Rick Toone | Luthier

Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

The competition just concluded for this year, but was billed as the "first" — possibly implying an annual series. If so, you might wish to bookmark for 2010.

Georgia Tech's Center for Music Technology (GTCMT), Wired and Harmonix teamed up to award a $10,000 cash prize after evaluating the innovations, which covered a wide range of possibilities:

Instruments may generate sound acoustically or electronically, they may exist in physical or virtual manifestations, and they may be played by humans, robots, or computers. They may modify, improve, or extend existing instruments — including the human voice — or they may offer entirely new design paradigms.

New instruments which cross over these categories or which defy any such categorization are also welcome.

Stringed instruments were represented, along with many other thought provoking sound generation concepts. I think my personal favorite, just for sheer creativity:

"...a loop-based instrument that runs fabric at controllable speeds through lasers that react to thread count, thickness and seams."

Um. Almost as nifty as a fluid-filled soundboard.

Wired has a gallery of images, including some video. For more information about the contest and winners, visit the GTCMT website.

Acoustic Guitar Instrumental

My good friend Goran suffered a spinal injury and has been struggling with debilitating pain for over a year. So much so he can only sit for several minutes at a time. Which makes life — let alone guitar — a slow motion effort.

Music is part of the healing process.

In particular, he's learned acoustic guitar and bass both transmit soothing vibrations when he lays on his back and rests the instrument on his chest. In corresponding with Goran about his experiences, I've begun to think about how to design specifically to accommodate this position...for those facing his condition.

I love this acoustic piece he is composing. To me it feels raw and honest. I hear beauty, and hope, pushing through the agony. Get well, my friend.

Wizard of the Strings

Following on from my previous post Getting Serious…about Ukulele regarding the state of the art of ukulele design, I thought it would be nice to start looking forwards by looking back a little. Inspiration — and genius — comes in many forms, and Roy Smeck is one of those forgotten gems who makes you wonder why on earth you've never heard of him before.

Born in 1900 in Reading, Pennsylvania, Smeck was obsessed with playing from an early age. He came into his own, however, on the 20’s vaudeville circuit and soon earned the moniker "Wizard of the Strings" by playing guitar, uke, steel guitar, banjo and harmonica — often several of them at once.

As a vaudeville performer, simple skill was not enough of course. His singing voice wasn't great so he learned to pepper his act with novelty dances (did you really think Chuck Berry invented "duck walking"?) and all manner of trick playing — spinning and flipping his instrument in mid strum, playing behind his back, finger tapping, playing with his teeth, blowing the soundhole like a flute or bowing the strings violin-fashion.

But none of that business takes away from the fact that he plays like a frickin maniac. Have a look at a couple of his performances. You'll be amazed, I promise. The first showcases a couple of his 'trademarks' and, at around the 1'30 mark, enters a whole other world of coolness...

The second is simply jaw-dropping...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Roy Smeck, Wizard of the Strings.

Getting Serious...about Ukulele

Over-seriousness is the bane of many a life.

As an antidote for all that ails us there is little, in fact, that can match levity as a panacea. So it seems doubly odd perhaps to want to bring a little seriousness to bear upon something as seemingly, utterly trivial as a ukulele.

I love my uke — it is a thing of purest joy.
I love playing it as I love no other instrument I've tried, but is it even possible to take a ukulele seriously?

I mean, everyone knows a ukulele is that little, jokey four-stringed thing that's a bit like a guitar which hasn't grown up yet. Spongebob Squarepants plays one. George Formby. Tiny Tim. It's good mostly for breaking the ice at beach parties and barbeques and adding a quirky something to Jack Johnson singles.

Sure, be geeky-cool and unconventional if you must, but does it make any sense at all to, for example, take a ukulele seriously enough to want to commission a custom one..?

The thing is — with a very few exceptions — for my money there isn't that much creativity around in the world of uke design. You can get your tiny sopranos, medium-sized concerts and tenors, and big old baritones. Different woods. Different details. A few solid electros and a body-design variation here or there. But that's pretty much it. A uke is a uke is a uke.

This seems a little unfair to me.

No one knows the precise origin of the ukulele. Not really. It's a hundred and fifty some years old, give or take. There are stories which make some sense — mainly to do with happy Portuguese sailors, friendly Hawaiians and a jolly old sing-song on the beach.

It's certainly true that Portugal, Spain, Brazil and most of South America are awash with far older types of miniature guitar: the bright, sweet braguinha; the redoubtable cavaquinho; the charming little tiple; the positively freakish chillador/charango with its 10 strings and a headstock almost as big as its body...

And that's not even touching on the world of the cittern and the Portuguese guitar in general. These strange and wonderful instruments must have been, in whole or part, the template or inspiration for the modern ukulele.

When you look at where the ukulele came from, at what it is, at what a skilled player can do with it, there is as much untapped potential here as there is in any guitar.

But if my choice of 'upgrade' is between a demented eight-course Tahitian or Polynesian creation, or a 'standard issue' figure eight job (even if hand carved from antique kauri wood), well I'm going to look for another way, dammit!

Even it means getting really, really, serious about it.

Canton Custom Guitars

From high in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Santa Fe, New Mexico, custom guitar builder Rick Canton joins us in the Marketplace.

His guitars have been featured prominently here — Equinox (jazz) & Mini Gordo (midi) — but creating his web page was an opportunity to get to know him personally and gain a better appreciation for his craft.

Rick is a self-taught luthier, as many of us are. Formal training in the crafts will build a solid skill foundation, but often the challenge of devising design solutions — without preconception — leads to creative thinking. For example his solution combining headless hardware with a multi-position ergonomic body shape results in an instrument with balance.

I notice immediately this is a neck you would never have to support with your playing hand, freeing your fingers to form chords and melodic runs without restriction.

I also appreciate his use of alternating woods in the neck heel for visual contrast, as well as his use of a very deep socket employing recessed oversized allen bolts in a captive nut system. He is a man who thinks ahead — unlike most factory instruments that use simple wood screws, his neck joint can be assembled and disassembled repeatedly for maintenance without degrading the connection.

Note also the recessed strap lock system and thumb socket sculpture. Nice details. Have a closer look then drop him an email. You'll find Rick relaxed, skillful and filled with joy about lutherie. We're glad to have him.