SynthAxe - Anyone ever seen/heard one in use?

I believe it was too expensive to make enough of a go on the market, and Allan was reportedly quite leery of his breaking down anytime he took it to a gig.
 
Beautiful and brilliant machine - if I knew where to find one in mint condition, I would consider trying to pool resources of fellow musicians to buy Allan Holdsworth a brand new one.  :)
 
I think Lee Rittenour had one too.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

I like anything that is different in a good way.  I wonder if they'll try making one of these type things again now that the  technology has improved...

I have owned a midi guitar since 1982 / 83 ..my first was the Roland ...

 
this is where I first started my midi guitar journey ... I will get to the Synth Axe in another few paragraphs ...
 
When I wound up working for Manny's Music on West 48 th st N.Y.C....some time around late 84 ,
I filled a nice little hole for Manny's Gtr Dept since I was the only Midi Guitarist working at a music store on West 48 th street ....
BTW at the time there was a lot of music stores on W 48 th st nobody else in all the other stores at that time played midi guitar ..
How do I know this ? because all the other stores would try to undercut Manny's prices . I wound up demoing 
Midi guitar interfaces for all their customers too ...When it came time to buy they would buy it off me anyway ...
It's a Small world and news travels fast
For those of you that are interested ..back then midi guitar was a real tough sell ...
The only people that played them were top players that had money ...
Even if you were a regular Joe w the bucks to buy a midi guitar you had to contend with a lot of tough hoops to jump over to get a usable musical squeak out of it ...
Latency , learning Midi , having to totally adjust the way you played guitar in every aspect ...
Even with today's technology  in hardware guitar synths including as much as they have improved since the 80 's
I would love to see and hear a midi guitarist strum chords and finger pick in real time like Tommy Emanuel...
Even on my Midi guitar rig I can't strum chords cleanly or finger pic w out having unwanted glitches ...
 
 
The Synth Axe was an attempt at creating a Midi Guitar that could cross that bridge effectively ...
 
To answer your question Yes , I have played the Synth Axe a number of times ...
 
We had one in an upstairs area of the store that was pretty much appointment only .
This area contained the very cream of the crop / very high end studio gear+ instruments that we didn't want people just beating to hell and back from being on display  ...
 
The Synth Axe we had was brand spanking new and IIRC it cost between 12 and 13 Grand ...
 
Playing the Synth Axe the times I did , I found it to be somewhat interesting ...
You could play legato with your left hand , even softly and it would trigger the notes you were playing cleanly ...
I found it to be somewhat awkward using my right hand for picking because I have spent my whole life working on my right hand techs and I found the way the Synth Axe handled that end of things a little strange ...
The right hand section of The Synth Axe had 2 areas where you could trigger what  your right hand would do when you were playing the guitar ...IIRC,one area was for strumming the other section / area was for single string work ..
Had I been given the opportunity to play it a few times a week I probably could have gotten used to it ...
 
Manny's was a good place for me to work at the time ...the thing is the store was always busy and if it wasn't , there was always something that needed to be done ...Me burning up time playing a $13.000 Axe in an air conditioned private sound proof studio area of the store was not on Henry Goldrich's  agenda
 
I'm going OT here for a moment because I feel like telling a story  ...
 
I do have to say I love Henry Goldrich as tough as he was he had a super kind heart ...
He was a very generous person ...he took the staff out all the time for diner drinks , and when ever there was a big party ...all of us got to go .....case in point,  Les Paul's 70 th Birthday party at The Hard Rock ...
Also while I was there under his employment , he let me take anything I wanted home ..Guitars , amps , rackmount gear, studio equipment , pedals .....
I think he did that for a few reasons ..he trusted me and in many cases it was the only way I could learn the gear on my own time ..
The other thing is when I didn't bring the gear back the next day he would put that stern tough smile on his face to try to scare me ...meanwhile the whole time he was laughing inside because he knew at the end of the week I would be signing over my whole paycheck and then some over to him
I bought every thing at cost plus shipping ...like I said Henry was very generous .....
 
what were we talking about again ? .. Oh The Synth Axe ...
 
BTW I did get to meet and shake hands and talk with Allan Holdsworth  ..
He was interested in talking about micro brews   not the guitar  ...
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 

sharke
... I even miss the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I'd spend so long in there hunting out CD and DVD bargains.

Sounds like the Tower Records store that was on Clark St. in Chicago. I spent a LOT of money in there. Their classical room was bigger than most other whole record stores at the time, and that was the smallest room. RIP Tower.
 

sharke
Great stories, I miss Manny's! So much has gone from the area in the last few years. I even miss the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I'd spend so long in there hunting out CD and DVD bargains.

I'm glad you enjoyed the stories
 
I used to sit right across this picture every morning while I was having my morning coffee ....

 I knew I was in the right place ...too bad it was at the wrong time ...
Would have loved to have met Jimi . At least I got to hang out at his NYC  pad a few times w his room mate of that era .
The room mate kept the pad until recently ...
Kenny

Alan has used a lot of different guitars over the years ...
Ibanez even did an Alan Holdsworth  Guitar in the early 80's...
To this day I still regret not buying an AH10 when I had the chance ..
some info
http://www.theguitarcolumn.com/2009/07/ibanez-ah10-allan-holdsworth-signature.html
 
Bringing  this back to the Synth Axe ,

FWIW, My personal preferences lean toward, 
I liked Alan's playing the best when he was playing with Tony Williams When he was using a Gibson SG
 
Kenny

kennywtelejazz

sharke
Great stories, I miss Manny's! So much has gone from the area in the last few years. I even miss the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I'd spend so long in there hunting out CD and DVD bargains.

I'm glad you enjoyed the stories
 
I used to sit right across this picture every morning while I was having my morning coffee ....

 I knew I was in the right place ...too bad it was at the wrong time ...
Would have loved to have met Jimi . At least I got to hang out at his NYC  pad a few times w his room mate of that era .
The room mate kept the pad until recently ...
Kenny

I recognize that photo! 
 
Strangely enough I used to live (obviously years later) on the next street over to where Jimi lived in Newcastle, England, when he was living with Chas Chandler, his manager at the time. It was 2nd Avenue in the little student neighborhood of Heaton (yep there's a 2nd Ave in Newcastle although it's just a quiet little working class street ). Jimi would reportedly busk on Chillingham Road in Heaton when he was living there. 
 
My best friend growing up dated Chas Chandler's niece. 

batsbrew

kennywtelejazz

batsbrew
holdsworth = synthaxe.

 
What about these guitar players ?
 
Lee Ritenour , Gary Moore and Al Di Meola  have used Synth Axe's .
 
 
Kenny

but no one mastered it like holdsworth,
i'm sure those other guys would agree.

Sure,  I get where you are coming from ....You certainly have a valid point 
 
Kenny

TheMaartian

sharke
... I even miss the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. I'd spend so long in there hunting out CD and DVD bargains.

Sounds like the Tower Records store that was on Clark St. in Chicago.
...

I enjoyed the Tower Records on the Sunset Strip, before we found Moby Disk in Van Nuys ... it was at Tower that we found some Peter Hammill, Van der Graaf Generator, Can and a few other things that were labelled as "Imports" at that time. And this would have been in the mid 70's, as by 1976 and on, it was almost all pretty much Moby Disk because they had it all, when it came to the European stuff, and never failed to get a new TD, or KS or Ange, or Banco ... and some Japanese stuff.
 
Other stores that were magnificent ... Rasputin in Berkeley had the biggest, best and most far out Used bins EVER ... however, much of it was not organized, other than alphabet, but there was so much in there it was nuts. It was there that I found things like "Pole" (Bezombe and Rizet), and "Streetwalkers" which had become the new "Family" band ... and what a fine one it was until Roger Chapman went solo. They were so big, that I understand that they created another store down the street (on Telegraph too!) that had the Classical and Jazz stuff, however I never got there and see it myself.
 
Portland had a Tower that disowned imports and odd things in 1995 or so, and I told them that it was going to kill them! Seattle's Tower went down I think a couple of years later, but can not confirm it.
 
You would figger that with their distribution they would maintain a mail order service, like so many import folks did, and instead they killed it ... with insane prices, and obviously no desire to get things that stores did not have, which used to be their strength.
 
never got to see a "Virgin" store, but knowing how they ripped off MO, TD and Gong (as far back as 1975 and 1976) and many others, I would not have entered that store at all. Out of principle! 
 
However, I was to find out just recently, on Andy Partridge's book of all places, that Tower was Virgin's American arm! Go figure!

And let's not forget the Arp Avatar which predated MIDI by several years and was connected via a hex pickup!

I used to work on 41st street and 6th avenue back in the day and I got a Floyd Rose fitted on my Antigua Strat at Alex Music on 48th street. Electro Harmonix had a showroom next to Manny's and they used to have jams there by local and famous musicians. Remember that place Kenny? :)

http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/avatar.php


Steve

Mesh,

Your post reminds me of (and I'm probably giving away my approximate age) the Virginia Slims cigarette commercials - We've come a long way baby! :)

Amazing how software is now scarily close to the hardware units. I had a Roland GR20 and I thought THAT was light years ahead technology. With that being said, Jam Origins MIDI Guitar is an amazing piece of technology. And no having to retrofit a hex pickup on one of your prized axes to boot!

Steve

Absolutely Steve!! MIDI Guitar is an amazing piece of software......I would've never dreamed of this 20 years ago.
 
Speaking of which, I still have one of these from back in the day.....and like you said, not having to go through all the hassle of making it work, is definitely welcome.
 
 
 
 

TrueGrit
And let's not forget the Arp Avatar which predated MIDI by several years and was connected via a hex pickup!

I used to work on 41st street and 6th avenue back in the day and I got a Floyd Rose fitted on my Antigua Strat at Alex Music on 48th street. Electro Harmonix had a showroom next to Manny's and they used to have jams there by local and famous musicians. Remember that place Kenny? :)

http://www.vintagesynth.com/arp/avatar.php


Steve

TrueGrit ,
 
The very first guitar I bought on 48 th street was Henry Gross's old Gibson 335 ...( early 70's )
Henry G was standing right there at We Buy Guitars when I bought it ...lol
This has been the only guitar I have ever regretted selling ...
This Gibson 335 was Cherry Red , had birds inlay-ed on the neck and the pick ups were the original PAF's .....
IIRC it was a 1960   ....
 
Carlo  over at Alex Music has done some real nice work for me in the past
 
The Electro Harmonix show room may have been either before or after my time on 48 th street ...What year ?
 
Way before I worked on 48 th street I used to go over to Mike Matthews factory (on 14 th st ? it's been a while )
I used to use his Freedom Amps and a few other things I had a good mutual friend that used to bring me there ...
Mike always struck me a great dude , he was a lot of fun to hang out with ....
Mike may not remember me , but I remember him for sure ....
You walked into his factory and the place had thousands of oranges all over the place   in crates , on tables..
All the employees and guests in the factory could eat all the oranges and drink all the OJ they wanted ...
Mike believed that oranges were a key to having good health and he wanted his employees to be healthy
 
When ever I was there he would have one of his techs mod or fix my E H products right there on the spot ...
 
Mike was also a super funny guy , he told great stories and he used to go out and do some pretty radical things in public to have some fun ....
He used to like to come to 48 th street and sit there on the street and play some of his newer instruments like the synths and some of the effects ...
Most people walking down the street didn't know who he was ...they though he may have been a homeless guy out there busking 
I used to bust him all the time and say,
" hey Mike what are you using to get that sound ?, what have you got there" ?...he was cool and he would talk to you when he was doing that ...he just didn't want blow his undercover identity ...he loved doing that type of stuff ...
Super Cool person I have a few of his pedals on my board ...If I had some more money I would definitely pick up a few more of his products ...they sound great and they have lots of character ...just like him ...
 
Kenny