For Rick Turner the South African Philosopher assassinated in 1978 go to Rick Turner (Philosopher)

Rick Turner (philosopher)

Richard Turner , known as Rick Turner, was a South African philosopher who was allegedly assassinated by the apartheid state in 1978. Nelson Mandela described Turner "as a source of inspiration".-Life:...

.

Rick Turner (born July 30, 1943) co-founded Alembic

Alembic Inc

Alembic was founded in 1969 and is a manufacturer of high-end electric basses, guitars and preamps.-History:Ron and Susan Wickersham founded Alembic, Inc. in 1969...

 in 1970 and was involved in the design and construction of the Alembic instruments. He founded Rick Turner Guitars in 1979 and joined Gibson

Gibson

Gibson may refer to:* Gibson Amphitheatre* Gibson Appliance* Gibson Girl* Gibson Guitar Corporation* Gibson * Gibson Generating Station-Places:In the United States:* Gibson, Arkansas* Gibson, Georgia* Gibson, Iowa* Gibson, Louisiana...

 in 1988 where he served as president of Gibson Labs West Coast R&D Division.

Turner left Gibson in 1992 and ran a guitar repair shop at Westwood Music in Los Angeles where he developed piezo pickup designs, working with Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

, David Crosby

David Crosby

David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

 and others. He later co-founded Highlander Musical Audio, manufacturer of piezo pickups for acoustic guitars. He continues to design and build guitars for many professional players such as Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...

, Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

, David Lindley

David Lindley (musician)

David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...

, David Crosby

David Crosby

David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...

 and Andy Summers

Andy Summers

Andy Summers is an English guitarist born in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. Best known as the guitarist for rock band The Police, he has also recorded twelve solo albums, collaborated with many other artists, toured extensively under his own name, published several books, and composed...

. He is also a regular columnist for Acoustic Guitar and a former columnist for Bass Player, Frets and Guitar Player

Guitar Player

Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...

 magazines. His present company is Renaissance Guitars and he has partnered with Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan

Seymour Duncan is a company that is best known for manufacturing of guitar pickups, and currently has a line of effects pedals. The company was founded in 1976 by guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and his then-wife Cathy Carter Duncan in Goleta, California, USA...

 to form D-TAR. The Model 1 electric was designed by Turner for use by Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...

 guitarist Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Buckingham

Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...

, who continues to use the Model 1 to this day.

He has four children, Ethan, Bret, Shasta, and Elias. Ethan is a successful drummer and has been in various bands on the west coast.

Turner is best known because he helped engineer the Grateful Dead's wall of sound, co-founded one of the first boutique guitar companies, holds the patent on the graphite guitar neck, makes incredible acoustic guitars, and is an all-around pioneer in the guitar industry.

He made the bass that played what has to be the most famous bass line in rock history, Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"

Turner's designs are considered significant and innovative, and include at least the following:

• invented and patented the graphite neck in 1976, with Geoff Gould who then started Modulus Graphite.

• the use of curved plates on the front and back of his Model 1 electric guitars in order to reduce standing wave hysteresis loss.

• the use of 18 volt preamps
  Preamplifier
  A preamplifier is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical signal for further amplification or processing. A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and interference. It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main...
  
  in an attempt to tame the 'quack' sound commonly associated with piezoelectric acoustic guitar pickups.

Rick is unusual among inventors and innovators in that he is very open with his ideas. He teaches "Build a mandolin in four days" courses in the US and Australia and is extremely active on a wide range of musical instrument Internet forums. His style could be seen as "forthright", not suffering fools gladly, and he has been described as being a little like Simon Cowell. While you may not like HOW he says something, you KNOW deep down that every word he says is right, backed up by years of experience.