The other day I discovered that Amazon would conveniently sell me an MP3 of the “Three Stripped Gears” 1931 rendition of “Black Bottom Strut” for $0.89. What a find! I’d been inspired by Mike Seeger’s version for nearly forty years but only knew of the T.S.G. version through Seeger’s liner notes. (I attempted my own recording for the soundtrack for Jack Moore‘s Sandscript in 1975.)
When Jerry Barnett & I were contemplating forming the band that became the 1970 Hub City Movers, Jerry was also wanting to build a self-tuning guitar. As a drummer, he was sick of waiting for all of us guitarists to get in tune.
I’ve heard of other attempts since then, but it looks like the first successful realization is available from Gibson. Mechanically, it “sounds” much like what Jerry had in mind in 1969.
Update April 11, 2008: Gibson’s second robo-guitar gets pimped out.
Many would say that Ledward Kaapana is the best living slack key guitarist. Led is my favorite guitarist, period.
For years, working as a musician and sound engineer, a good enough multi-track recorder seemed prohibitively expensive. My band-mates and I would make do with what we could afford, i.e., two-track 1/4″ tape recorders, bouncing tracks.