henry kaiser

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)