“Pound for pound…the baddest power trio on the planet.” (Monster)
The Warning | Mercury Lounge (NYC)
rick toone
Goshawk | Butterscotch Blonde
Destined to become somebody’s best friend.
Warmth, sparkle, and copious spank. Singing sustain. Especially resonant Swamp Ash couples with flame roasted maple for this lovely light weight butterscotch blonde Goshawk™ 6-string solid body.
Patented precision machined Intonation Cantilever™ solo bridges. Advantage™ neck profile. Proprietary DiMarzio™ pickups with 10-way switching. Truly useful volume and tone controls. Carbon fiber pick guard.
Just the right amount of vintage.
Ready to rock any size venue. Dare you.
Dear Rick,
Just received it (3h ago) can’t stop playing your guitar 2 am in Los Angeles but 10 am in Paris… no sleep this night.
What an awesome instrument. Just everything about it, the sound, the possibilities, the beauty, and so easy to play… light, fantastic neck, just everything.
Congratulations! You did an artwork, I only regret that I did not have it before, years ago.
Thank you very very much and for the Strymon Iridium and Shure SRH1540s also.
I really believe this is an incredibly good instrument and I enjoy it so much!!! Almost explored every tuning that I am using, DADGAD, dropped D dropped G and standard. The African music sounds also extremely well (DADF#BE).
Wishing you the very best, Adam (Paris, France)
Magnets And Wire | Album & Documentary
“Hey!” I asked, “Would you guys be interested in recording an album? I have an idea in mind.”
A flood of yesses flowed in before I had a chance to explain…
I had developed independent friendships with each of them as individuals, but most had never met one another in person, just basic awareness as fellow artists via my website. All of them have been loyal long-time supporters of my craft. I knew this mix of personalities would be synergistic and supportive.
Even working professional musicians find it difficult to gain enough time and space to be able to record an album. The pressures of touring, teaching, writing, and performing are intense. And so many of my clients are passionate amateurs — in the purest sense — they make a living unrelated to music, yet dedicate their free time to playing. Many are highly skilled but have no outlet to record.
I want to change that.
To keep our focus tight and set logistically achievable goals, we established several criteria. Each participant will be featured on at least one song. Choose someone(s) to collaborate with or perform solo if you wish. Most importantly, recordings will be first or second take…looking to capture spontaneous magic.
Steve Sjuggerud contributed his time and resources with incredible generosity. He hosted us at his location Sugar Pointe, surprised everyone with custom t-shirts and a coastal waters sunset cruise, plus brought in supremely talented photographer Adam King (check out those photos!) and drummer Dan Ostrowski to add depth to our mix. Thank you, Steve. Thank you also to Steve’s wife Kassy, and his business partners Chris & Kelly Manus.
Killick Hinds generously contributed his audio recording and production skills, first in tandem with me on location, then in his studio mixing and mastering. His deft touch transformed the raw audio into a coherent whole — a difficult task because each song was an entirely different arrangement of room, mics, musicians.
I gratefully thank Chris Buono, Todd Haug, Ken Kinter, Gabriel Levi, and Ede Wright for flying or driving to Florida to contribute their beautiful art.
PS: This album is dedicated to SB. You have inspired many more lives than you could ever know.
Goshawk | Perfect Pair
In their own words…
Hi, Rick!
For the last hours I have had the pleasure of getting to know the intricacies of the Gowshawk™ and these are my first impressions. I ran the guitar through my new Komet 60 HD and in stereo with a Tone King Falcon to create a bit of ambience and fuller sound. I should point out that the Komet is also a new acquaintance so I might need some time to dial in the sounds to perfection.
Where to start? It’s hard to put the guitar down once you’ve started playing. The ergonomics of the instrument are first class, in fact I have never played a guitar that is more comfortable and inviting than this. It’s extremely light weight. When I carried the box inside my house, I was worried that there was no guitar inside. The shape of the body gives the guitar a distinct and unique shape, unlike any other traditional guitar. It has its own DNA, and the balance of the guitar is perfect regardless if you play sitting down, standing up or laying on the floor in cheer joy. It just melts in with your body.
The neck shape (Advantage™ Neck Profile) is great for any type of playing, and unlike some other guitars, there is no fatigue even after hours of intense playing. In particular when soloing on the higher spectrum, the frets are well accessible and you can really articulate high notes all the way and better than on any guitar I have tried before. The neck was perfect right out of the box, and tuning appears to be very stable. The fretwork is flawless and dots and markers give excellent visibility in low light settings, on stage, etc.
Both the tone and volume knobs are highly interactive and shape the sound significantly. The pickup selector has no less than 10 settings and I have not gotten around to figure out how it’s wired in all different settings, but I anticipate that in combination with the volume and tone control, virtually every sound a guitar can make is available right at your hands.
What was truly amazing was how consistent the sound was all across the board. Most guitars have their sweet spot, a place on the fretboard where it really sings. This means that other areas are weaker or a tad too loud and must be compensated with work on the volume or tone knob when you move around. The Goshawk™ is different. The sound is consistent all across the fretboard, you can drop your E and play with the devil and in the next moment go to screaming highs and the guitar will project a well balanced sound all the way through. Also between pickup settings there is very little loss of volume, although going from a single coil to humbucking fattens up the sound as desired.
The placement of the guitar volume knob is perfect for me and the knob itself is an absolute gem to work with. The (DiMarzio™ exclusive) pickups are indeed touch sensitive and the volume knob interacts very noticeably in every pickup selection, and goes all the way from grit to high and chimey sounds without the use of pedals or adjusting amp settings.
The placement of the input jack makes the guitar easy to hold regardless of playing position without the often annoying break and tear of cable that other locations often produce.
Sound-wise the guitar is very versatile and can reproduce nearly any guitar sound imaginable, but like I said it has its own DNA. In that regard, and this was very pleasing to experience, the guitar has its own distinct sound and character, instead of trying to imitate established guitars and brands. This guitar has the capability to render a lot of guitar collections redundant, simply because it will be the «go to» guitar for many tasks. It will be the ONE guitar that you always pick up.
The native sound of the instrument is excellent, and as said, very versatile for all types of music. Adding pedals enhances sounds in all directions and allows entrance to guitar heaven. It can very fast become an addictive and trance-like state of being, and your companion, friends and family might have a challenge in getting in contact as you get lost, forget to eat, or sleep.
Thank you, Rick. This was a great experience and the process of ordering and communication on creating this instrument was first class all the way.
Hopefully in a not too distant future I will post some samples of how she sounds in my hands. I noticed you put 009 gauge strings. Any reasons for this? All my other guitars are 010. I however noticed the more expressive and articulated bends I am able to get, so I might experiment with 009’s a while.
Thanks for a truly great guitar.
Cheers,
(Carl, Norway)
…and…
Rick:
Thanks a lot. Now my fingers are sore.
I couldn’t put it down last night. It really opened up after about an hour of playing and I just kept going. Then I got up early and played it again because I didn’t really believe it was that good. I have a bunch of questions and would love to talk with you about why this and why that type of stuff. It’s just so cool. My all-time favorite guitar (which I own) just feels dead now compared to the Goshawk™.
So I want to order another one. Let me know if you are around tomorrow to talk. I’ll call you.
Again, well done, just well done.
(Mark, California)
Gift | Music Video
There’s a local tavern with a long history. During the War for Independence it quartered Hessian troops, the commander of which — Count Carl von Donop — was infatuated with a “beautiful young widow” by the name of Betsy Ross (age 24).
Betsy, when she was not sewing flags for the Revolutionaries, applied her skills such that Count Dunop was “distracted” by her company on Christmas Eve, 1776.
She held him out of position that night, allowing George Washington’s significant victory a few miles north, in the Battle of Trenton. Von Donop’s desire to occupy her territory proved fatal to the British Empire’s ambitions to control the American Colonies.
Betsy entertained the Count at her place in Mount Holly, New Jersey, a few miles south of this very same tavern. Mount Holly is home to a fantastic start-up — Spellbound Brewing — which brings us full circle to Ken sitting beside me on a bar stool drinking Spellbound Porter as we talked politics, sports, and music.
Ken is almost done his doctoral dissertation in psychology, and despite off-hours, the psychologist’s lens is never really dormant. He turned to me, looking over the top of his spectacles: “Son,” he said, “when was the last time you actually played music?”
We’ve been friends since 7th grade.
“All work and no play makes Rick a dull boy,” he concluded.
“You have set yourself a huge first challenge, I’d say. An a-rhythmical lyric, with syntactical sense that spans multiple line ends, sung at the edges of your vocal range, against a rhythmic accompaniment where the melodic component is a textural combo of counterpoint, choppy guitar and an extended, almost freeform bass line. You know how to aim high, for certain.” (Gethyn)
“I like the minor second above the root in the melody on ‘mare’ and ‘feet’!” (Adam J. Wilson)
“Whoa. That’s a left turn!!! Hats off, Rick. That took a lot of guts. Is this gonna be a thing?” (Chris Buono)
“PISCES: You might feel yourself shying away from a situation, which is actually a good indicator that you should go forward instead. The only way to conquer fear is to let it dissipate through the action it was so afraid of.” (Holiday Mathis)
“Rick: Was not expecting this! Very different, love the vibe. Great recording…the tones of your guitars are so recognizable to my ears.” (Gabriel Levi)
“What’s amazing is how quickly you took this from concept to full realization. The tensions and resolutions and irresolutions (and ear resolutions!) really speak to the spirit of what we need as creative souls navigating our paths. Good to see you, too.” (Killick)
“So intense, it made me think of the writings of Emerson and Thoreau which always for me have a certain gravity and profound thoughtfulness about them, a timelessness.” (Will Pitt)