Yes, since I have no commercial amp building business.
Some of these amps belongs to friends now, offered as gifts.
My little amateur website : https://guilhemamplification.jimdofree.com/
T
Thanks Hugo @Netlist !
Yes you are right : I do not build guitars. I am only responsible for the design, electronics, and parts - you may have noticed that they are all Lefties...
For all woodworks and finishes, I rely on two Luthier friends who have the tools, the skills and the competence to do the required work, and also build me custom models, like these two below, made from scratch :
Conversely, when they have problems with electronics (design, troubleshooting, modifications, measurements...), they call me. To each his specialty !
T
I had never heard of Percy Grainger so I Googled a bit. I found this interesting video about his work. I spent over a year chasing "gliding chords" on a diy synthesizer of my own design back in 1969 and 70.
According to this documentary video Grainger never had access to a synthesizer since they were not invented until after his death in 1961. That is not true. The Hammond Organ company created the Novachord in 1938, demonstrated it at the 1939 Worlds Fair in NYC, and sold over 1000 of them between 1938 and 1942. Thet were polyphonic beasts powered by 163 vacuum tubes. There are a few still in service today. Somewhere I saw a lengthy video documenting the complete restoration of one. A web page about another Novachord restoration is here:
http://www.discretesynthesizers.com/nova/intro.htm
At least my polyphonic gliding chord machine had RTL (resistor transistor logic) chips. These were primitive chips with 4 to 16 transistors in a round TO-5 sized can, made before DTL, TTL or CMOS had been created (late 60s). Mine (green board) ran a master oscillator (red heatsink) in the 500 KHz range (max speed of the chips) and divided that by 12 different numbers to get the top octave. The silver and gold chips across the middle of the board are the 12 dividers, each programmed by the yellow and black wires. From there the top octave notes pass to 12 sets of two dividers to get two more octaves below the top one. This is similar to the Mostek MK50240 top octave divider tech of the late 70's, but built in 1969 before Mostek existed. The four boards in the picture are all that remain of the big synthesizer I created in my bedroom at my parents' house.
After seeing Jimi Hendrix do some amazing sonic creativity in concert in 1967 with an early version Echoplex, I got the idea to simply record some guitar or organ chords on a tape loop and vary the speed of the playback motor. I did not know that this concept had already been pioneered in the Mellotron and Chamberlin instruments until I saw the Moody Blues live in 1970. These were the first "sampling keyboards" that used tape strips or loops, one for each key on the keyboard. The tape banks could be swapped to change the instrument's sound.
According to this documentary video Grainger never had access to a synthesizer since they were not invented until after his death in 1961. That is not true. The Hammond Organ company created the Novachord in 1938, demonstrated it at the 1939 Worlds Fair in NYC, and sold over 1000 of them between 1938 and 1942. Thet were polyphonic beasts powered by 163 vacuum tubes. There are a few still in service today. Somewhere I saw a lengthy video documenting the complete restoration of one. A web page about another Novachord restoration is here:
http://www.discretesynthesizers.com/nova/intro.htm
At least my polyphonic gliding chord machine had RTL (resistor transistor logic) chips. These were primitive chips with 4 to 16 transistors in a round TO-5 sized can, made before DTL, TTL or CMOS had been created (late 60s). Mine (green board) ran a master oscillator (red heatsink) in the 500 KHz range (max speed of the chips) and divided that by 12 different numbers to get the top octave. The silver and gold chips across the middle of the board are the 12 dividers, each programmed by the yellow and black wires. From there the top octave notes pass to 12 sets of two dividers to get two more octaves below the top one. This is similar to the Mostek MK50240 top octave divider tech of the late 70's, but built in 1969 before Mostek existed. The four boards in the picture are all that remain of the big synthesizer I created in my bedroom at my parents' house.
After seeing Jimi Hendrix do some amazing sonic creativity in concert in 1967 with an early version Echoplex, I got the idea to simply record some guitar or organ chords on a tape loop and vary the speed of the playback motor. I did not know that this concept had already been pioneered in the Mellotron and Chamberlin instruments until I saw the Moody Blues live in 1970. These were the first "sampling keyboards" that used tape strips or loops, one for each key on the keyboard. The tape banks could be swapped to change the instrument's sound.
Attachments
I believe it appropriate to include Wendy Carlos, the originator of Switched-On Bach in 1968. It was she that apparently pushed the development of Robert Moog's original synthesizer along at that time (Moog was originally a Theremin builder and originally built a rudimentary synthesizer). Carlos became the original user/developer of the world's largest component-type analog synthesizer for a number of years.
Additionally, Carlos has been cited as the originator of the ambient music genre in 1972 with her Sonic Seasonings album. (I was an early enthusiast of her first three albums of that time.) The artist Isao Tomita was clearly heavily influenced by Carlos, as was Keith Emerson. Both were early adopters of the Carlos-style Moog synthesizer (as opposed to the Don Buchla style keyboardless synthesizer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos#Career
It appears Wendy Carlos had a very large influence on the development of the keyboard/component synthesizer as a musical instrument in direct coordination with Moog:
Chris
Additionally, Carlos has been cited as the originator of the ambient music genre in 1972 with her Sonic Seasonings album. (I was an early enthusiast of her first three albums of that time.) The artist Isao Tomita was clearly heavily influenced by Carlos, as was Keith Emerson. Both were early adopters of the Carlos-style Moog synthesizer (as opposed to the Don Buchla style keyboardless synthesizer).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos#Career
It appears Wendy Carlos had a very large influence on the development of the keyboard/component synthesizer as a musical instrument in direct coordination with Moog:
Chris
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Camilla Ferrari, of the band A Tergo Lupi builds and sells some instruments- both plucked and bowed lyres- such as the tagelharpa-
https://www.youtube.com/@atergolupi
Espen Winther of EDRIM also built his signature talharpa, "Gnaal"-
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERYAGFS65zuMme18J68iog
https://www.youtube.com/@atergolupi
Espen Winther of EDRIM also built his signature talharpa, "Gnaal"-
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCERYAGFS65zuMme18J68iog