Nigel-Guitar Appreciation Project
by Russ Lay

* The Situation: Synthzone members around the world have, for over 20 years, enjoyed the fellowship, knowledge about arrangers and other keyboards and music in general, thanks, in most part to the work of site originator Nigel Spencer and his wife, life partner (and my secret girlfriend), Kerry. Most who visit the site regularly have no idea how much work this site is to maintain. That's why a group of appreciative members, spearheaded by Russ Lay, Gary Diamond and Don Mason put their heads together to think of a way of thanking Nigel for all he does. Nigel plays both keyboards and guitar, but it, at heart, a true "picker and grinner". He loves his guitars.

Recently, Russ discovered a really nostalgic guitar, and thought it would be the perfect gift for the "tone monster", Nigel. It's made by the Eastwood company in Canada (actually, designed in Canada and built in the orient in the same factory imported Guild, PRS and the like are made). It's an Airline H-78, which is a faithful reproduction of a Harmony H-78, built between the late 50's and 1972. Harmony brand-labeled the guitar for Sears (Silvertone) and Montgomery Wards (Airline), a now defunct international retailer. Eastwood also secured the rights to the Airline name. Guitar players would recognize the name from the work of Jack White from the White Stripes and the very popular Black Keys front man, Dan Auerbach (Google either group name or Airline H-78.to easily locate a boatload of demo videos with demos of this guitar by Dan and others). Talk about nostalgia!

The Prize: In college, Russ played an original Harmony H-78 6 nights a week at the infamous Fireplace Lounge, the biggest, loudest, "tipsiest" college hang out in the mid-south. The current Eastwood includes a couple of improvements; a change from a hollow body to semi-hollow construction...repeated use of the Bigsby tailpiece (nearly every top 10 song incorporated some Bigsby tremolo) caused the top to develop more waves than a Pringles potato chip...and a change to a secured tunomatic roller bridge. Because of the waves in the top and the floating wooden bridge design, sustain and tuning were sometimes an issue...wonder why none of the customers complained (BURP)?

The reissue is as pretty, sounds better, plays better, feels better and, (PU) smells a lot better than the original Harmony, which Russ still has. Because there are three neat Gold Foil pick-ups, mated to three on-off switches, a total of 7 tone generating combos can easily be accessed by turning one or two switches on and off. Adding the possibility of changing individual volume and tone on each pick-up made this one of the most versatile instruments of the period. Gibson Switchmasters and Fender Strats had three pick-ups but not individual pick-up volume and tone controls.

After an excited call to Don , two H-78's, in the same color as Russ' original were ordered.

Member Participation: Cost has been taken care of. Members can participate in this gesture of appreciation by sending a small donation to Gary (nothing major, just a symbolic amount to show involvement....$10.00 would be OUTSTANDING), and, if you'd like, an emailed message , expressing appreciation, which will be printed and placed in the bottom of the case, along with any funds left above the cost of shipping and minor set-up. This will help with the cost of the site.

The value of the instrument is $800.00-900.00 plus (it is brand new-played as a test for less than 5 minutes). The value of the gesture by this like minded collection of friends is PRICELESS!

That's the Captain's new "ax" on the right and Nigel's matching new one on the left...a heartfelt expression of thanks to Nigel from many friends at Synthzone.


Russ wants to start a new duo...THE Tone MONSTERS, complete with matching instruments (these slightly tacky things), garish puffy sleeved shirts....possibly even eye liner! (notice the Music Matters plate on the Subaru).

A special thanks to: DNJ, Don Mason, Scott Langholff, Gunnar J Gotaas, Mel organgrinder, Dave Rice, Charles Ekstrand, Bernard Ackerman, Carla Van den Heuvel, Tony Madalone, Raymond Calnan, Ray The Saint, Eric Bott, Chas Giles, Uncle Dave, Steven Moelner, Ron Phillipchuk and Jerryghr, all of which generously contributed to this very worthwhile project.

The guitar is on it's way to it's much deserved recipient.

Nigel, for many of us, this site is a blessing, one that over the years has provided us with not only useful information on new and upcoming musical products, but additionally, has provided us with an enormous volume of useful information that enhances our musical endeavors. Thank you so much for all you and your loving wife's years of dedication to this site.

All the best,

Gary

Nigel, Looking at how obliged and indebted I am feeling towards you right now,
I have realized that kindness is actually one of the greatest weapons any person can ever have.
WTG Russ & All involved!

Thank you.

Indeed a welldeserved present for all the hard work keeping the site up and running for our comfort.. thumbs up for Nigel...

Now all i need to do is find out how my wife made this list of beneficers...

Bachus, she is the person that sent the funds, she's far better looking, much more intelligent, and I'll bet she's a better cook than you. However, I can assure you that I'm the boss of my family and I have my wife's permission to say so.

Thanks for the support, Bachus,

Gary

Thanks to all. Donny is right. What a deserving guy, and what a great bunch of friends who, by their cooperation and good will, created something far in excess of the value of the guitar.

Every time I play mine I'll think of all involved, and when the Tone MONSTERS play their first "GIG", we'll TEAR EM UP"!

And we can ALL look forward to a continued, mutually satisfying association highlighted by the sharing of all things musical, with a sincere, meaningful personal connection, Lead by Tone MONSTER # ! and his lady, Kerry).

Best personal regards,

Russ (Tone MASTER # 2) Lay

P.S. I'm off to UPS. Nigel, I'll email you the tracking number tomorrow. The guitar should arrive in 5 to 7 days.

I am a FORUMHOLIC, thanks to Nigel ...
Thank you so much, Nigel ...

All true, all true...

Bachus, I REALLY appreciate YOUR participation and your posts.

It's obvious who spends the time to articulate their thoughts and share what they think.

Russ

This is unbelievable. Thank you all so very much for your kindness and generosity. This online community can't be beat which I why I have kept running the forum here over the past 20 years.

And very special thanks to Russ, Gary and Don who were behind organizing this wonderful gesture. Russ knows I have a love for guitars and this Airline H78 guitar is a very, very special instrument. When I searched online there is a lot of good reading about them and I heard some great demos on Youtube of them being played. Magic !!!!! Those H78s in the picture with Russ look gorgeous.

I can't thank you all enough and I barely have the words to express myself.

We will expect to see a video of you playing it!!
You're the MAN Nigel!

You bet Don. But it is you guys who are the MAN !!!!! I am honored to know you all.

You thank us every day with S+Z ...
Enjoy!

Nigel, if you get really wrapped up in your new toy, you think Kerry would like to go out??? (I KID...I KID...a little. LOL)!

Since we are "joined at the hip", so to speak, when it comes to guitars, to me, this was way more than just a guitar. It was about sharing a lifetime love of music and instruments. You have often said that there is nothing like a real wood instrument. Each has a life of it's own and no other possession means as much to me. That's why I now have over 300 again (including this pretty, slightly tacky piece of personal history).

The original H-78 is what I paid my way thru college with. I bought a new American Strat and the Harmony the same day at Carl's Music Center in Lexington the Spring of 1960. I remember the Harmony was $19.00 more than the Fender, and both were a little under $800.00 out the door.

Because of the Black Keys kid...Dan, the price of playable original Harmony has gone up to around $1200.00. But, the 1960 Strat is inching up to $30,000.00. Thankfully, I have that one, too.

And, I still have the Heritage Lite labeled with a copy of the document to be sent to you at the right time.

That's where it needs to be.

I'll shop for the puffy shirts this week-end. You look for the eye liner. I'll get the knobs that go to 12. We'll need 12 of them. And maybe I can find 6 big switches shaped like extended middle fingers LOL!

All the best to both of you! And much appreciation to Don, Gary and the others who participated.

Russ

PS. Email me privately about he slight hum with all controls off. That's the way the original ones were, and even the genius who maintains equipment for many national acts, including Joe Walsh could not come up with a fix (see the schematic suggesting a fix from the manufacturer...it didn't work). It's easy to leave one knob on, use a standby switch on a Fender amp or any device like a tuner or on-off switch to control the issue. Let me know...

Be sure there is room for a row of wheel chairs at your first gig. And have hot chocolate on tap!

If all the knobs are off then I am not playing anyway so that doesn't seem like any sort of issue to me.