| Emulating the sound of a prewar Gibson flathead
tone ring might sound like an easy proposition to those unfamiliar with
the processes involved, but those in the know will tell you that it is
a difficult task indeed, something close to discovering the Holy Grail
of bluegrass. For this reason, it is all the more noteworthy that in the
several months since its release, praise for the Huber Vintage Flathead
ring has been unanimously enthusiastic. While many of us know Steve as
a formidable bluegrass banjo player with an innovative traditional bent,
his destiny as a tone ring developer par excellence now seems almost inevitable.
Combining life and work experiences as a machinist,
mechanical engineer, instrument repairman and bluegrass musician, the idea
for the Vintage Flathead tone ring came to Steve about three years ago,
just after he'd turned his back on life as a bluegrass road musician and
settled down in Nashville with a relatively comfortable day job as a manufacturing
engineer. "I thought to myself, what else can I do that's banjo related?
One day, I had my own tone ring out of the banjo and was tinkering with
it. When I hit it with a mallet, I noticed it rang differently than other
tone rings. It got me to thinking that since I already knew how to make
banjo parts, I could replicate it if I found out what's in it. I knew the
sound that I wanted." |
