Henry Kaiser | Spore

VIDEO: Henry Kaiser shares gorgeous ambient improv playing on SPORE 6-string guitar. There are so many things I love about this recording. Notice the massive, immersive, soundscape Henry paints with such economy of motion. His fingerstyle and subtle trem. Harmonics. Skull shirt. Our conversations behind the scenes indicates a surprising signal chain…the only reveal here is there is no looping: only delays. Grateful thank you to Henry for recording this video, and also for acquiring SPORE. When I built the guitar I knew it needed to be in the hands of someone special.

“I took the liberty of keeping it psychedelic behind your end title after I finished playing
it is SPORE, after all    
and the guitar told me to make it like that” (HK)

Cat Head Mask

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.

RICK TOONE ’67

IMAGE: RICK TOONE ’67 website.

RICK TOONE ’67 guitar is realization of a long-held dream. My personal interpretation of Leo’s iconic design, with radical new technology bringing it once again to the forefront of guitar innovation. Your best friend, but now so much better.

Light weight alder body with relic nitro finish. Nothing sounds quite like nitro. There is a difference. And those wear marks & dings invite you to come play. Every other aspect of the guitar is new and pristine. To me, the body is lovingly meant to take the knocks, but my hands want a perfect neck and fretwork.

Neck is quarter-sawn maple. Dunlop 6100 stainless steel frets. Gotoh light-weight vintage style locking tuners for fast string changes.

Steve Blucher and I traded the prototype guitar back and forth for most of a year, getting the pickups dialed in. There is historic precedent to the tone of this platform and it’s absolutely necessary to nail those classic frequencies. You expect this guitar design to sit perfectly in the mix, in that hallowed niche. It does. And thanks to Steve’s genius there is no single coil hum. Volume and tone controls are musically delightful throughout their entire range.

You probably want me to talk about the tremolo…

It’s a little bit like magic.

Hiya Rick! I’m Zack, the production manager of Rick Turner Guitars in Santa Cruz, California. We had a visit from Henry Kaiser yesterday with his new guitar from you. It’s always a pleasure when Henry comes by and he loves to share new gear and guitars with us. He was absolutely ecstatic about the vibrato on his RICK TOONE ’67 guitar, and I am too!

Your new trem is an extremely beautiful piece of musical guitar hardware. We at the shop were really taken with it. My compliments! I’ve never felt a vibrato unit with as nice of action, and amazing consistency of tuning and return. It’s very dynamic, and sounds wonderful.

And it has a super sharp look to it, clean lines. It’s a great look, visually refreshing. I’m a fan.

I’m looking forward to your plans with the unit! I think I’m forever spoiled on what a vibrato is capable of. 

If you ever felt inclined to produce these as an OEM product, licensed or otherwise, I would certainly be curious about your plans. I’m grateful to have gotten to try the guitar. Thank you for investing your time and craft in developing such a musical unit. Cheers!

Zachary Jones (Production Manager @ Rick Turner Guitars)

Thank you, Zack. Thank you, Henry.

Rick Toone’s unique ‘67 tremolo can dive bomb like a Floyd Rose, stay in-tune better than anything else, and keep chords in-tune throughout the wide up and down range. For me, it’s the new standard for radically expressive trem playing. (Henry Kaiser)

VIDEO: Henry Kaiser deep dives the tremolo on his Rick Toone ’67™ guitar. Compressor pedal into the board. DiMarzio pickups designed by Steve Blucher. Tremolo design by Rick Toone. Patented and multiple patents pending. Video by Henry Kaiser.

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…