Pisces | Limited Editions

PHOTOS: (Ghost) Pisces™ limited edition guitar series. Aircraft aluminum, stainless steel, carbon fiber, alder. DiMarzio™ custom noisless pickups. Element™ neck. Patented & patents-pending Pisces™ tremolo system.

Guitar sounds super amazing so can’t wait to get it set up best for me! As I’ve started writing (AxeFx) presets for this guitar…clean sound is by far the best tone I’ve ever had and that is a huge thing for me. Very punchy and dynamic! (Todd Haug)

PHOTOS: (Venom) Pisces™ limited edition guitar series. Aircraft aluminum, stainless steel, carbon fiber, alder. DiMarzio™ custom noisless pickups. Element™ neck. Patented & patents-pending Pisces™ tremolo system.

I’m worried a demon is going to come out of it. I love it. For the last hour, all I have done is played drop D tuning, dropping further with the tremolo, with crazy gain and sustain, causing unbelievable effects. (Carl)

VIDEO: Patented and patents pending Pisces™ tremolo.

Henry Kaiser Plays Sea Monster

VIDEO: Henry Kaiser Quarterly #1 performance for 2023. Watch from the beginning for some delicious Zappa, or dive directly into “Sea Monster Blues” (solo guitar) beginning at 10:44 — featuring Henry playing Sea Monster amidst a backdrop of Crevalle jack and Bigeye trevally. No fish were harmed in the making of this video.

I really love what Henry Kaiser is doing.

Bringing together friends and featured artists to pre-record a quarterly concert. Players are together in person, or contributing from wherever they may be in the world at the moment. Visual artists adding their skills as well, including Henry’s partner Brandy Gale. Check out her work…synesthete art!

There is such joy of life infusing this entire venture. You can feel the energy of friends reconnecting.

WHAT A GREAT GUITAR
evaluating its functionality just as a “strat” it is an EXCEEDINGLY great strat.  So solid sonically and great for all genres of strat-expressions.

BUT THIS PISCES TREMOLO knocks it out of the park and onto one of the Moons of Mars.
SUPER ULTRA-TERRIFIC
as soon as I finish mastering today
I will have lots of playing time for it and video shoot time
and I will be back with much more feedback (both written and electro-acoustic)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for sending it over (Henry Kaiser)

Deeply grateful to Henry for his friendship and his willingness to invest time exploring Sea Monster. Henry, thank you for all of your video work. Also, thank you Killick and Chris Buono for introducing us. More adventures to follow…

Birdseye Pisces | One Month

Hi Rick, I’m having an incredible time with Pisces. It sounds so juicy and Beautiful!! (Tejasvin)

Read his full first impressions of Birdseye Pisces when it arrived last month…

Harmonic Convergence

VIDEO: Steve Sjuggerud coaxes fingerstyle harmonics from the neck pickup of Birdseye Pisces™ guitar then shares first impressions. Steve flew in last weekend for two excellent days together exploring the new tremolo and discussing next steps.

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.