Americana: Ole, Amigo!

One morning in 1972, Electric Guitar Maker Bob Brown, 50, found dozens of mice and rats sprawled dead in his workshop in San Diego. They had been zapped by vibrations from a nearby guitar that he had miswired and forgotten to turn off. Eureka, thought Brown, the better mousetrap! After further tinkering, he produced the AMIGO—an acronym for ants, mice and gophers. The football-size device emits electromagnetic waves that have no effect on people or domestic animals but upsets the small pests' neurological systems. They either flee or go into a trance-like state,...

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