Birdseye Blonde ’67

PHOTOS: Polished stainless steel frets. Ultra rare ’67 guitar with my Advantage Neck Profile™ for ultimate comfort.

Playing through Tweedle this last month has been inspiring. The mids are just perfect, radio friendly. As you know, Tweed lows are infamously wild and wooly. But, as it turns out, those lows are tamed when matched with era-correct single coil pickups.

Leo was iterating his amps and guitars in parallel.

When you hear them together, the world comes into focus. Man, what tone.

PHOTO: Birdseye Blonde ’67 sounds as sweet as it looks. Light relic olympic white nitro over alder, combined with highly figured birdseye maple neck just invites touch. Seymour Duncan California ’50’s (rw/rp) set. Details like the anodized black RICK TOONE™ components bring the vibe. And of course, the awesome patented tremolo.

USM Earthshine

PHOTOS: USM Earthshine™ 6-string guitar. Quartersawn redwood body with birch surfacing. Quartersawn flame maple neck. Carbon fiber, aircraft aluminum. Patented and patents-pending Pisces™ tremolo system. 3D™ control system with 10-way switching. Bare Knuckle custom pickups.

Center city Philadelphia skyline, visible on the horizon, is not lit green this year. Eagles distracted themselves with internal politics, spiraling into the Delaware River, forgetting to come up for air.

The dog and I outside in the January evening darkness just now. Her senses alert to the movement of large animals, green eyes of deer bobbing in the field at the limit of my flashlight’s quick glance. I wonder what she thinks of the human hand’s ability to conjure light at will.

My attention is heavenward. Orion is our companion, now and for some months ahead. Jupiter too, alone this year for the most part, playing a solo in contrast to last winter when Mars and Saturn were constant accompanists.

Too much light at the moment, maybe Bortle 8. When we repeat our steps in the hour or two before sunrise, mankind will be asleep, skies maybe Bortle 6 here in the northeast. Perhaps visible a string of 19 space jewels moving south to north, a wink from Elon.

VIDEO: USM Earthshine. Fractal FM9.

Husk

PHOTOS: Spearfish Husk™ 6-string guitar. Patented and patents-pending tremolo and Element™ component set precision machined from aircraft grade aluminum and stainless steel. Swamp ash body. Carbon fiber pickguard. Bare Knuckle custom pickups with 10-way switching.

Dear Rick! She’s beautiful and apart from me trying it, my son did too! One day he’ll eventually inherit my guitars including this one, though I might have a hard time let go of it! He’s quite an accomplished guitarist himself. I have followed your career for over 10 years having seen your ‘Dove’ build! I had always promised myself that if I could lay a hand on one of your masterpieces, I would. Thank you for making it happen. Best wishes and keep up the mastery!!!!! (Mel)

PATENT US 12,499,857 B1

IMAGE: Utility patent US 12,499,857 B1 issued Dec. 16, 2025. Design patents include: D1075895, D1073786, D1075896, D1054481, D1101024, D1064055. Multiple additional patents pending. The broader objective is to bring the tremolo to global mass market, through IP acquisition-licensing, or manufacturing partnerships. Learn more about the Rick Toone™ tremolo system.

Green Sunset Skele

PHOTOS: Green Sunset Skele™ 6-string guitar. Carbon fiber, flame maple, swamp ash, aircraft grade birch ply. Patented and patents pending Rick Toone™ tremolo. Element™ neck machined from single billet aircraft aluminum.