guitar since he was 16 years old and during his residency as an oral surgeon he began collecting vintage guitars.

“Any money I had that didn’t go to rent and Chinese food went to vintage guitars,” he added.

He eventually began to design his own guitars and achieved the ultimate success when his guitar design was featured in the blockbuster movie “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”

Eichen attributes his success in designing guitars to doing things on his own terms and having the ability to take risks. He said it is very hard to get a new product sold in the music industry, but because it was a hobby for him, he was willing to persevere when others would have bailed out.

“I had the ability to stay in the marketplace and not give up,” he added.

Eichen said that in 1996 he decided to design one guitar for himself; that one guitar turned into 10 prototypes of the Musicvox Spaceranger. He said the Spaceranger was a very unusual design that had the vibe of a European guitar from the 1960s, which Eichen described as flamboyant and unusual.

With this model he attended an international trade show in Anaheim, Calif., for an organization called NAMM. Eichen said NAMM is the biggest international music manufacturer trade organization where all major manufacturers display and view products. The Spaceranger received a tremendous response; Eichen said people either loved it or hated it, but either way the reaction was very profound.

The chief writer from Guitar Player magazine approached Eichen at the trade show and told him he had the coolest instrument at the show, which Eichen said was an amazing compliment. The reactions Eichen received from the show encouraged him to pursue commercial production for the guitar.

“I knew it was going to be an impact instrument,” he added.

After the show in California, several magazines throughout the United States and all over the world began featuring Eichen’s design in their articles. The Musicvox Spaceranger became known world-wide within a year.

At that point, Eichen said, he knew he had to find a way to make his guitars and sell them. However, he wanted to make sure he could sell the instrument at an affordable price. Eichen said he spoke to many guitar factories before settling on a factory in Korea. Between January 1997 and the summer of 1997, the factory produced a large volume of production models for Eichen to sell.

The production model was shown in June at the NAMM show in Nashville, Tenn., which Eichen said kicked off the sales of the product.

Eichen developed a four-string bass guitar version of the Spaceranger, which he said is based on a vintage design. He said he put old-fashioned features on a new guitar, which gave the instrument an excellent tone.

He also designed a six-string and a 12-string bass guitar in 1999. Eichen was the first manufacturer to make an affordable 12-string electric bass guitar; most 12-string guitars cost almost $4,000, but Eichen’s design cost $800.

During this time, Eichen became friendly with members of the band Cheap Trick. Eichen said he designed the 12-string guitar in honor of the band’s bass player, Tom Petersen, because Petersen is the person who invented the instrument in 1976.

As the guitars became more popular, other well-known artists showed interest in buying Eichen’s design as well. Musicvox guitars have been used by musicians such as Allen Woody from the Allman Brothers and CC DeVille from Poison.

Soon after the hype of the guitar was spread, Eichen received a call from singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet. Sweet was expected to be featured in the movie “Austin Powers in Goldmember.” The flick would feature Austin Powers in a mock band dubbed Ming Tea and include Sweet, Suzanna Hoffs from the Bangles and actor Mike Meyers, all playing Musicvox guitars.

“That really was a tremendous thing because the movie is a permanent part of pop culture and it really cemented the Musicvox as a permanent part of pop culture,” Eichen said.