Rick Toone | Luthier

Lever Tuning System

EDITOR'S NOTE: Patent Pending. After developing this concept extensively over the past year, I am very excited to announce a micro-partnership with Townsend Machine to bring the fully refined tuning system direct to market. Learn more at eLUTHERIE.org | Townsend Machine where I've posted in an in-depth article.

Back in February, when Monster and I evaluated Orchid, we agreed that a body-mounted tuning system would be beneficial, particularly in a 5-string model. It gives the luthier more design control over instrument balance, and moves the process of tuning to the plucking/picking hand, leaving the other free to fret.

a. less movement = more efficiency
b. efficiency = comfort

Over the years I've seen many variations on body-mounted tuners, the two most notable examples: Steinberger, and Kubicki. Both are simple machines: Steinberger based on a screw, Kubiki based on a pulley.

NOTE: Headstock-mounted tuners are (mostly) based on gears, a level of complexity beyond "simple" machine.

Both designs are elegant: Steinberger a compact monolith of efficiency, Kubiki a clever and intricate self-contained world of ingenuity. But I wanted something different. Something original to match the originality of Headless Monster. Something with potential to be better than previous designs.

Goals for my design:

1. Simple machine (manufacturing simplicity)
2. Virtually indestructible (Pete Townshend)
3. Works in any conditions (under water, sand storm, etc.)
4. Self-explanatory (use & adjustment)
5. Easy maintenance (graphite & go)
6. Lightweight (design simplicity)
7. Ergonomic
8. Zero-play mechanism (no sloppiness or slack)

So, I decided on a first-class lever.

I built a crude prototype (photos below) and experimented with the fulcrum position until I was able to comfortably tune a (bass) E string to pitch using just my fingers against the lever...in fact, the screw is simply a locking mechanism to hold the string at a given pitch. It's really fun to take a slack bass string and — bwriong — pull it to pitch.

The drawing represents my thoughts-of-the-moment. I'm developing prototype headstock termination points and saddle concepts. All parts of stainless steel, requiring several human lifetimes to wear out. Aircraft-grade aluminum would be a second choice.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Designed to interface with the patented (US 7,795,516) Neutral Tension Bridge.

HEADLESS MONSTER SERIES:

Aaaahhrrrgg...they're MULTIPLYING!!!
Headless Monster
Lever Tuning System
Asymmetrical Trapezoidal Neck Profile
Um...

Mars Rising

So I return from my business trip to California to discover X has discovered TOONE GUITARS. Not just "x" but X.

THE X!

Seems nowhere is safe. He's been known to spy on us using clever computer code, or sometimes (mostly) via satellite, but we all know his native habitat is thumping on skins: behind a drum kit. I only discovered his ones and zeros by the sprinkle of comments he left scattered throughout this website.

Clever fellow.

It's been four years since his previous perhelion. In honor of the celestial event, there is — of course — only one song we can play. Why this one? It's a crude (one mic) recording of Foul Rift rehearsing in the barn, but close your eyes and crank the monitors until your ears bleed.

Then listen to the drums.

MARS RISING MP3

this sweltering season
brought me to my knees
bending like a tender shoot
dancing in your August breeze

Mars is rising

the sickle swings
in silent arc
retrograde
escalate
you took as much
as you could take

the sower reaps
the fire leaps
to haystacks in the field
the planter plucks
all within reach
spear runs through my shield

fangs are bared prepared
to bite the hand that feeds
turn my back on you
in the hour of your greatest need

Mars is rising

the sickle swings
in silent arc
retrograde
escalate
I took as much
as I could take

the wolves approach
the flames encroach
no choice but to yield
the shepherd guts
the teat is cut
spear runs through your shield

August 27, 2003

Voice : Harrington
Bass : Monster
Drums : X
Guitar | Lyrics | Recording : Toone

Alone

I've been promising (threatening?) to sing for a while now. Finally got a moment to splice something together as an experiment in GarageBand. Nifty app.

Just me and an old (Taylor) acoustic.

ALONE MP3

I think each of us
must take the earth
into our own hands

to sift out the stones
select the seed
to till our own lands

too long I spent
in fields of others
weeds growing in mine

now I build fences
tend to my fields
sow to reap my find

What I've wanted from life is freedom to do things that are important to me. To explore. To create. To love. To enjoy fellowship. Recognizing no moral authority higher than myself, yet leaving our world a slightly better place than when I arrived, in 1967. To be free of restrictions, and to grant the same to others.

What's the phrase, again?

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

My back is sore, my hand blistered from turning the soil with a shovel in our garden. Spring is here. A few parsley and red lettuce plants survived winter, representing a continuity of life and the ferocious explosion of green we expect in a month or so.