#120 - Guitars, Grateful Dead, The Wall of Sound

If you love acoustic guitars the name Rick Turner might be familiar to you.  He's a Bay Area legend for those in music and audio.  And he was a dear friend.

Rick was the kind of guy who wouldn't hold back when it came to speaking his mind or supporting a friend.  His social media posts were hysterically funny, sarcastic and didn't miss a beat.  You always knew Rick was following what you were doing.  Then at some point, he'd post about one of his fantastic guitars he was building.  He was one of the best luthiers in the world.

Rick died suddenly last week.  It's hard to believe.  He was such a vibrant character.  Here's what one obituary had to say about him

https://www.musicradar.com/news/rick-turner-obituary

Many of my bass player buddies played his basses, which is how I got to know of him over the years.  Artists would often stop by the studio on their way to Santa Cruz when picking up their instruments at Rick' place.

About 10 years ago, Rick called me out of the blue and said, "How did you get that sound on "so-n-so's" guitar?  That's how I built it to sound."  And still his compliment rates high on my list of proud moments. 

I explained my mic placement and choices. Rick was fascinated that I actually LISTENED to where the sound was landing.  He told me that was exactly where he optimized the guitar sound to land.  I had never thought before about the guitar builder's perspective to land the sound. We became great friends after that exchanging stories and always laughing. 

He once took me on a drive around Marin county that was a history lesson of the Grateful Dead and other bands of that kind.  Rick was the co-founder of Alembic Sound that built the Wall of Sound for The Dead.  He had keys to everyone's studio, too.  This was his world. I met the most interesting people.  I was always surprised to see his name pop up on someone's feed or comment section in social media.  Then again, how many people who are in the music industry or avid listeners haven't tried playing the guitar?  Everyone knew Rick.  He was everyone's buddy.

Here's more information at his website if you're interested to know more.

https://rickturnerguitars.com/stories-father-boutique-guitars

Note to Rick:  I know you're causing trouble up there.  Don't hold back.. you never did.

Sending love to all, 

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