Does anyone remember the Iconoclaster?
It's been about three months since the intro whoopty-doo. A Strat version and a TELE version have been ordered and are in production. I'm working on an alternative don't-get-my-butt-sued-by-FMIC headstock, and still considering alternative names, since Iconoclaster might be a bit too preciously conceptual for the general market...
I like Quicksilver, but there's a Quicksilver guitar BRAND, and they might not cotton to my using the name for a guitar MODEL. At any rate that's the working name at the moment...
Most seriously, I STILL don't have a range of sound samples demoing all its unique sonic characteristics.
Sign in please, mystery guest!
BUT. HowEVER. NONEtheless...I do have this unexpected set of recordings done in my room at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention, where I put the guitar in Richard Hudson's capable hands and MADE him play it. (And of course I recorded it...)
Always gracious and accommodating, he put it through some Hudsonian paces. I hadn't thought of it as a fingerpickin' guitar, but on the other hand...it's very stable, even, and hi-fi responsive, so you never know.
Now Richard had exactly NO time to get used to it...neck, scale length, feel, etc...and what you hear is what we got. (The amp is the Peavey Classic, straight in; recorder about 12" in front of the speaker.)
Richard and the Quicksilver, First Approach
Richard and the Quicksilver, Second Helping
Richard and the Quicksilver, Third Base
Yes, that's a little bit of distortion at the end of that last cut. And NO, Richard does NOT approve of distortion! Not in any way, shape, manner, or form. Do you think I wanna get him disbarred from the Chet Society??
I started juicing the dirt channel on the Peavey (after first cracking the door open, looking up and down the hall for CAAS Cleantone Agents, and putting a wet towel under the door after I closed it). Richard was clearly skeptical and apprehensive, but I told him it was just to demo the tone of the guitar for heathens who play with dirt, so he allowed as how he might make an exception, just this ONCE, and dipped into his bag of rock & roll tricks.
I know, I know...it doesn't seem right, and it can't be true (and I'll pull the evidence if Richard insists), but this IS our own Richard Hudson!
After warming up with that, he looked around furtively to make sure we hadn't been caught, and then eased into...
Hudson's Blues.
Here, take the durn thing, Proteus, you so all-fired hepped up to play dirty.
Well, that got ME going, so I wrested the guitar from his hands and insisted on embarrassing myself. Whilst I free-formed through a verse, Richard grabbed the '59 and set up a rhythm.
Here was where I realized I'd stupidly brought just one amp, and that a one-holer. (If only I'd had the Deluxe.) So you hear Richard whanging away mightily without benefit of amp, probably 3 feet away from the recorder.
I DID turn the amp way down, and in the room, my guitar was not so dominant. But because of the location of the recorder, on the recording it throbs like a sore thumb.
I should emphasize that I'm posting this as documentary evidence of one random jam, one afternoon, just as it happened, with the purpose of demonstrating the organic response of the hollow aluminum guitar's tone, which I think comes through. I'm well aware I'm inconsistent as ever (though I think the track has its moments), and that I get completely Martian on a couple of the turnarounds.
Hey, warts and all.
Next, a mini-rendition of my old instrumental, "Pools," here renamed Pools of Silver
Finally, a little demo of some of the signature sonic behaviors of the guitar. First comes a run up the scale...but ALL the notes are above 15th fret, starting on the 6th string. It's the clarity and evenness of response that get me.
Then, an attempt to show the dynamic range of the guitar. My voice is boosted in several places so you can hear what I'm saying...the reverb and guitar tail jump up along with it. All the guitar parts themselves are unretouched.
Quicksilver upper register and dynamics demo
And, of course, the requisite photo-documentary proof that Richard played a metal Strat...
(Sorry to blow your cover, Richard, and thanks for the fine work!)
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This post intended in no way to imply or suggest that Richard Hudson endorses the Proteus Whatevercaster.
