In this issue:  Rick Turner - Inside the Mind of a Music Industry Visionary | Life on the Road: The Urban Cowboy Band - Part 3  | Improvisational Approaches 1 | Life as a Navy Bassist | How to be a Working Stiff | An Interview with Grammy Nominated Bassist Ricky Showalter

Rick Turner - Inside the Mind of a Music Industry Visionary

by Lane Baldwin

Rick Turner may well be one of the most important figures in modern music. Not that you'd ever get that from him; he's too humble and self-effacing to say things like that. But when you look at his career, you can see that he's been at the heart of some crucial events in the development of music.

Born and raised in Marblehead, MA by a poet (mom) and an artist (dad), who were both antique collectors, Rick grew up in a very creative environment. He landed in Cambridge and then Greenwich Village in the early 60s during the revolution that would change the country. A friend of a friend introduced him to influential Canadian folksters Ian & Sylvia, with whom he toured (on guitar) for several years.

In 1968, he relocated to Inverness, CA, right on the San Andreas fault line, and soon hooked up with the Grateful Dead, quickly becoming the sound engineer for the band. It was during this time that he, along with a number of other like minded engineers, helped to develop the "wall of sound", a collection of individual PA systems. Instead of a single main PA, each band member had his own. This gave the Dead a much cleaner sound, and helped make their live shows incredible events, especially when compared with other touring bands of the day. It's interesting to note that Bose Systems has recently introduced a concept based on this idea - more than thirty years later!

At the same time, Rick was doing a lot of research and development work, as well as building custom guitars. This led directly to the creation of Alembic, Inc. the granddaddy of high-end basses. Turner was the design and conceptual heart of the company, doing everything from hand winding pickups to designing the instruments and hardware.

The first Alembics went to Phil Lesh and Jack Casady, and were a major part of the San Francisco sound. Thanks to Turner's creative drive, Alembic constantly pushed the design and construction envelope. For instance, they were the first company to offer an LED-driven neck marker system.

Turner left Alembic after eight years with the company, and in 1978, he created the Model One guitar and managed to get the third one to Lindsey Buckingham. That guitar is still in service today, touring the world with Lindsey and Fleetwood Mac.

In 1981, he decided to take a sabbatical from music and pursue his love of wood crafting, building custom furniture. He continued to create one- and two-off custom guitar designs. Eventually, he moved back into the guitar and bass world opening Gibson's West Coast Artist Relations office and heading Gibson Labs, an R&D driven division of the company. Turner and crew were heavily involved in the improvements to the Chet Atkins line, and worked closely with bassists Brian Bromberg and Bunny Brunel. After tiring of the corporate life, he took over guitar repair duties at Westwood Music in LA.

In 1997, Rick and his family had had enough of L.A. and decided to move to a quieter, slower-paced area. He chose Santa Cruz for it's sense of community and overall personality. "I can't imagine trying to raise a family in L.A.," he said. "I know there are plenty of people that can do it, but we're much happier up here."

At present, there are several brands under the Turner Guitar umbrella. Of course, there are the Model 1 basses and guitars, and the Model T slide guitar. The Renaissance line includes basses (fretted and fretless), baritone and standard guitars in either, six or twelve string versions, and a nylon-string classical. Not long ago, the company debuted Compass Rose ukuleles, and is working on acoustic guitars to match. In addition, Rick is part owner in Duncan-Turner Acoustic Research (along with several people from Seymour Duncan). "We specialize in acoustic instrument amplification," says Rick. "We make pickups, preamps, and an amazing DSP device for acoustic guitar modeling that we call 'Mama Bear'."

While this may all make it seem as if Rick is heading a huge corporation, his operation is still rather small - nine employees, give or take - and he is very hands-on. "I do 99% of the finish spraying," he says. "I also do a lot of the parts machining as well as all wood selection."

Perhaps the most important (or, at least, the busiest) employee is Barry Pealman, general manager and now business partner. "Barry's been a tremendous help in keeping me out of the office so I can do more R&D, purchasing and building," Rick says. "He's also great as the interface with the clamoring public, and he's been wise enough to stretch out my overly ambitious time estimates for those projects that somehow fall into the dreaded 'Rick Zone' - that place from which things never emerge on time."

Rick's philosophy is to make an instrument that sounds so good, and is so comfortable to play, that "ideally, the instrument just disappears and allows the music to flow through from the musician's heart to that of the listener." While that may sound like a lot of California-style marketing hype, those who have ever played one of Rick's instruments will testify to the truth of his claims.

Currently, Turner offers two types of basses: the Renaissance "ampli-coustic" models and the Electroline, which is "kind of a follow-up to what I learned at Alembic." Each has a distinctively individual sound and feel that combines what Rick calls "19th Century inspiration and 21st Century technology."

The Electroline is a solid-body design with bolt-on neck. Scale is 34" for the four-string versions and 35" for five strings. The heart of this bass is a piezo bridge that sports individual pickups under the saddle for each string. Combined with the D-TAR (Duncan Turner Acoustic Research, Rick's joint venture with Seymour Duncan) Eclipse preamp, it offers amazing tone. In fact, most buyers opt for this set-up. However, those who want/need a traditional pickup system can choose between a single "diamond" pickup or dual humbuckers.

The standard body is swamp ash and is available in a range of colors. Upgrades include exotic wood bodies, birds-eye maple necks and other refinements as stock permits. Both four and five string models are available as lined or unlined fretless, as well as standard fretted.

The Electroline sometimes gets hidden in the shadow of its brother, the "Ren" as many refer to the Renaissance models. While the Rens are absolutely amazing, the Electrolines are equally outstanding. The instruments balance beautifully, and are a pleasure to play. The craftsmanship is what you'd expect from a top luthier, and the tone will drop your jaw, with or without the magnetic pickups.

The Rens are in a class all by themselves. As Rick explains, "ampli-coustic" means exactly what it implies. "Most people who own an "acoustic" bass guitar actually run it through some type of amplification most of the time," Rick points out. "So we built ours to be played that way."

If you've ever played an ABG with thin tone and so-so feel, you know exactly what Rick is talking about. If you've never noticed, my best advice is to not play a Ren. If you do, you'll be spoiled for life.

Like its solid-body brother, the Ren features a 34" scale for four strings and an extra inch for the five. Turner has found that the extra inch does wonders for the low B string. "I've been experimenting with design for decades," he said. "Based on my experience, the 35" scale is vital to the accuracy of the tone of that low string."

Currently there are four levels of Renaissance available, as follows:

O: the most affordable Ren. Made with Okume marine plywood, which is very high quality - no voids at all, and a satin finish that many prefer. It still has that Ren sound so many love. The neck and electronics are the same as in all levels

Standard: This version has binding around the body and a cedar top with gloss finish. Sides and back are walnut. This is the most popular model, although with its lower cost, the O may soon replace it as the number one seller.

Special: for those preferring a "cleaner" look, the Specials offer an unbound walnut body with a satin over oil finish. The tone is slightly different than the standard, but it's still unmistakably a Ren.

High: These have upgraded top, back, and side wood, fancy top purfling, and an all-gloss finish on the body with a satin finished neck.

Custom: This is the level for nuts like me who just have to have a one-of-a-kind instrument. (See photo.) Depending on availability, you can have just about any wood you want, with any finish. For my own, Rick used a piece of maple that came from a tree I'm pretty sure was fed liquid LSD as a child. It's got burl, bird's-eye, flame and quilting all on the same piece of wood. There was enough to do both top and back in book matched pieces as well as matching headstock overlay. Another first for Rick and his crew was to use black hardware and a D-drop tuner for the lowest string so that I could string it E-C (sometimes tuned down a whole step) and still get a D pedal tone.

As I was finishing this article (which is the culmination of almost two years of conversations), I asked Rick why he does what he does. "I'm basically unemployable in any other field," he replied with a laugh, "so I got sentenced to life in the music industry. My favorite part of the whole thing - what I practically live for - is coming up with new designs and solutions to musician's problems. In a sense, I'm a tool maker. It's just that many of the tools I make also happen to look pretty good."

Tools, indeed. Beautiful, great-sounding tools.

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About the Author

Lane Baldwin is a working bassist and teacher located in Illinois. His articles have appeared in many previous issues of Bass Sessions. Learn more about him and his career by visiting www.laneonbass.com.