Rick Turner

Surfing the ‘net, I stumbled across the sad news that Rick Turner passed away earlier in the year. Much has been written about his innovative work elsewhere, but I would just like to add my contribution to the tributes made.

Back in the early 1970’s I was aware of Rick’s work through my love of the Grateful Dead; reading about Rick’s work with their equipment and at Alembic. Also, every month I would go up to Rose Morris in Shaftsbury Avenue to buy a copy of Guitar Player magazine in which he wrote many articles. I’m sure it was his article about fret spacing and the 12^th root of two that got me calculating the fret spacing for my Alembic inspired bass that I made as an A level project when I was 17. It’s safe to say that he inspired a fledgling luthier.

Fast forward to 2006; Amanda and I were fortunate enough to spend the day with Rick in Santa Cruz USA. He gave us a personal tour of his Renaissance Guitars workshop, speaking freely about the design and construction of his instruments. We then went out for coffee and he took us back to his house where he showed us his collection of Howe-Orme guitars which had influenced many of his designs. In his garden he had an avocado tree and whenever Amanda and I have an avocado, one of us will invariably say, “Do you remember when we went to Rick’s house?” A truly happy memory.

Apart from being a great and influential luthier, he was a lovely guy and we know he will be missed by many. He certainly touched our lives in a wonderous way.

RIP Rick Turner