Guitar
- 20,000 Visits! Here's To The Next 20,000. . . . . . .
Since I started this project, I have now had over 20,000 page views! To all those who have been here before, hope you have enjoyed it so far and hope to see you coming back. The feature that attracted the most visits, was the one that was on the guitar...
- Peter Cook - The Outtakes . . . . .
Friday again!! I thought that this would be the last post on this subject but as I've experienced so far - I get to a point in time where I think I've just about covered everything and then something else crops up!! Only yesterday, I managed to...
- Peter Cook - Custom Guitars . . . . . . . .
Back in the day . . . . . When you consider, that according to legend, the first Fender Stratocaster hit our shores in 1959, imported by Cliff Richard. Fiesta Red, serial # 34346, played by Hank Marvin, it's hardly surprising that there were not...
- Peter Cook Axis Bass And Guitar. . . . .
I was going to do the Axis and some of the music press stuff, from that period but I now find that I have all sorts of extra Axis Stuff. "At this time I also developed and made the ‘Axis’ guitar and bass with an active, on board parametric tonal system"...
- Peter Cook. Custom Builder, Where Are You Now?......
I was going to start on some of my Aria and Ibanez but have decided to leave them for a while, the main reason being that I'm not sure where to start and the fact that although they are great basses, almost all of them gigged or rehearsed with on...
Guitar
The Axis Connection . . . . . .
As I mentioned on the last post, I have managed to track
down the designer and maker of the Axis circuit,
Tony Koorlander.
I asked him how he met Peter and how the collaboration
came about.
Tony and Peter have made contact again, after many years
and after some discussion, this is what Tony has to say.
"We concur that the truth of the matter is my ‘cold calling’
down the designer and maker of the Axis circuit,
Tony Koorlander.
I asked him how he met Peter and how the collaboration
came about.
Tony and Peter have made contact again, after many years
and after some discussion, this is what Tony has to say.
"We concur that the truth of the matter is my ‘cold calling’
him and asking if he thought it worthwhile us meeting for a chat.
I remember driving up to meet him at his parent’s house, where
his workshop was at the bottom of the garden. A bit like mine!
My original work as a freelance designer building custom
electronics for guitars, had started as far back as 1976, whilst at
the BBC and it was there that I designed the ‘Smooth’ guitar
sustain pedal as an accident of fate – a fault in wiring up a new
auto level circuit I’d designed for News Studio talkback circuits
was taken home to fix on my day off.
I had no microphone handy, so plugged in my guitar to try it –
good grief – what a gorgeous sound!
I had no microphone handy, so plugged in my guitar to try it –
good grief – what a gorgeous sound!
I then started making them under the label Precinct electronics.
Smooth users included Brian May, Gordon Giltrap, to name a few
and Paul Day loved it and promoted it so well that Burns started
marketing it under their own brand name at one point.
Anyway, back to the point. I had set up a meet with Pete, and we
discussed the various ideas – he suggested that he was about to build
a new range of guitar and bass – so could we collaborate on this and
make them something special. I was very impressed with his work
and thought it a good project to start.
The range was, of course, the AXIS.
I designed a special parametric versatile EQ unit that would be simple
to operate and get a wide range of unique tones from just two controls.
I designed a special parametric versatile EQ unit that would be simple
to operate and get a wide range of unique tones from just two controls.
We put it into the first prototype and Peter loved it.
So did most of the people who tried it!
I bought my AXIS lead guitar off Peter in June 1982, and loved playing it.
I had to sell it, reluctantly, to pay the rent.
It was, without doubt, the finest guitar I have ever owned, with superb
It was, without doubt, the finest guitar I have ever owned, with superb
intonation and sustain as well as a huge character that just made me
want to play all day.
The balance was perfect, and I never felt any shoulder or arm fatigue
when playing it.
I still have all the design details for the circuitry, including some of the
old Bell Electrolabs range.
Anyway – that’s a potted summary of how I met Peter Cook, and
what we did.
Tony"
Next week will be The Final Cut!
I still have to collate some of the final details, before I conclude the
article on Peter.
For those of you wondering about the collection, as I said a couple
of posts back, I will kick off with a couple of rarities.
Here's something to keep you going until then.
Cheers. :)
Next week will be The Final Cut!
I still have to collate some of the final details, before I conclude the
article on Peter.
For those of you wondering about the collection, as I said a couple
of posts back, I will kick off with a couple of rarities.
Here's something to keep you going until then.
Cheers. :)
- 20,000 Visits! Here's To The Next 20,000. . . . . . .
Since I started this project, I have now had over 20,000 page views! To all those who have been here before, hope you have enjoyed it so far and hope to see you coming back. The feature that attracted the most visits, was the one that was on the guitar...
- Peter Cook - The Outtakes . . . . .
Friday again!! I thought that this would be the last post on this subject but as I've experienced so far - I get to a point in time where I think I've just about covered everything and then something else crops up!! Only yesterday, I managed to...
- Peter Cook - Custom Guitars . . . . . . . .
Back in the day . . . . . When you consider, that according to legend, the first Fender Stratocaster hit our shores in 1959, imported by Cliff Richard. Fiesta Red, serial # 34346, played by Hank Marvin, it's hardly surprising that there were not...
- Peter Cook Axis Bass And Guitar. . . . .
I was going to do the Axis and some of the music press stuff, from that period but I now find that I have all sorts of extra Axis Stuff. "At this time I also developed and made the ‘Axis’ guitar and bass with an active, on board parametric tonal system"...
- Peter Cook. Custom Builder, Where Are You Now?......
I was going to start on some of my Aria and Ibanez but have decided to leave them for a while, the main reason being that I'm not sure where to start and the fact that although they are great basses, almost all of them gigged or rehearsed with on...