THE WEM FIFTH MAN PROJECT & PROJECT V

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Perhaps the first synthesiser guitar ever created alongside the 1965 VOX synth attempts, the WEM 5th Man was a combination of the genius of Jo Meek and the engineers at Watkins.

The prototype was completed for the 1965 British Musical Instrument Industries Trade Fair held from the 23rd - 27th August in Milan. The Guitar was displayed and demonstrated to an enthusiastic crowd by Watkins demonstrator Geoff Read. The prototype guitar featured in the Beat Instrumental magazine of June 1965 alongside a short and snappy article.

Once displayed, the guitar was put through its paces at 304 Holloway Road by Joe Meek. The guitar can be heard most on the track " Song Of The Sun God " by the Saxons. 

Excerpt from silvertabbies.co.uk - Robb Huxley

At the session after we had played the number to Joe he got quite excited and suggested that Pete play  an organ guitar that he was developing together with the Watkins electronic people. So after we had finished the basic backing track Joe brought out this weird, little guitar that looked like it could have been home made and plugged it into Pete’s amp. Immediately all kinds of crackling and sizzling sounds emanated from the instrument and one could almost expect to see sparks flying and smoke pouring out. Joe did not seem to be bothered by this at all and proceeded to fiddle about with some wires and controls on the guitar. We stood around wondering what was going to happen next afraid that the whole contraption would suddenly explode. Pete had a look of amazement on his face. On one hand he was feeling very honored that he was to use this great new invention that Joe had been working on and on the other hand he looked concerned that he might get electrocuted at any moment. Pete was able to get most of the lead melody down after a few takes. Sometimes the guitar gave out a sputter or two here and there, but we finally got one down, although right at the very end of the song  the last extended note  burst into a crackle  and Joe seeing that we were disappointed by this told us that it was nothing and everything would be alright.  I believe that had we ever got round to finishing that track Joe would have probably disguised that crackle with some effect that would make it sound like something strange and would not be seen as a mistake on the recording. The whole thing probably would have turned out to be beneficial to the song and be just another spark of genius from Joe Meek. If any body is curious as to the sound that the organ guitar produced I remember that it sounded similar to the Clavioline a small keyboard attachment that was used on Telstar. To my knowledge it was only ever used on that track. I have never heard any body else talk about using it. Sometime later there was an article in the Melody Maker concerning some new gear that Watkins was coming out with. It talked about a new professional thirty watt amplifier with a built in echo unit and that the teething troubles with the organ guitar they called the Fifth Man were over and the instrument would be on the market shortly. Joe’s name was mentioned in connection with some of their affects units. Today the Fifth Man is regarded as a ...Turkey... that was technically perfect but commercially disastrous. I guess that’s why I never remember ever hearing about it. 

The production 5th Man had its debut at the 1966 British Musical Industries Trade Fair held at the Russel Hotel in London on the 21st - 23 August. The August 20th 1966 Melody Maker magazine featured an article on the event and guitar alongside another article and photo in the Beat Instrumental magazine of the same month. July 1967 saw adverts for the Fifth Man in the WEM catalogue and leaflets followed again in the August distributions. !967 also brought in advertising through the Bell catalogue.