Musical Stuff I've Built

Please, click on the links below each pic for more info.

Original Kodakaster

My First Acoustic 3-string Canjo Build 

250 Watt GE TV Set Cabinet Combo Amp  

Left Handed Kodakaster 2 Acoustic Canjo

The Dymaxion Film Can Combo Amp/Speaker

shown with Kodakaster 1 piezo pup upgrade and Berringer preamp

 

Kodakaster 3 with Flatpup Humbucker UpGrade

 Kodakaster 4 Sapele Gold 3-String Canjo

 Utah Plates 4-String Tenor Electric Guitar

 Kodakaster Duo 4-string Electric Canjo

Kodak Film Can Snare Drum

Padron Cigar Box Kalimba with Platpup Humbuckers Upgrade

An Anthropic Argument

The Anthropic Argument is the cosmological principle that theories about the multiverse are constrained by a requirement to allow human existence. In this piece, I'm using my two Korg synths to set a spacey but decidedly humanistic rhythm bed.

Let the Dancing Begin

Sometimes I just go with the flow and do what I think about with not too much prep. This album was created using my theory of life being an experiment in finding out what works. Not over-thinking and just getting into the groove of the moment seemed more important with this collection of electronic musings. Best listened to with headphones, I hope to build on my quest in helping to forward world peace and human understanding through etherial groves and effects. And, to have some fun. The world need more of that, too.
I used a Moog Sub Phatty, Animoog App, Yamaha Tenori-On (TNR-I) App, Korg Monotron, Stylophone, Soundtrack Pro, and Logic Pro 9.

The String Section

From right to left:
- Kala Solid Swamp Ash California Ubass
- Fender Acoustic Electric Dreadnaught Guitar
- Cigar Box Electric Guitar built by Milton Cable
- 4-string Kodacaster Duo Humbucker Canjo*
- Gibson SG Special Bass
- Fender Telecaster Custom Guitar
- 4 string Utah License Plate Electric Guitar*
- '64 Fender DuoSonic Guitar
- 3-string Kodacaster 4 Electric Canjo *

In Front:
- Kala Concert Ukulele

*instrument built by me

Mime Train

Get on board, but don't talk, just watch.

Citrus Synthphony

I'm having a really great time exploring the Moog Sub Phatty I got a few weeks ago. So, I put my ears on, cranked up the Logic Pro software, and laid down some tracks. I like the synth as a complimentary sound to more traditional sounds like electric guitar, 4-string canjo, and shuffle drum rhythms.

So, here's the result of my latest efforts. At the most I may eventually find an audience, and at the least, I can't hear the dog barking next door when wearing ear phones. I have even thought of recording a sound sample of some of the loud barking and incorporating it into my next piece. At the very least then, all that canine cacophony would result in a positive outcome for me. Maybe.

Canjo Upgrade

I decided to replace the disc piezo pickup on the inside of my Kodakaster 3 Canjo with a Flatpup4 U hand-made by Elmar Zeilhofer in Vienna, Austria, and specifically designed for the bridge position. This is my third flatpup from Elmar and each one is a vast improvement over a piezo electric pickup with warmer tones, more punch, and, since piezo pickups work by picking up vibrations (sound waves), no annoying handling sounds from touching the metal surface of the old film cans I use to make canjos as they are played.

The Flatpup 4 (meaning flat pick up) is that copper-colored rectangle glued to the top of my canjo. Most conventional humbuckers are much thicker and require a hole cut into the instrument's surface to mount under the strings, while Elmar's flatpups are only 4mm thick and are easy to attach using glue, or a few small screws if you purchase one in a frame. Humbuckers are a type of electric guitar pickup that use two copper coils to cancel out the electrical interference commonly picked up by single coil pickups, Being magnetic, they capture mechanical vibrations of steel strings through the magnetic field produced by the humbucker, and convert them to electrical signals that are then amplified or recorded.

The Flatpup4 U design is a new configuration of Elmar's flatpups that, while more difficult for him to make, take advantage of its position near the bridge on the face of the canjo. If you want an explanation of the physics behind why this happens, please contact Elmar. He builds them and I merely use them because they sound so great on my canjos.

For more about Elmar and his flatpups, go to his page on Cigar Box Nation at:

www.cigarboxnation.com/profile/ElmarZeilhofer

Ashe

She’s only made from tonewood, copper, plastic, metal and varnish,

highly machined and carved by skilled craft workers, 

with hidden electronics in nooks and crannies,

but fit together like a fine sports car.

Could it be that these material came together to form

something more alive than some people I’ve met?

Yes, I know that’s not a nice thing to say but Ashe, my little bass,

sings in a low mellow voice, has curves in all the right places, 

is built like a brick you-know-what, and was sent to me through the mail 

in a cardboard box about a year ago already strung and swaddled in bubble wrap.

Between the times we meet to work out together, she waits patiently, 

standing in the wings like a diminutive ballet dancer awaiting her cue.

On my honor, if I ever take advantage of Ashe, fail to respect her,

or abuse our alliance, I will give her away to someone who can 

appreciate her beauty, charm, elegance and faithfulness more than me.

But, that would be the end of a beautiful relationship.

Billy Radd

Asheville

Ready to Rock

Riverwood Pottery Guitar Slides

Ceramic Guitar Slides from Dillsboro

Anita Gayle and I recently spent a few days in Dillsboro, NC to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and found a great pottery shop in our exploration of this beautiful little mountain village, Riverwood Pottery.

Brant and Karen Barnes, along with their daughter, Zan, produce amazing purpose-driven art like kitchen and tableware. The talented, inventive trio also produces decorative and functional vases, oil lamps, face jugs, and much more.

Of particular interest to me were beautiful ceramic guitar slides made by Karen that I use while playing my home-made 3 and 4-string canjos, one of which is the background of the pic above. I now own three of karen's slides and those babies work "real good". Hand-made to provide some beefy weight, but covered with a pretty glaze, they come in different sizes to fit the finger size and use requirements of any slide player. But, each one is a bit different which appealed to me as a crafter myself, and they will likely be around longer than I will.

If you ever get the chance to visit Dillsboro, don't miss stopping by Riverwood Pottery on the Craft Circle, a small group of artisan shops just a short walk over the bridge on Scott's Creek from downtown Dillsboro. Brant will likely be "throwing" pots on the wheel in his studio attached to their shop and, besides being a real kick to talk with, he might even give you a demonstration on the art of pottery that he knows so much about.

The Gear We've Collected

iMac work station with M-Audio speaker/monitors and Axiom 25 midi keyboard

Cigar box kilimba - parts from C.B. Gitty assembled by Billy Radd

Peavey PV6 audio mixer

Toca djembe with African cow bells

Mojohound electric Stomp box

Alesis practice drum pad

Zildjian crash ride cymbal and stand

AC or battery powered Roland Cube Street combo amp

Battery powered cigar box amplifier made by
Dave Bustos, Black Wolf Instruments

Woodstock Percussion all - metal Kazoo

Latin Percussion multi - guiro with metal scraper

Jumbie Jam steel drum

Latin Percussion Standard & Mini Afuche/cabasas

Steel Cuica

Double African shaker, claves, and wood block

Film can snare drum assembled by Billy Radd

3-string film-can canjo with Flatpup & sanpele neck
made by Billy Radd

Fender acoustic/electric dreadnought guitar

Axiom 25 midi keyboard

Humbucker pickup on Fender Telecaster Custom electric guitar

250 watt amplifier/mixer with 12 inch Eminence speaker
built in a General Electric TV set cabinet by Billy Radd

Headstock of Fender Telecaster Custom electric guitar

Ampeg B10N Portaflex fliptop bass combo amp

Kala acoustic spruce-top U-Bass

Ampeg B10N Portaflex fliptop bass combo amp

Fender Rumbler 15 bass practice amp

Fender Deluxe Active P Bass Special

Djembe from Mali

Bowed psaltery made by Dave Lucas

One-string "Spamjo" Canjo made by Henry Hoover

Kala Concert Ukulele with tweed case

Tibetan singing bowl

Fender Telecaster, Kala u-bass & Kala concert uke

Red Giant redwood tongue drum made by Steve Roberts

Chimes, brass gong, wind chimes & triangle on c-stand rack

Fender Mini Deluxe Combo Amp & Mini Rockers Guitar

Latin Percussion Aspire bongos

Toca Surf Drum

Boghram drum

Honer Big River Harp & Opera Superior harmonica

Goodlin Accordion Squeeze Box

Kilimba made by Steve Catania with "JD" piezo pup attached

Tascam D-40 portable digital recorder

DigiTech RP 1000 integrated effects switching system

Kala California solid swamp ash U-bass

Metal tone drum made by Carl Peverall

Tone drum, Casio 465 Sound Tone Bank,  Ampeg B10N bass combo amp and Peavey Decade practice combo amp

3-String Cigar box guitar with hand-crafted humbucker
made by Milton Cable

Supro High-Gain mini amp

Hand-carved West African krin

1964 Fender DuoSonic electric guitar

Film can speaker with Behringer preamp booster
and film canjo (speaker and canjo by Billy Radd)

Mountain Ocarina, Aulos recorder & Guiness model tin whistle

Ceramic wind chimes

Keven Spears model autographed electric alto
Hugh Tracey African kalimba

Percussion Plus cajon

 Kala Tweed 5 Watt Combo Amp

Kala Ukelimba by Steve Einhorn

Gibson SG Special Bass

MoogerFoogers by Moog

Moog Sub Phatty Synthisizer

Ibanez GIO 6-String Bass

Gretsch Electromatic Hollowbody Guitar