| Ned Evett | |
| Birth Date: | 9 May 1967 |
| Birth Place: | Nashville, Tennessee, United States |
| Instrument: | Guitar, vocals, fretless guitar, mandolin, piano |
| Genre: | Rock, blues, Americana, Delta blues, instrumental rock |
| Occupation: | Musician, songwriter |
| Associated Acts: | Joe Satriani, Built to Spill |
Ned Evett (born May 9, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for inventing and playing the fretless glass-necked guitar. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
Edward Duncan Evett was born in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A son of a university English professor and an opera singer mother, Evett excelled at music; first playing the ukulele at the age of 11, progressing to the classical guitar and giving his first professional performance at the age of sixteen. He then won a classical guitar scholarship, but dropped out before graduating to play in rock bands around the US.[1]
Evett began playing fretless guitar in 1990 on a modified stratocaster that he built from various parts, including a basswood body from Luthier John Bolin. He first appeared in print in Fingerstyle magazine's 'Bizarre Guitars' profile, who stated "Ned Evett will make you reconsider the plucked-string instrument".[2]
Evett developed the use of glass fingerboards for fretless guitar in 1996.[3] In 1996, Evett played the fretless glass-necked guitar with Warner Brothers Recording artists Built to Spill, on their album, The Normal Years.[4] In 2003, Evett won the North American Rock Guitar Competition and, in 2004, PBS Television broadcast a documentary about the competition titled Driven To Play.[5] The competition launched a series of high-profile opening concert performances for Evett with notable musicians, including Joe Satriani, the Allman Brothers, John Fogerty, George Thorogood, Eric Johnson, Kansas, and Leon Russell.[6]
In December 2003, USA Today described Evett as "The perfectly sane and vastly entertaining master of the fretless glass-neck guitar".[7]
In 2007, Guitar Player described Evett as "The world's first fretless guitar rockstar".[8]
In 2012, Evett released Treehouse, his sixth solo record, produced in Nashville, Tennessee by musician Adrian Belew.[9]
An animated filmmaker, Evett and Joe Satriani co-created the original animated series Crystal Planet, currently in development. It was published as a four part graphic novel by Incendium Comics in 2021[10]