Objects of Desire: Rick Turner
September 16th, 2011 at 01:53pm abbey
Rick Turner, Pretzel Guitar, 1969. Mahogany, walnut, brass, ebony, abalone shell, and electronic components. Collection of the artist.
September has seen a frenzy of preparation for the opening of Crafting Modernism. Label texts are being written, installation designs pored over, and 130 loans (out of a total 197 objects in the show) are on their way to the museum from a variety of lenders including the Whitney Museum, MoMA, Corning Museum of Glass, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. This gorgeous electric guitar made by Rick Turner is one of those objects and I can’t wait to see it in person.
Turner designs and builds highly sought-after guitars that blend advanced technology with traditional craftsmanship. He has built, repaired, and customized instruments for an impressive list of clients including The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Jackson Browne, Ry Cooder, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. See more about Turner and his firm Rick Turner Renaissance Guitars in the clip below.
Entry Filed under: crafting modernism
3 Comments Add your own
1. Rick Turner | September 18th, 2011 at 12:28 am
Just picked up the guitar today at my oldest son’s place. I’m going to spiff it up a bit tomorrow and send it off to the Museum on Monday. When I played it a bit, I realized that I never put side dot position marks in the thing…42 or so years ago…so I’m going to take the “artist’s right” to put some abalone dots into it. Hope that doesn’t disqualify me!
This one was in a show at the San Francisco MOMA about 10 or 12 years ago, and it was also featured in an exhibit of small shop made guitars sponsored by the Museum of Making Music (Carlsbad, CA) at last year’s major NAMM trade show.
I’m incredibly honored to have been invited into this show; I only wish my artist parents were still around to see this.
2. going mad and making guit&hellip | October 9th, 2011 at 11:17 am
[...] made this guitar (image from MAD blog) that appears on the show’s blog in a post about the excitement of objects coming in. Rick posted to comment that after he picked [...]
3. For master Santa Cruz ins&hellip | November 24th, 2011 at 8:20 am
[...] http://www.guitarsintheclassroom.org; the ‘pretzel guitar’ at the Museum of Arts and Design, http://www.madblog.org/2011/09/objects-of-desire-rick-turner/ « Thought Train: Guitar Goddess – Morning Star Jimi Hendrix named [...]
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