Toone & Townsend
EDITOR’S NOTE: The original Beta Test Luthiers article has been relocated to the Toone & Townsend website in order to prevent duplicate content and confuse search engines. Wander by, and let’s resume this conversation @ www.toone-townsend.com.
Thank you for your support and excitement…the list of participating beta luthiers is both excellent and growing. Cheers, and happy holidays to you and your family! Rick Toone
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License
I am interested in the testing of the Simplicity tuning system. I am a luthier who is always experimenting with new designs and have been thinking about using a headless system. http://www.ramguitars.com
Thanks.
Ron
Ron — very nice, very solid work. Clean aesthetics.
I love your career path, especially investing time in violin making. Such fascinating — structurally complex — instruments, capable of both scratching fingernails on chalkboards as well as liquifying and seducing the soul from the body.
It would be great to see what kind of design you’d come up with, given new hardware geometry possibilities. Thanks for offering to join in. I’ll be in touch next week, and in the meantime, feel free to email me with questions.
Sure: I’ve experimented with headless before, but it’ll be easier now. Question: can your bridge design be produced as individual bridges, permitting ‘righty’ or ‘lefty’ placement and minimizing crosstalk?
Ralph — thanks for your question, as well as inspiring multi-scale instrument exploration. Yes, the system is ambidextrous. Yes, the saddles are individually mounted to the body, minimizing cross-talk.
So does this mean Ralph Novak is going to do this, too??? That would be amazing.
Marc
I’m in…
Good! Me too…
Woah…I just got a sneak peek at the system. All I can say is that Rick Toone must have put many hours into design. The Simplicity Tuning System looks as if a highly skilled designer considered the “stringed instrument bridge system” as a whole, and from every angle possible, before landing on this current design. Really looking forward to working with my sample and seeing all of the instruments that can be created with this system.
Best Regards,
Rick
Thanks, Rick. The other half of the credit goes to Bart Townsend for seeing the potential and patiently working through the details as we translated concept to production. Bart & Bill (Goldy) have elevated machining from trade to art. Everything about their craftsmanship speaks quality.
Hi Rick,
That looks and sounds interesting. Please check out my site and drop me a line. The Lapstick is a project that has taken on a life of it’s own, but now that it has developed it’s own momentum I am looking forward to building some more experimental full scale instruments.
rgds
phl
Phil — Lapstick is cool. Love it.
See my note below about filled slots. But keep in touch with me, moving forward. Email is fine, or visit the (upcoming) http://www.toone-townsend.com website to remain current.
Thanks for your interest and patience.
Very interested in the tuning system. But it’s not usable on an acoustic, i supose? I do not start an electric guitar design soon. First i have to finish some acoustic idea’s. And i’m not so skilled, so it takes time…
Zbiggy — yes, it is usable on acoustic. Visit http://www.toone-townsend.com for details. We will begin to publish acoustic applications within the next few months.
The system will accommodate acoustic steel strings, nylon strings, or mixed sets.
Thank you for your interest.
EDITOR’S NOTE: What an outstanding response to this offer. I am absolutely honored so many excellent luthiers have contacted me. Thank you!
I’ve had to expand the scope of the program beyond the original three or four, because there were some builders I simply couldn’t postpone. Bart Townsend has graciously granted my request for several more beta systems…including a 7-string.
(you know who you are)
Currently all slots are filled. That may change, however, so it would be worthwhile for you to monitor http://www.toone-townsend.com for status updates. The website should be operational within this next week, and will feature ongoing developments. Link below will give you a 403 error message until then.
LINK | http://www.toone-townsend.com/
Cheers,
Rick Toone
Hi Rick,
So can you tell us who they are???
Thanks,
Marc
Site is online. More to come.
Wow, what a list! That is a “Who’s Who” of phenomenal luthiers. I’m already drooling.
Thanks!
Marc