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.
VIDEO: Killick plays Walrus multi-scale fretless guitar with neck over strings pickup. Signal chain is Neural DSP Quad Cortex > Logic. Listen on headphones or full range speakers. Audio left is guitar body pickups. Audio right is neck over strings pickup. Immersive and compelling soundscape.PHOTO: Neck over strings pickup. Lace Alumitone Deathbucker. Aircraft aluminum, stainless steel.
“Fred Frith in the UK and Hans Reichel of Germany were the pioneers of the pickup over the strings at that end of the neck in the 1970’s.” (Henry Kaiser)
VIDEO: Adam Wilson & Killick Hinds fretless improv duet. Adam via Axe FX. Killick via Neural DSP Quad Cortex. Direct into Logic.
PHOTO: Killick Hinds & Adam Wilson — so good to see these friends in person. Thank you both for wonderful conversation and music…let’s do it again soon!
Have a listen to the recording above.
That’s the unedited raw audio, exactly how it sounded to us in my studio, as Killick and Adam played live. Think of it like a documentary. No EQ or compression. FM9 + Noble DI > Logic = as heard through NS-10s.
Duet guitars are Wingspan 6 and my personal Strat equipped with a prototype RICK TOONE ’67 tremolo.
The playing is extraordinary. Completely unrehearsed live improvisation for five and a half minutes, exchanging guitars halfway through the session, giving each a turn with both instruments. The performance is so compelling, as they listen and respond to one another.
A gathering of friends under sunny skies. We hit record and talked and laughed and marveled. Adam and I got to try on new guitars and new timbres like tailored crystalline cloth. From undifferentiated exploration these precious snippets fell into the grand cosmic lap, a glimpse into insight and telepathic conversation on the subtlest of levels. A very inspiring and elucidating day! (Killick Hinds)
VIDEO: Killick Hinds coaxes out harmonics not found in the textbook.
Perfect indulgence for a guitarist: spending an afternoon with Rick Toone and Killick Hinds, doing nothing but talking about and playing guitars. Highlight for me was getting to play “Wingspan” — three things stood out about the instrument: (1) the unparalleled harmonic richness of the instrument (meaning natural harmonics can be played in places on the neck that only produce dead thunks on most other instruments…plus the strength of the upper partials when plucking strings is equally remarkable), (2) the immense timbral palette afforded by the electronics, and (3) the incredible ergonomic design, particularly the balance of the guitar. Having played many of Rick’s guitars, and being lucky enough to own a couple of them, I see the elements that he’s been refining for years finding their culmination in this machine. Devoid of any hyperbole, Wingspan is the finest guitar I have played. (Adam Wilson)
VIDEO: Dr. Andre Fludd reviews the 2024 NAMM Spearfish guitar that was on display at the Bare Knuckle Pickups booth in January of this year. Appreciate the shout out to Gabriel Levi too…
VIDEO: Dr. Fludd performs “Where Or When” on Spearfish. Lovely, lovely playing.
Andre did a superb job not only explaining all the unique features of the guitar but also walking through the tones in a way that allows the listener to really digest what they’re hearing.
The note separation between bass and treble strings really stands out. It’s almost like hearing two individual guitars.
Polymath’s mid-range delivery is very much the foundation of the tone coupled with lots of dynamic headroom (no real surprise with Polymaths being the signature set of Nolly Getgood who’s one of my closest friends and arguably one of the best mix engineers in the world right now).
Dialing in the mid-range response was key to the design of Polymath and something we worked very hard on so that tonally they would sit perfectly in the mid-field, which in turn allows for extension in the bass and the highs to retain attack without sounding sharp or lacking in weight. This all comes across extremely well in the video presentation by Andre.
For sheer all round tonal flexibility and also suitability to Spearfish’s unique design features, the Polymath really is an excellent set. Throw in the further versatility of the 10-way switch and there’s virtually no limit to the tones you can create. (Tim Mills, Bare Knuckle Pickups)
VIDEO: Who is inside the mysterious Cat Head Mask? How does he see to play?! Does he even need to? What is reality anymore…is your glowing screen speaking truth? Alice, we are no longer in Kansas.
