195:, the company originally licensed to manufacture the commercial version of the Gizmotron, released the product to the public in 1979. Quality was inconsistent. According to Musitronics engineer Mike Beigel, "The product, though desired by many musicians at the time, simply could not be reliably manufactured and further – even at best – only worked on some notes of the instrument, guitar or bass." In a bid to solve problems with the Gizmotron, Musitronics hired
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meant either a lack of tone, or — usually in the case of over-eager amateur or impatient guitarists — an undesirably harsh tone caused by wheels being forced too tightly against the strings. Using the
Gizmotron required that guitarists modify their playing techniques to use only a very light touch when pressing the keys. Specific and repeated instructions in the Gizmotron owner's manual stress this.
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389:) that cracks and weakens over time. As a result, the wheels and arms of all Musitronics Gizmotrons become brittle and disintegrate even in "like new" unopened boxes. Other guitar effects have since been used to create sustained tones, but because of the Gizmotron's mechanical nature and physics involved, electronics alone have not been able to replicate the sound.
336:(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. Godley and Creme used only the original prototype Gizmotron in 10cc recordings.
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The severity of these problems could be minimized by adjusting the proximity of the wheels to the guitar strings with extreme precision. Adjustment was very time-consuming, where each wheel (and arm) is moved closer or farther to a string to achieve the purest tone. Improper set-up of these wheels
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In 2013, Aaron
Kipness, a vintage keyboard specialist and restoration parts manufacturer, assembled a small team of engineers to design a new and improved version of the Gizmotron using modern materials and manufacturing methods. Gizmotron LLC was subsequently formed and on February 3, 2016, the
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of their own that varied with the speed of the wheel, or would act as a secondary bridge and produce dissonant overtones, depending on the notes played. According to Kevin Godley, "Some days it sounded absolutely beautiful and other days it sounded like shit. Sometimes it was like a chainsaw, and
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In the
Musitronics version of the Gizmotron, an 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. Musitronics Gizmotron wheels were expensive and problematic to produce.
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is activated by pressing one or all of keys located on the top of the unit. Pressing a key allows the wheel to descend against a motor-driven shaft and bow the corresponding string, while the other hand remains free to fret single notes or full chords.
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In March 2014, it was reported in
Vintage Guitar Magazine that Aaron Kipness was working on plans to launch a new and improved Gizmotron 2.0. The Gizmotron 2.0 debuted at the summer NAMM show in 2015 and was released to the public in 2016.
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Musitronics created a separate division, Gizmo Inc., to produce the
Gizmotron and solve its problems. Deeply in debt and unable to raise the funding necessary to continue operations, due largely to a failed Musitronics marketing deal with
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Plagued with design and manufacturing problems, the
Musitronics Gizmotron did not live up to expectations and was a commercial failure. Production of the Musitronics Gizmotron ended in 1981 when the manufacturer filed for bankruptcy.
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Musitronics offered two versions of the
Gizmotron to the public; one for guitar and one for bass. Ultimately, few Musitronics Gizmotrons were made; bass versions were produced in a much larger quantity than guitar versions.
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The Gizmo was first used on 10cc's instrumental "Gizmo My Way", a song arranged as a type of laid back beach music, where it appears as a slide guitar effect and sustained background effect. "Gizmo My Way" was the B-side to
232:(1974), which included more uses of The Gizmo, most notably on the track "Old Wild Men". Its presence is heard throughout most of the track as a unique shimmering background guitar effect. The Gizmo was also used on the
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to design an electronic device to "mask the inadequacies of the still unperfected product”. Moog gave his opinion that he did not know how to “make it sound good enough” and advised that the project should be abandoned.
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Gizmotron 2.0 was released. The innovations made to Godley and Creme's original design were substantial enough that
Kipness was awarded a US Patent (9,997,144) for the Gizmotron 2.0.
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The name "Gizmotron" 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
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The device, a small enclosure attached to the guitar, consists of small motor-driven wheels with serrated edges to match the size of each string. The continuous
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sometimes it sounded like a cello and other times it varied between to two, so it was never a particularly stable piece of kit, but we persevered with it.”
289:, 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
579:– Similar guitar systems which use electromagnetism, rather than mechanical energy, to sustain and in some cases to activate the strings:
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Provoost, Bart, "What the heck is that?! Behind the scenes of the weirdly wonderful gizmotron, in
Gearphoria pp 24-25, SEP/OCT 2014 Vol 3 No 1
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Taped or permanently attached to the body of an instrument, the
Gizmotron uses small, motor driven plastic/rubber wheels to make the
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Today, intact and working Musitronics Gizmotrons are virtually non-existent. The wheels and arm attachments were made of a plastic (
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John Wilson, guitarist for Meat Beat Manifesto used both a bass and guitar Gizmotron live and on recordings from 1996 to 1998.
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251:(1976) on the tracks "Blackmail", "Brand New Day", "How Dare You", "Lazy Ways", "Iceberg", and "Don't Hang Up".
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A fault with the prototype and Musitronics Gizmotron was that the wheels were affected by conditions such as
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The Gizmo's ability to create a wide range of sounds was central to the production of
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which was intended to be a promotional album to market the "Gizmo". According to
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Guitar harmonic § String harmonics driven by a magnetic field
689:. Guildford, Surrey, England: Genesis Publications. p. 287.
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University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology
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Other Godley & Creme albums featuring the Gizmo include
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in 1975, whilst they were members of the British rock group
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The Gizmo continued to be used on 10cc's subsequent albums
570:– the company bought Musitronics and renamed it to
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The Musitronics and Prototype Gizmotron can be heard on:
145:. It was invented in 1969 and patented by the English
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continued to use the Gizmo after they had left 10cc.
58:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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267:'s first post-10cc project, the 1977 triple
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16:Effects device for electric and bass guitars
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118:Learn how and when to remove this message
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226:", and appeared on 10cc's second album,
744:http://www.gearphoria.com/e-mag/v3n1/24
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413:'s recording of "Liverpool Lou" (1974).
277:. Godley and Creme left 10cc to create
715:"Gizmotron | Vintage Guitar® magazine"
470:(Industrial Records, 1979), played by
373:Musitronics and Gizmo, Inc. Bankruptcy
328:John McConnell, a senior lecturer in
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56:adding citations to reliable sources
827:Bass Gizmotron at Effects Database
175:. The device was famously used by
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772:Gambaccini, Paul: Liner notes to
713:Dregni, Michael (18 March 2015).
657:. 13 January 2016. Archived from
789:"Steve Hackett Official Website"
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137:, is an effects device for the
43:needs additional citations for
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822:Gizmotron at Effects Database
758:. 9 July 2015. Archived from
503:(1984) where it is played by
847:Guitar parts and accessories
167:vibrate, yielding resonant,
481:song "Into the Light" from
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523:), where it was played by
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686:Jimmy Page: The Anthology
479:Siouxsie and the Banshees
449:uses it on the intro of "
778:(Mercury Records, 1977)
497:'s "Violet Town", from
442:In Through the Out Door
242:The Original Soundtrack
224:The Wall Street Shuffle
186:In Through the Out Door
756:"Guitar Player - Gear"
236:track "Baron Samedi".
568:ARP Instruments, Inc.
453:" as well as within "
344:Inherent difficulties
793:www.hackettsongs.com
683:Page, Jimmy (2020).
285:'s sleeve notes for
52:improve this article
21:For other uses, see
762:on 15 January 2018.
588:Fernandes Sustainer
505:Marty Willson-Piper
467:20 Jazz Funk Greats
549:Wind and Wuthering
543:Please Don't Touch
516:It'll End in Tears
487:(1981), played by
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472:Cosey Fanni Tutti
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430:London Town
354:temperature
245:(1975) and
234:Sheet Music
229:Sheet Music
193:Musitronics
173:hurdy-gurdy
169:synthesizer
143:bass guitar
67:"The Gizmo"
836:Categories
629:Orchestron
611:References
593:Sustainiac
572:Gizmo Inc.
495:The Church
447:Jimmy Page
177:Jimmy Page
78:newspapers
798:23 August
625:Mellotron
439:'s album
358:harmonics
316:Mechanism
154:Lol Creme
135:Gizmotron
131:The Gizmo
633:Birotron
557:See also
350:humidity
197:Bob Moog
725:6 March
665:6 March
563:Mu-Tron
433:(1978).
427:" from
332:at the
330:physics
212:Origins
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423:song "
387:Delrin
291:violin
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