# Magic Instruments

High-tech musical instruments that make music playing accessible to everyone

## Elevator pitch
Magic Instruments is passionate about turning everyone on to playing music.We design, manufacture and market high-tech musical instruments that entertain and educate users. Our instruments enable anyone, including people with little or no musical training, to express themselves by playing music, within minutes. We also provide a fun pathway for learning to play traditional instruments.

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/magicinstruments
- Entity ID: wefunder:company:11414
- Last updated: 2026-06-13T05:00:05Z
- Generated at: 2026-06-13T16:11:58Z

## Quick facts
- Generated $415K in pre-orders on Indiegogo. Pre-sold over 1,200 guitars.
- MI Guitar allows anyone to play music instantly and is a new, faster way to learn traditional guitar
- Raised just under $2 million in seed funding
- Graduate of Y Combinator, Winter 2016 class (world's #1 startup accelerator. Alumni include Airbnb, Dropbox, and Stripe.)
- Graduate of Highway1, Fall 2015 class (Premier hardware startup accelerator located in San Francisco.)

## Active fundraises
- wefunder:fundraise:7266: 4(a)(6) successful (USD)

## FAQ
1. **What is proprietary to you plus do you consider this disruptive?**
   - Babs, Thank you for your interest in Magic Instruments. The proprietary part of our technology is in the software. There is a lot of "musical intelligence" (algorithms) embedded in the guitar's firmware (software within the guitar hardware). Additionally, how our mobile app and how it interacts with the guitar is also proprietary. The technology for both 1) the way we enable people to play music so quickly, and 2) how we can make it easier and more fun for people to learn traditional guitar i...
2. **What is your ideal price point to market? Once consumers buy the hardware, how do you plan on generating revenue? Is it through purchasing more music or a subscription music service?**
   - Aaron, Thanks for your question. For our first product, our priority is to deliver a bona fide instrument that looks great, sounds great, and plays great. We haven't finalized the retail pricing yet, but it will likely be $399 or more. (The average guitar sold in the US in 2015 was over $400, and a quality student guitar costs around $300-350 at retail.) For our second product, our priority is to deliver a more affordable product that is still high quality, so our target retail price will be ...
3. **I see that you haven't listed ChordBuddy as a potential competitor in the easy-to-play music market. Having not used it myself, I can't speak at all to its ease of use but for $45, it seems like a good option and it appears from a quick search that their sales are doing very w...**
   - Jeff, Thanks for your question. While ChordBuddy only costs $45, it doesn't come with a guitar, which a user will have to purchase separately. It's a simple plastic mechanical device that you clip onto your guitar, that enables you to play and learn 4 chords: G Major, C Major, D Major, and E minor. The number of songs you can play with just these four chords is extremely limited. For example, you can't play "Hotel California" by the Eagles - of the 8 chords in the song, ChordBuddy can only pl...
4. **Do you currently have or are you pursuing any patents for the concept or technology for the Magic Instruments guitar and app? Also, are there other patents owned by other individuals or companies that would apply to the Magic Instruments guitar and app in a way that could hind...**
   - Steve, Thanks for your question. We have filed for two patents (one utility patent and one provisional patent) for the concept for the Magic Instruments guitar and app. Neither filing has yet been examined nor issued by the USPTO, so we cannot guarantee that the patents will be issued. Regarding other patents, we are not aware of other patents that could require licensing fees or hinder our business. However, this is an "unknown unknown" so there could be patents that could hinder our busines...

## Team
- Dav Yaginuma (Advisor)
- Charles Huang (Advisor)
- Mark Williams (Advisor)
- Elizabeth Cooper (Advisor)
- Andre Neumann-Loreck (Advisor)
- Brendan Morrissey (Advisor)
- Brian Fan (CEO)
- Chris Glaister (VP Hardware)
- Shivanshu Singh (employee)
- Mark Liebman (CTO)
- Andrew Song (Director of Marketing)

## Recent posts
- Whats Happening? (2018-10-21T19:19:40Z)

## Q&A
- Q: Still in business or bankrupt?
- Q: Is this venture even still a going concern? If so please issue an update to your investors . If not be kind enough to advise us for tax purposes.
- Q: Has ANYONE received a guitar or an update in the LAST YEAR?  I really don’t want to believe this guy is a shyster, but it’s beginning to look this way.  I’m wondering if we backers should unite and get a lawyer.  He raised 2 million dollars! 
- Q: WE NEED UPDATE ON THIS!!!!!!!
- Q: Please provide any update on the status of the company. The silence is deafening. You really do have an obligation (both fiduciary and ethical) to communicate with your investors. Even if you're crashing, we need know. Please.
- Q: What is the status of this project. As an investor
- Q: Hi, Brian. I supported your Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and also invested in your company through Wefunder. The crowdfunding was done in 2016, it's now 2019 and I still do not have my MI Guitar. Questions and comments on Indiegogo are going unanswered, and many of the people who also spent their hard-earned money hoping to get MI Guitar are looking at making complaints to the FTC -- I will as soon as the FTC complaint line opens up after the government shutdown is over. My first question is: do you ever intend to actually ship to customers? I have a major concern about your manufacturing process, in which you're making molds that don't seem like they'll hold up to the volume of guitars you need to make just to cover orders. Here's another question: why are you refusing to answer questions from backers? If you're not going to ship, tell the backers. If you're delayed YET AGAIN, tell the backers. We're concerned about the lack of transparency from Magic Instruments, particularly since you were so open in the early days. One more question: if you can't ship, why not sell your intellectual property to some manufacturer in Shenzhen who can pump these things out by the thousands? Needless to say, I am very disappointed. I'm not getting any younger (I'm 61) and I had dreams of being able to play music on MI Guitar. Sadly, you seem to have dashed those dreams. Come clean with investors and backers soon.
- Q: WHy no updates????
- Q: it's been a long time since your last update. I haven't received my guitar yet either as a perk for my investment. What is going on?
- Q: In looking at that email about chord buddy, Is it possible for you to design a piece of equipment that can be with electronic buttons to select chords and or notes, that can be mounted on a guitar over the 1st 12 bars and have up to 6 chord selection for 6 buttons or to play each note separately, by pressing a lever down on each note. Trying to find or design one for older people with crippled hands. Thanks Gary Wyatt Dunlap Tennessee garywwyattsr@yahoo.com
- Q: What was the amount you had to invest in order to receive a guitar?
- Q: Do you currently have or are you pursuing any patents for the concept or technology for the Magic Instruments guitar and app? Also, are there other patents owned by other individuals or companies that would apply to the Magic Instruments guitar and app in a way that could hinder your business or cost you licensing fees?
  - A: Steve, Thanks for your question. We have filed for two patents (one utility patent and one provisional patent) for the concept for the Magic Instruments guitar and app. Neither filing has yet been examined nor issued by the USPTO, so we cannot guarantee that the patents will be issued. Regarding other patents, we are not aware of other patents that could require licensing fees or hinder our business. However, this is an "unknown unknown" so there could be patents that could hinder our business that we simply don't know about. Please let us know if you have additional questions regarding patents or anything else! thanks, Brian Fan, CEO
- Q: Just an observation. I own the chord buddy and after tweeking it for dqys I gave up. I like your simplistic design and cant wait to strum along at my own pace
- Q: Hi, when will this round likely to close?
- Q: I see that you haven't listed ChordBuddy as a potential competitor in the easy-to-play music market. Having not used it myself, I can't speak at all to its ease of use but for $45, it seems like a good option and it appears from a quick search that their sales are doing very well. How do you plan to compete with this product and what's the value that you can bring to the customer which ChordBuddy can't?
  - A: Jeff, Thanks for your question. While ChordBuddy only costs $45, it doesn't come with a guitar, which a user will have to purchase separately. It's a simple plastic mechanical device that you clip onto your guitar, that enables you to play and learn 4 chords: G Major, C Major, D Major, and E minor. The number of songs you can play with just these four chords is extremely limited. For example, you can't play "Hotel California" by the Eagles - of the 8 chords in the song, ChordBuddy can only play 3 of them. In fact, the vast majority of pop, rock and country songs CANNOT be played on ChordBuddy. In contrast, you can play and learn virtually ANY pop, rock or country song on Magic Instruments. Our guitar has 90 different chords you can play with one finger, instantly, in magic mode. And if you want to learn how to play these chords on a traditional guitar, Magic Instruments enables you to do so as well. I hope this answers your question. Please let me know if you have more questions. Thanks and regards, Brian Fan CEO, Magic Instruments