The Gizmo
Encyclopedia
The Gizmo was an effects device for the electric guitar
, invented ca. 1973 by the English
rock
musician
s Kevin Godley
and Lol Creme
, whilst they were members of the British
rock group 10cc
.
The Gizmo first featured on 10cc's instrumental "Gizmo My Way", where it is appears as an interesting slide guitar effect and sustained background effect with the song arranged as a type of laid back beach music.
Later it appeared on 10cc's second album
, Sheet Music
(1974) on the track "Old Wild Men". It's presence is heard as a unique shimmering background guitar effect. The Gizmo also appears sporadically throughout 10cc's 1976 "How Dare You" LP. It also appears distantly throughout their 1975 hit song I'm Not In Love
but surfaces prominently in the middle and especially the closing sections of the song doing cello lines.
Its ability to create a wide range of sounds was central to the production of Godley and Creme's first post-10cc project, the 1977 triple concept album
, Consequences. Godley and Creme left 10cc to create "Consequences" which was intended to be a promotional album to market the "Gizmo".
The "Gizmotron" name comes from the idea that it was intended to be a non-electronic and non-synthetic competitor in the market of other "orchestral" instruments like the Mellotron
, Orchestron
, and Birotron
.
According to Paul Gambaccini
's sleeve notes for Consequences, 10cc were unable to afford an orchestra
for their early albums, so Creme and Godley imagined an effects unit that would enable a guitar to produce violin
-like sounds (this was some years before the introduction of the polyphonic synthesiser and long before the development of digital sampling
).
The actual device, a small box which was attached to the bridge of the guitar, consisted of six small motor-driven wheels with serrated edges to match the size of each string. The continuous bowing action was activated by pressing one or all of keys located on the top of the unit. Pressing a key would allow the wheel to descend against a motor driven shaft and bow the corresponding string, while the other hand remained free to fret single notes or full chords. An extremely powerful sound could be created that changed dynamically depending on how hard or soft the wheels were pressed against the strings. The sound was also affected by the type of guitar strings (round-wound or flat-wound).
Two versions were planned - one for guitar and one for bass. Ultimately few Gizmotrons were made but bass versions were produced in a much larger quantity than guitar versions. Only the guitar version was used by Godley and Creme and 10cc in recordings.
John McConnell, then a senior lecturer in Physics
at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) assisted Godley and Creme in the development of the prototype. He considered it critical that the instrument retain the natural decay of a note rather than the sharp cut-off often experienced with an electronic synthesizer.
Other Godley & Creme albums featuring the Gizmo include L and Freeze Frame.
The Gizmo can also be heard on:
One of the faults with The Gizmo was that it was very temperamental, and affected by conditions such as humidity and temperature. The design of the device used small serrated wheels to indefinitely sustain each string through friction. An inherent design limitation was that either the wheel had to have either small teeth, which could also produce harmonics of their own that varied with the speed of the wheel, or a smooth surface, which acted as a secondary bridge for each string, thereby making the pitch of each string completely unpredictable.
Conversely, the severity of these problems were minimized based on proper and precise proximity of the wheels to the guitar strings. This task was a very time consuming one where each wheel (and arm) had to be moved closer or farther to a string to achieve the purest tone. Doing this in a quiet or isolated room yielded the best results.
This also required that guitarists modify their playing techniques to use only a very light touch when pressing Gizmotron keys down. Specific and repeated instructions in the Gizmotron owners manual stressed this application.
Improper set-up of these wheels meant either a lack of tone, or -- usually in the case of over-eager amateur or impatient guitarists -- too harsh a tone caused by wheels being forced too tightly against the strings. This improper set-up resulted in a quick wearing down of the wheels for which there were no replacements - the wheels were not removable from the arm attachments. This was true of both guitar and bass units.
Gizmotron, an extension of Musitronics (the company set up to produce The Gizmo), was eventually driven bankrupt. Gizmo wheels were expensive and problematic to produce to begin as each wheel had to be customized to match each string. With money for research and development running out (due to Musitronics investment in ARP synthsizers and effects pedals), the Gizmo device could never work as consistently as advertised, and by 1980 the project was abandoned.
The fact that the early 70's art rock genre had given way to both disco and punk in the late 70's had also discouraged further investment in a device that might be seen as an artifact of an outdated era.
Today, intact and working Gizmotrons are virtually non-existent. The Gizmo wheels and arm attachments were made of a plastic (Durlin) that cracks and weakens over time. As a result, the wheels and arms of all Gizmotrons become brittle, fall apart, and disintegrate into smaller pieces all by themselves even in "like new" unopened boxes. Other guitar effects have since been used to create sustained tones but because of the different mechanical nature and physics involved, none of them replicate the sound of the Gizmotron.
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, invented ca. 1973 by the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley
Kevin Godley is a British musician and music video director.He was born in a family of Jewish descent, and went to North Cestrian Grammar School in Altrincham....
and Lol Creme
Lol Crème
Lol Creme is an English musician and music video director, best known for his work in 10cc. He sings, plays guitar and keyboards.-Biography:...
, whilst they were members of the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock group 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
.
The Gizmo first featured on 10cc's instrumental "Gizmo My Way", where it is appears as an interesting slide guitar effect and sustained background effect with the song arranged as a type of laid back beach music.
Later it appeared on 10cc's second album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Sheet Music
Sheet Music (album)
Sheet Music is the second album by Manchester rock band 10cc. It was released in 1974 and yielded the hit singles "The Wall Street Shuffle" and "Silly Love". The album reached No.9 in the UK and No.81 in the United States....
(1974) on the track "Old Wild Men". It's presence is heard as a unique shimmering background guitar effect. The Gizmo also appears sporadically throughout 10cc's 1976 "How Dare You" LP. It also appears distantly throughout their 1975 hit song I'm Not In Love
I'm Not in Love
"I'm Not in Love" is a song written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman of the English group 10cc, from the album The Original Soundtrack. The lyric reveals a narrator in denial about the title's ostensible theme.-The 10cc version:...
but surfaces prominently in the middle and especially the closing sections of the song doing cello lines.
Its ability to create a wide range of sounds was central to the production of Godley and Creme's first post-10cc project, the 1977 triple concept album
Concept album
In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...
, Consequences. Godley and Creme left 10cc to create "Consequences" which was intended to be a promotional album to market the "Gizmo".
The "Gizmotron" name comes from the idea that it was intended to be a non-electronic and non-synthetic competitor in the market of other "orchestral" instruments like the Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
, Orchestron
Orchestron
The Vako Orchestron is a keyboard instrument, which produces its sound through electronic amplification of sound pre-recorded on an optical disc...
, and Birotron
Birotron
The Birotron is a tape replay keyboard conceived by Dave Biro of Yalesville, Connecticut, USA, and funded by Rick Wakeman of the progressive-rock group Yes, and Campbell Soup Company-Pepperidge Farm Foods in the mid-late 1970s....
.
According to Paul Gambaccini
Paul Gambaccini
Paul Matthew Gambaccini is a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...
's sleeve notes for Consequences, 10cc were unable to afford an orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
for their early albums, so Creme and Godley imagined an effects unit that would enable a guitar to produce violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
-like sounds (this was some years before the introduction of the polyphonic synthesiser and long before the development of digital sampling
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
).
The actual device, a small box which was attached to the bridge of the guitar, consisted of six small motor-driven wheels with serrated edges to match the size of each string. The continuous bowing action was activated by pressing one or all of keys located on the top of the unit. Pressing a key would allow the wheel to descend against a motor driven shaft and bow the corresponding string, while the other hand remained free to fret single notes or full chords. An extremely powerful sound could be created that changed dynamically depending on how hard or soft the wheels were pressed against the strings. The sound was also affected by the type of guitar strings (round-wound or flat-wound).
Two versions were planned - one for guitar and one for bass. Ultimately few Gizmotrons were made but bass versions were produced in a much larger quantity than guitar versions. Only the guitar version was used by Godley and Creme and 10cc in recordings.
John McConnell, then a senior lecturer in Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) assisted Godley and Creme in the development of the prototype. He considered it critical that the instrument retain the natural decay of a note rather than the sharp cut-off often experienced with an electronic synthesizer.
Other Godley & Creme albums featuring the Gizmo include L and Freeze Frame.
The Gizmo can also be heard on:
- The ChurchThe Church (band)The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1980. Initially associated with new wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s, their music later became more reminiscent of progressive rock, featuring long instrumental jams and complex guitar interplay...
's "Violet Town" where it is played by Marty Willson-PiperMarty Willson-PiperMarty Willson-Piper is a guitarist and member of Australian independent rock band The Church.After busking his way around the world, he arrived in Australia...
. - The Siouxsie and the Banshees song "Into the Light", played by John McGeochJohn McGeochJohn Alexander McGeoch, , was a Scottish guitarist who played with a number of bands of the post-punk era, including Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage and Public Image Ltd....
. - This Mortal CoilThis Mortal CoilThis Mortal Coil was a gothic dream pop supergroup led by Ivo Watts-Russell, founder of the British record label 4AD. Although Watts-Russell and John Fryer were technically the only two official members, the band's recorded output featured a large rotating cast of supporting artists, many of whom...
's recording "It'll End in Tears" (4AD4AD4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
), where it was played by Simon RaymondeSimon RaymondeSimon Philip Raymonde is an English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer, Ivor Raymonde.-Career:...
of Cocteau TwinsCocteau TwinsCocteau Twins were a Scottish alternative rock band active from 1979 to 1997, known for innovative instrumentation and atmospheric, non-lyrical vocals...
. - Led ZeppelinLed ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
's In Through the Out DoorIn Through the Out DoorIn Through the Out Door is the eighth studio album by the English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was recorded over a three week period in November and December 1978 at ABBA's Polar Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and released by Swan Song Records on 15 August 1979...
(1979) (where it appears on the intro of "In The Evening" as well as within the song "Carouselambra"). - Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
's song "I'm Carrying" from London Town (1978) - The Throbbing GristleThrobbing GristleThrobbing Gristle were an English industrial, avant-garde music and visual arts group that evolved from the performance art group COUM Transmissions...
album 20 Jazz Funk Greats20 Jazz Funk Greats20 Jazz Funk Greats is the third full-length album by industrial music pioneers Throbbing Gristle. The track "Still Walking" also appears on the live album Heathen Earth, although with a radically different structure...
(Industrial records,1979), played by Cosey Fanni TuttiCosey Fanni TuttiCosey Fanni Tutti is best known as a performance artist and for her time in Throbbing Gristle and Chris & Cosey....
.
One of the faults with The Gizmo was that it was very temperamental, and affected by conditions such as humidity and temperature. The design of the device used small serrated wheels to indefinitely sustain each string through friction. An inherent design limitation was that either the wheel had to have either small teeth, which could also produce harmonics of their own that varied with the speed of the wheel, or a smooth surface, which acted as a secondary bridge for each string, thereby making the pitch of each string completely unpredictable.
Conversely, the severity of these problems were minimized based on proper and precise proximity of the wheels to the guitar strings. This task was a very time consuming one where each wheel (and arm) had to be moved closer or farther to a string to achieve the purest tone. Doing this in a quiet or isolated room yielded the best results.
This also required that guitarists modify their playing techniques to use only a very light touch when pressing Gizmotron keys down. Specific and repeated instructions in the Gizmotron owners manual stressed this application.
Improper set-up of these wheels meant either a lack of tone, or -- usually in the case of over-eager amateur or impatient guitarists -- too harsh a tone caused by wheels being forced too tightly against the strings. This improper set-up resulted in a quick wearing down of the wheels for which there were no replacements - the wheels were not removable from the arm attachments. This was true of both guitar and bass units.
Gizmotron, an extension of Musitronics (the company set up to produce The Gizmo), was eventually driven bankrupt. Gizmo wheels were expensive and problematic to produce to begin as each wheel had to be customized to match each string. With money for research and development running out (due to Musitronics investment in ARP synthsizers and effects pedals), the Gizmo device could never work as consistently as advertised, and by 1980 the project was abandoned.
The fact that the early 70's art rock genre had given way to both disco and punk in the late 70's had also discouraged further investment in a device that might be seen as an artifact of an outdated era.
Today, intact and working Gizmotrons are virtually non-existent. The Gizmo wheels and arm attachments were made of a plastic (Durlin) that cracks and weakens over time. As a result, the wheels and arms of all Gizmotrons become brittle, fall apart, and disintegrate into smaller pieces all by themselves even in "like new" unopened boxes. Other guitar effects have since been used to create sustained tones but because of the different mechanical nature and physics involved, none of them replicate the sound of the Gizmotron.
See also
- Mu-tron
- ARP Instruments, Inc.ARP Instruments, Inc.ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s, ARP closed its doors in 1981 due to financial difficulties...
– the company bought Musitronics and renamed it to Gizmo Inc. - Guitar harmonics#String harmonics driven by a magnetic field – list of similar guitar effects
- EBow
- Guitar Resonator
- Fernandes Sustainer
- Moog guitar