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New Color-Changing Guitar Can Update Its Look to Fit Your Music

E-ink is already in smartphones and e-readers. Soon, you‘ll see it in a new line of color-swapping guitars.

ByCaLea Johnson|
Guitarists can boost their performance with the Voltage DaVinci from Cream.
Guitarists can boost their performance with the Voltage DaVinci from Cream. | Cream Guitars

If you’re an avid reader or technology fan, you’re likely familiar with e-ink—a.k.a. electronic ink. Scientists and engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed it in 1996, and since then e-ink has become mainstream thanks to e-readers like the Amazon Kindle. Other devices like electronic notebooks and mobile phones have adopted the technology as well. Now, for the first time, the technology is behind a new type of guitar that changes color as you play it.

E Ink, a company specializing in electronic paper technology, partnered with the guitar manufacturer Cream Guitars to make the Voltage DaVinci. The effect of the instrument lies in E Ink’s fully programmable Prism 3 e-paper [PDF], which uses electronically-controlled colored particles. This means the body of the guitar can cycle through different patterns and colors, making the tool perfect for self-expression during a dynamic musical performance. The current version can display up to seven pigments.

One of the best qualities of the Prism 3 e-paper, according to the manufacturer, is its low power consumption and high energy efficiency compared to other display technologies. And unlike a heavy LCD screen, the material is thin, durable, and lightweight. Cream Guitars also makes its guitars from 100 percent renewable wood and is committed to minimizing waste during production.

The electroacoustic guitars were announced at NAMM 2025, a convention for music technology. In the YouTube video below from Vapor Trail Channel, you can watch Luis Ortiz, CEO of Cream Guitars, show off the product’s color-changing display at the event.

E Ink and Cream Guitars have yet to share a price for their new product or any information on when it may be available to purchase. Until then, guitarists will have to settle for one pattern at a time when picking out their instruments.

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