Henry Kaiser | Spore

VIDEO: Henry Kaiser shares gorgeous ambient improv playing on SPORE 6-string guitar. There are so many things I love about this recording. Notice the massive, immersive, soundscape Henry paints with such economy of motion. His fingerstyle and subtle trem. Harmonics. Skull shirt. Our conversations behind the scenes indicates a surprising signal chain…the only reveal here is there is no looping: only delays. Grateful thank you to Henry for recording this video, and also for acquiring SPORE. When I built the guitar I knew it needed to be in the hands of someone special.

“I took the liberty of keeping it psychedelic behind your end title after I finished playing
it is SPORE, after all    
and the guitar told me to make it like that” (HK)

Spearfish Vapor

PHOTOS: Spearfish Vapor™ 6-string guitar. Swamp ash, carbon fiber. Patented component set precision machined from aircraft aluminum and stainless steel. Bare Knuckle custom pickups with 10-way switching.

(begin)

screen will now go dark

not just this screen

every screen

everywhere

if (no = ipadphonecarsmarttvterminalAI)

if (can’t poke box for answer)

then (what happens next)

IF: you want to run a software self-diagnostic — abstain from all screen interactions for 24 hours. Do not allow your brain to access any electronic or media content: visual, sound, written. (24 hours)

>> Return your sensory input to: only what you can directly perceive using your own five senses.

IF: you want to run a simultaneous hardware self-diagnostic — abstain from all nutrition input for 24 hours. Including water. Do not allow your body to access any calories or fluids. Dry fasting. (24 hours)

>> Allow your body to: only breathe.

Q: What do you notice?

VAPOR | ˈvāpər | (noun) a substance diffused or suspended in the air, especially one normally liquid or solid.

Wingspan Fretless Multiscale

PHOTOS: Seemingly simple, yet infinitely deep.

I. AM. SPEECHLESS. Lost for words. Thank you!
(Steve Sjuggerud)

Machine Gun

VIDEO: Joe Cirotti works out the Rick Toone ’67 trem on Jimi’s Machine Gun. Caleb Estey on drums. Wayne Lyle, bass. February 7, 2025 @ Bernie’s Hillside Lounge, Chester, NJ. (video courtesy of John Barless Pellichero)

Dude I used the ’67 guitar for a Hendrix show. Fucking thing absolutely decimated. 14 and a half minutes that song was. Wailing on the trem. By the end it was still in tune. Crazy! (Joe Cirotti)

Misha Mansoor S2

PHOTOS: Misha Mansoor “Bulb” with Rick Toone backstage at the guitar tech station getting his S2 dialed in. Summer Slaughter Tour, NYC, 2013. (photo: Laura Barnes)
PHOTOS: Completed in August, 2013. Fully restored and awesome to play. Bare Knuckle Juggernaut neck with Nailbomb bridge and 5-way switching w/ToneStyler.

This seems the right moment for a restoration and maybe also a re-appreciation for this journey. I’ve had Misha’s S2 in storage for half a decade — acquired after he traded it back to me for his Reptile Spearfish 6-string. I’d not forgotten about the S2 guitar. Other paths had assumed priority.

Plus there were some lingering puzzles to solve.

Restoring the S2 was fascinating. My hands retained muscle memory, remembering familiar mechanisms. That part was easy. Rediscovering my thought process from more than a decade ago was the deeper spiritual aspect.

In so many ways the S2 is still ahead of its time. Simultaneously the ancestor of Wingspan — yet equal in an alternate parallel timeline.

PHOTOS: Finish inspired by Misha’s love of high performance military aircraft and F1 racing. Periphery logo is unmistakable. Collectors will appreciate his signature on the back. Misha…thank you.
PHOTOS: SKB i-Series flight case for the S2 with PERIPHERY gaffer’s tape. Far side: “RT1A” (above). Infamous S2 bottle opener Element™ neck machined from aircraft aluminum and stainless steel (below).