Video soundtrack featuring VM Surge guitar

Dream Job from Von Mir Media on Vimeo.

Hybrid Acoustic, Prototype #1 (a.k.a. The Double-Wide): Progress Report

(Top) before sound hole changes, (bottom) after. See notes in previous post.

Hybrid Acoustic Update: The modified Boxtail "floating" neck is working out nicely. What looks like a pickup is actually the movable saddle plug of the VM Acoustic Bridge System, held down by string pressure and contacting the guitar's top. The stop tailpiece, being attached to the neck end, takes the string pull stress off of the body. The sound hole arrangement is subject to change (note the plugged holes from previous configurations), but the present results are encouraging. With the longer-than-average distance from the bridge to the guitar's tail end, a spruce resonator keel was installed just inside of the big hole at the 12:00 position (visible at the beginning of the video), bringing more tone to the lower bout. The prototype shown is made of bending plywood, so the true sound isn't there yet. Prototype #2, hopefully ready for testing by year's end, will be made of proper guitar woods – spruce top, etc. That will be where the real adventure begins. This instrument isn't really about trying to be the loudest; rather, it's about using a bigger chamber to shape tone. With this project there has been the constant feeling of building a vessel, partly because of its size, and partly due to its experimental nature, like an old-world sailing ship outfitted for exploration. (Cont'd).

Hybrid Acoustic Video:

The words 'von mir' roughly translate from German as 'of me' or 'of mine', chosen partly because my guitars are indeed 'of me'. I debated using the name for a band, however, because I didn't want it to imply that it's all about me. On the contrary, the idea is to have a group that showcases my instruments in exchange for a unique gig opportunity. The name still won by default, as everything else one could possibly name a band that is either a clever play on words or downright ridiculous has long since been taken. Here are some works-in-progress, still in demo stage:

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Alternate Art

Welcome all! The story of this project begins with a deep yearning for something I had lost. Having bought high quality guitars since high school (class of 1967*), I always traded one in, bought another, over and over. If I'd kept all of them, today I'd need a vault to keep them in, and I'd probably be hesitant to take them out in public. Years after I sold my last one, I sat around lamenting the fact that I had zero guitars, so I decided to build one. Before I began, I took time to ponder the following question: if I could commission a dream guitar, what would it be like? There was a lot of information gathering to do. I even got a chance on a call-in talk show to get a burning question answered by Byrds legend Roger McGuinn, who later worked with Rickenbacker on the technical details of his signature guitar:

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After several more intensive years of loitering in music stores, sketching, computer drafting, patent searching, tooling and prototype building, the result is the Von Mir. The first model, the Boxtail, is inspired by the timeless hourglass shape of the mountain dulcimer. The second model, the Surge, has an aesthetic mix that recalls surfboards and exotic car fenders (I fantasize regularly over 30's Bugattis). Von Mirs are not boutique guitars, however. They are built to be sweated on, shaken, jerked, squeezed, scratched, even dropped (guitar repair shops need work too).

Phase two of this project, Von Mir Quintet, is a five-piece instrumental band which will showcase and field-test these guitars. With this task also comes the unique opportunity for the band to visit unexplored instrumental territories between fusion, jam, new age, electronic, etc. The first installment of a video diary documenting this musical expedition will be posted soon.
*My ears are still ringing from the sixties. In August of the year following my h.s. graduation, I sat close at the Hendrix Experience's Atlanta concert. On the same bill were the Soft Machine & Vanilla Fudge. It gave me a migraine, but seeing JH was a cosmic musical turning point in my life. Tickets were $5.50. In October of the same year, Cream played at Chastain Park. By then tickets had skyrocketed to $7.50.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080109121208/twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/chastain.htm

My Checkered Musical Past

Bats On Skis, 1973-1975: A Decatur, GA-based garage/cover band, venturing out only twice to play for Emory U. law club parties. After two years the plug was finally pulled, triggered in part by getting evicted from the garage, which was in fact a mini-storage rental space (the landlord was never that fond of beer-swilling noisy rockers as storage material).
An ironic legacy remains for this band: years after we broke up, a promoter friend who had met us remembered our name and suggested it to an 80s Canadian band he was producing. Legal foresight not being at the top of my priority list in the 70s, I hadn't trademarked the name. The Canadian band used it and went on to achieve some regional success, TV appearances, etc. Through them, the name also managed to get printed on some posters which were used as props in the movie Head Office starring Judge Reinhold, Danny DeVito & other stars, filmed partly in Canada. A meaningless joke band name that took me all of 1 minute to think up is preserved forever in film history, now probably the legal property of a Hollywood conglomerate. Oh, well...