Fretless

Live @ Triumph Brewing Company

IMAGE: Full-length live album is in the works. Read on…
VIDEO: Rehearsal on December 6, 2022. Chris Buono fretless guitar & music. Cody McCorry bass. Anibal Rojas sax. Faye Fadem drums. Fretless guitar and Orchid bass built by Rick Toone.

Coastal air off the Atlantic seeps in under Sandy Hook, slyly flirting with Navesink River dampness, the extended New York metro tang of NJ Turnpike combustion and chemical refineries. Onshore, offshore. Giants to the north, Eagles to the south. Manhattan commuters. Money.

Chris Buono will flit through this mist, reaching up with (funk you) Jersey Attitude™ to grab Big Apple brass and polish it against shore prog rhythms. Triumph Brewing Company, Red Bank, New Jersey is our venue, as he prepares to take onstage residency for the next several months.

Risk is real…

He’s coming in cold, struggling—rehabilitating—excruciating left arm pain via pinched nerves in his spine. This band is total raw bar, two hours of rehearsal and digital chord charts as guidance through an improv jazz wilderness marshland.

Chris debuting two new guitars I built for him: his custom multiscale fretless “Fragile” and “Green Monster” who is also holding my tremolo. Cody McCorry is playing another build so fresh the finish is still drying: “Orchid” bass. New and unfamiliar instruments for both of these masterful players. And a chance to capture their sounds live, in the wild.

We are in this together. Tonight is opening night.

With the recording, I am seeking to capture the village vanguard intimacy of Bill Evans. Snapshot this moment. Band banter. Audience chatter, barstools and glasses. 1961 turns 2022. Killick Hinds beautifully brings his touch to the mixing and mastering. Deeply grateful we had this opportunity to work together.

Credits:

Chris Buono — music & guitar
Anibal Rojas — synth sax
Cody McCorry — bass
Faye Fadem — drums

Killick Hinds — mixing & mastering
Rick Toone — recording & production

“If I died right now I would want you to show the world ‘Raining Caterpillars’ and say this what I truly sounded like when I was dialed in. For that I’m indebted to you both.” (Chris Buono)

VIDEO: (Audio only) live recording of “Raining Caterpillars” @ Triumph Brewing Company on December 8, 2022. Orchid bass and Green Monster guitar are the duet heard here.

Chris Buono | Fretless

PHOTOS: Inspired by the artwork of Roger Dean. Fretless guitar nicknamed “Fragile” designed and built for Chris Buono. Lifelong fan of prog rock. Celebrating decades of visual joy via iconic Yes album covers.
PHOTOS: Swamp Ash, carbon fiber, aircraft aluminum, stainless steel. Patented Intonation Cantilever™ bridges & Element™ neck. DiMarzio™ pickups designed by Steve Blucher.

Chris Buono is battling pinched nerve spinal issues caused (in part) by years of tortured ergonomic playing posture. The resulting neuropathy brings on debilitating chronic pain and numbness extending from his left shoulder all the way down to his thumb.

This is a recurring theme I’ve seen in many players to various degrees, throughout my career. The solution involves better instrument design.

Our priority was threefold…

First, design an instrument focused on posture correction to help relive discomfort, allowing Chris to continue to work as he heals. Second, to help prevent or at least greatly diminish future nerve inflammation issues. We want to keep Chris healthy so he can continue his career for decades to come.

Equally importantly, the guitar will simultaneously extend his formidable fretless technique into new territory.

Fretless guitar is extraordinarily difficult to master. A player must have the skilled intonation of a classical stringed instrument musician—violin, viola, cello—plus the added ability to precisely form chords.

The reward for mastery is supreme expressiveness.

Yesterday I was treated to a private test flight when we met in his studio to debut the new guitar. Running straight into a hot-rodded vintage Marshall, one of the first things he played was EVH’s Panama solo. Absolutely mesmerizing to watch.

Chris is going to be dangerous on this machine.

Total game changer. (Chris Buono)

This is the single best piece of “functional art” I have ever seen. AMAZING.
(Steve Pucciarelli: Reactive Neuro Physical Advancement Center)

PHOTO: Maestro digs in. Testing the new fretless November 25, 2022.

Focus Group

PHOTO: Adam J. Wilson plays his fretless Spearfish™ 6-string guitar. Chris Buono is also fretless in the background.

Saturday, I hosted Chris Buono and Adam J. Wilson for a focus group session. Our mission was to evaluate two current areas of research: multi-scale fretless design, and Pisces™ tremolo performance.

We tested both of Adam’s fretless Spearfish™ guitars plus Pisces™ prototype through an extensive array of tube and solid state amps plus modeling: Roland Jazz Chorus, Carr, Fender ’64 Deluxe, AxeFx II.

Not many people in the world play fretless guitar, let alone exceptionally well, nor do many people build fretless guitars, let alone exceptionally well. Today, I got to hang with both varieties. With all that’s going on in the world, this was a welcome respite. (Adam J. Wilson)

PHOTO: Chris Buono plays Pisces™ prototype 6-string tremolo guitar. Adam with his first Spearfish™ fretless in the background.

In addition to intensive discussion, I was treated to several hours of duets and solo improvisation. You are already well familiar with Chris Buono and his mastery of the instrument. Adam is similarly gifted, employing a fascinating two handed fretless tap technique. He makes fretless shredding look absolutely effortless…micro-tones, scales, harmonies: eight fingertips on the fingerboard is just so fast.

A meeting of like-minded fretless freaks is a rare thing. This was an immensely important day for me on many fronts and will surely change how I approach fretless guitar going forward. (Chris Buono)

I have some new ideas for how to improve fretless design. Fretless is a tiny niche market of players who are super skilled and super dedicated to the almost limitless possibilities of a life without speed bumps.

Imagine the virtuosity of a solo violinist yet with the added capability of harmony.

Glorious day of exploration and learning. Most importantly…it was so good to see old friends in person. Magic happens when we share a space and music together.

PHOTO: Adam J. Wilson and Chris Buono.

Killick | WUOG Live Radio

VIDEO: Killick Hinds live improvisation on WUOG (90.5 FM) Athens, GA. Two of my builds get a workout via his vast array of techniques: 8-string fretless multiscale and Walrus 6-string multiscale. Watch and listen to the evolving soundscapes he creates organically, exploring string harmonics. Fascinating and beautiful. Recorded live 9.21.2021 at the college radio station.

Fretless Spearfish

fretless spearfish guitar
PHOTOS: Fretless Spearfish™ 6-string guitar. Patent-pending Element™ single billet machined aircraft aluminum neck with engraved position markers. Patented Intonation Cantilever™ bridges. Proprietary all passive DiMarzio™ pickups with 10-way switching. Swamp ash solid body in modern poly sunburst.
spearfish fretless guitar

With the multi-scale Element™ aluminum neck I’m playing fretless now in ways I didn’t think I could…ways I didn’t even know were an option. With the multi-scale I am able to play more harmony. I can play fingerings that are simply impossible on parallel frets. (Chris Buono)

VIDEO: Chris Buono tears through 50 seconds of finger-twisting fretless improvisation. Signal chain is Noble DI > Strymon Iridium > Logic so you can hear exactly how good this guitar sounds.
VIDEO: Roopam Garg on Wingspan™ 8-string and Chris Buono on Fretless Spearfish™ 6-string. Live one-take improvisation in the guitar shop where both instruments were built.

Killick Hinds & Henry Kaiser

VIDEO: Killick Hinds & Henry Kaiser live video improvisation duet. Killick is playing his multiscale fretless 8-string guitar.

KILLICK HINDS: I ran the fretless eight string to the Schroeder DB7 with a volume pedal (that I seldom used). I also subtly added sustain with a Gamechanger Plus pedal and Collision Devices’ Black Hole Symmetry in its effects loop. The main signal was split before these pedals, with one half going to a volume pedal and then activating Plogue’s Chipsounds via Jam Origin’s MIDI Guitar 2 in the computer. The Schertler piezo on Demi’s headstock ran into an Elite Acoustics StompMix mixer (which contributed occasional delay) into a Henriksen The Bud amp.

It was good working with Henry on this…our sensibilities match extraordinarily well. Playing with the video felt the closest to playing a concert since March.

I’ll add it was recorded with my cellphone against a makeshift green screen made of a picnic tarp and an old clothing rack. The assembly is not quite big enough for the task, so framing was a little tricky, but it worked out very well.

I’m really pleased to share this (as I know Henry is) and am very grateful he suggested the project. I thank Cuneiform Records for their continued support of new and exciting music. And most importantly, thanks to everyone for watching and listening.

RICK TOONE: Cool! He has software that works with green screen?

KILLICK HINDS: Yes, I think Final Cut Pro. I have iMovie and that works with it as well. This was my very first green screen experience.

RICK TOONE: Quite awesome. So you were in Athens and he was…?

KILLICK HINDS: Yes, I was in Athens and he was in California.

RICK TOONE: Could you hear each other during recording?

KILLICK HINDS: I played to the movie first. Then Henry played to my audio and the movie.

Live | Arto Artinian, Killick Hinds & Adam J. Wilson

Live at the 2019 NYC Electroacoustic Improvisation Summit at New York City College of Technology. Both guitars are fretless (multiscale). Adam J. Wilson on fretless Spearfish™ 6-string. Killick Hinds on Walrus 6-string. Arto Artinian is playing a Haken Continuum surface.

Prior to this live performance, the trio recorded Body Systems studio album.

Besides the three of us, we’re improvising with some software I wrote, an algorithmic agent I’ve taken to calling “Skronkbot.” Skronkbot is always listening and always playing; when I press pedals on my pedalboard, I’m turning Skronkbot’s output on and off and directing it to use different synths and samplers. (Adam J. Wilson)

One of the ways I approach playing with Adam & Arto is to activate densities wrapped in a web of harmonic infinity…something like lungs filling to steady the next exhalation. There’s an unceasing propulsive quality from the sum of three people (plus robot!) inserting pantonal panrhythmic melodicisms with consummate attention towards making the group soup a good eat. This is a truly a fretless trio: fret less and listen more. It’s always a pleasure to work with these beautiful souls and adept technological marvels who too have their own say. (Killick)