Tremolo

Gunslinger

VIDEO: Chris Buono showcases the patented & patents pending Rick Toone™ tremolo on Pisces Gunslinger™ 6-string guitar. Fender Deluxe with an AEA and SM57.

More and more, I’m going retro. Touch the real world. I’m contemplating a flip phone. Analog has benefits.

I got a library card.

Zane Grey fills half a long shelf. Writer of westerns, a hundred years ago. Many of the books have not been checked out in fifty years. There is a wonderful smell to old paper and ink, spines that crack slightly with gentle opening.

1873 was within living memory when Grey was writing. Homesteaders, miners, ranchers, rustlers, prostitutes, lawmen. Winchester lever action. Claim a piece of land and pass your genes to the next generation. If you fail at the mating dance…there’s always the profession of gunslinger.

belt hangs heavy
steel against my hip
glint of brass
polished shells
checkered walnut grip

the hammer click
acrid stench of cordite
spaced between heartbeats

out here
the sun will take your breath
this trickle down the spine
reminder of slow death

somewhere a crevice
in a canyon
flowing cool and clear
wellspring of precious water
help a man to heal
wash the blood from his hands

PHOTOS: Swamp ash, carbon fiber, precision machined aircraft aluminum. Bare Knuckle™ custom PolyMath pickups with 10-way switching.

Spore

PHOTOS: Spore 6-string Pisces™ guitar. Swamp Ash, carbon fiber, aircraft aluminum, stainless steel. Bare Knuckle custom Alnico pickups for superorganic tone.

Spore is inspired by the connection between psilocybin and healing the brain from Post Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI). The terminology PTSD is both outmoded as well as inaccurate. The difference in word choice between disorder vs. injury may seem insignificant, but it is the difference between disability vs. certainty of hope.

The brain can heal.

Childhood trauma, substance addiction, combat-impact related injuries, social alienation wounds, can be healed with psilocybin. Important work is being done by Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research (Dr. Matthew Johnson) and by UCSF School of Medicine (Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris). Michael Pollan’s exceptional book “How to Change Your Mind” is perhaps the most thorough introductory overview.

Humans are a social species, with a portion of our sanity outsourced to friends, family, and to a certain extent cultural figures. The people we choose to include in our lives form a network of nodes, with whom we share thoughts and perceptions in an effort to determine reality. The narratives we agree upon form in part the reality of our individual lived experience. When nodes in our societal network become emotionally dysregulated, survival itself may be threatened.

Healing begins with self.

These tiny spores, capable of surviving the intense cold vacuum of space and germinating into psychedelic mushrooms, provide the gift of insight. Perhaps most importantly the gift of connection.

PHOTOS: Patented plus patents pending Rick Toone™ tremolo with precise action and accurate relative string-to-string pitch change. Extraordinary expression. Element™ neck machined from single billet aircraft aluminum.

Gilmourish

PHOTOS: RICK TOONE ’67 inspired by David Gilmour’s black guitar, heard on so many classic Pink Floyd albums. Custom noiseless DiMarzio™ single coils designed by Steve Blucher. Patent pending Rick Toone™ tremolo and components: output jack, neck plate. Gotoh locking tuners. Alder body with light relic nitro. Neck is quarter sawn maple with stainless steel frets.

I’m in love with it. The tremolo system is incredible. Can’t knock it out of tune. Been playing this thing all night. It’s really something special. Holy shit this guitar is fun. (Joe Cirotti)

PHOTOS: Patent pending RICK TOONE™ components precision machined from aircraft aluminum, brass, stainless steel.

Black & White

PHOTOS: RICK TOONE ’67 formally attired in tuxedo black & white. Custom noiseless DiMarzio™ single coils designed by Steve Blucher. Patent pending Rick Toone™ tremolo and components: output jack, neck plate. Gotoh locking tuners. Alder body with light relic nitro. Neck is quarter sawn maple with stainless steel frets.

Just in time for Halloween, two instant gratification Treats.

These two lovely RICK TOONE ’67’s have been flying quietly behind the scenes, but have landed here at the shop momentarily and are available.

If you aspire to next generation tremolo virtuosity whilst also seeking the familiar contours of Leo’s most famous work…this is your moment.

Purchase individually, or as a pair if you are a touring pro.

PHOTOS: RICK TOONE ’67 in Olympic White dressed as a “parts caster” (with a genuine factory neck). Mint green pick guard. Custom noiseless DiMarzio™ single coils designed by Steve Blucher. Patent pending Rick Toone™ tremolo and components: output jack, neck plate. Hipshot locking tuners. Alder body with light relic nitro.

Goshawk Trem

PHOTOS: Goshawk™ 6-string guitar with Antique Pewter finish. Carbon fiber, torrefied maple, alder.

Oh wow…that doesn’t really encapsulate it, but oh wow…

The neck that you picked for this is perfect – it has amazing figuring in the wood and the dot inlays perfectly compliment the body.

I love that you ran with my story about Alan and his Pewter Clapton Strat being a huge inspiration for me. You absolutely knocked it out of the park. I really really like the finish scheme that you created for this! You nailed the depth of tone that was so important to me with your use of silvers, pewters, and blacks. On some glances it looks a bit like marble and on others it looks a lot like a well-worn metal surface. The blue carved line is a wonderful compliment and resonates with some of the color that I get from the inlays (and ties into another of my color themes!). 

It is just stunning. I can’t thank you enough.

I’d like to take a moment to appreciate your trem design. It is really really clever! Regardless of the engineer in me wanting to nerd out over the design, I have to say that it is the smoothest trem that I’ve ever had the pleasure to try.

I’ve only spent a few minutes tuning and playing, but I have to say that it feels like home. When I play 6 string, I’ve been playing the purple goshawk and this feels so much like that, but sounds so very different! I can’t wait to spend more time with it.

Thank you again. This has been a wonderful experience. (Jason)

PHOTO: Patent-pending Rick Toone tremolo precision machined from aerospace materials. DiMarzio noiseless single coil pickups designed by Steve Blucher. 10-way switching.