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Instruments created one at a time for serious musicians.



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Ted Crocker Guitars Completely New Website Goes Live 1/1/08


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Ted Crocker interviewed by Modern Guitars Magazine.  Click here.


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Ted Crocker was chosen to make instruments for 2 upcoming movies; Honeydripper and Bolden!.
Honeydripper is a John Sayles film starring Danny Glover due for release in late 2007/early 2008.
Set in 1950 Alabama, Honeydripper is an intense glimpse into life in the rural south.

And the blues...

Glover's juke joint is about to go under and he hires an unknown guitar player to fill in at the last minute.

Sonny opened his case and revealed the first electric guitar anyone had seen.

A blurb about the movie says
"it evokes that magic Bo Diddley moment when music fused the blues with rock & roll".



Gary Clark Junior is an accomplished blues musician who plays the role of Sonny.




The script described the guitar as 'a neck screwed to a piece of wood with exposed wires'  

This is how I interpreted and crafted it.








Honey Dripper is in the Crocker 'Rusty Nail' series of instruments and gear.
She had to be up to the rigors of recording the soundtrack in a 21st century studio
as well as hold up to location filming and live recording.
It's Hollywod, so I made two, just in case a stand-in was needed.



I tried to put myself in the mind of Sonny.  I wound three 2 string pickups and put them in an exposed cavity.
Stonehenge pickups are  great sounding and also beautiful artwork.
Taxi donates a feather for mojo to every project..






Cick to learn more





Here's a video of Ben Prestage playing her






Ben is an awesome, award winning blues musician, and a friend...

Ben Prestage was voted “one of the three best unsigned performers in the world”
at the 2006 International Blues Challenge
and is the only two-time recipient of the prestigious
“Lyons/Pitchford Award" for 'Best Diddley-Bow Player'.

Check out Ben Prestage for up to date scedule and more tunes.  



Click to visit the Official Honeydripper Movie site:






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The Back Porch'r is a Rusty Nail guitar made for Sidewalk Bob.
She's similar to the Honey Dripper but has 5 strings with a fully adjustabe bridge.
The Back Porch'r has a 2 and a 3 string Stonehenge pickup.
I listened to a lot of Sidewalk Bob's music  to get an idea how to design for his style and sound.




Each Rusty Nail guitar includes a tweed case, custom stand, wood picks and a vintage strap & cable.
I usually create a few extras for the artist!



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High Freq is a Rusty Nail guitar crafted for Microwave Dave.












High Freq uses a 6 string Crocker Stonehenge pickup with a volume and tone control.
She also has three 1 string pickups for the E, A & D strings, each with its own volume control which goes to a separate jack.
The 2 circuits will allow Dave to output his guitar tone through effects and into a guitar amp,
and also output his bass strings through different effects and into a bass amp.



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The Ugly Duckling/Beautiful Swan is a serious cigar box guitar crafted for a challenge whose goal was to take a beat-up box and turn it into a great instrument.






It won the challenge on the Yahoo Cigar Box Guitar Builders group!


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Soul Bender is a Rusty Nail bass crafted for Mike 'Monotone' Taylor of Big Red & the Soul Benders




Soul Bender has Crocker Stonehenge pickups similar to both a Jazz and a Precision to give Mike more control over his tone.
Stonehenge pickups are individually crafted to suit the musician, the guitar & amp and the type of music played.
Mike will probably get the new nickname 'Multitone'!




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Low Freq is a Rusty Nail guitar being crafted for Ben Prestage.
She is nearly a twin of High Freq and incorporates the same intricate pickup circuits.



Ben is a solo performer and the Low Freq will give him expanded capabilities to voice his bass riffs.
Ben plays a foot drum kit as he picks and sings.  Check his schedule and go see him in person!

Click here for more video I shot of Ben, as well as footage I shot of all the artists at the 2007 Cigar Box Guitar Extravaganza.

Click here to visit my other MySpace project: Cigar Box Guitar Headquarters.




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The Mississippi Stinger is a Rusty Nail harmonica microphone crafted for Blind Mississippi Morris.




   


The Mississippi Stinger started life as a Mulberry tree next door.

Click hear to see and hear the story of her transformation from log destined for the fireplace.
(Clicking on any of the links on this page will take you to more stories and photos)

She has a crystal element and I perform some tricks inside to get a dirty blues tone.
As with all my microphones, it comes in a custom gig case, and this one has 'Morris' on the top in Braille.


Here's Morris and his Stinger in action at BB Kings in Memphis.






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Taser is an instrument from the TC Rocker series:

She's available with your choice of pickups and hardware - even left handed!






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Armageddon is a TC Rocker series guitar still In Progress:






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The Delta Box is a guitar still In Progress.  She defies description...






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Here are some other instruments I've created:


The Spasm Bass is a reproduction of a homemade instrument played in a Spasm Band in 1905 New Orleans.
It was crafted for the upcoming movie Bolden!, a biography of jazz pioneer Buddy Bolden.










The Delta Plank was the inspiration for the Honey Dripper






The BoSS, and Pinetop Perkins tickling her:


   





The Jawbone Harp Mic.  Another Rusty Nail family member., crafted for Pat 'Jawbone' Kenyon.
This one has a Mag/Res element and some under the hood modifications.
All my harmonica microphones are hand made and one of a kind.
I have some tricks to get a great blues tone.
All microphones come with a custom gig case.





   
Contact me if you're a harp player and interested in a Rusty Nail mic.







Fever Baritone








Fever Bass







Romeo y Julietta Cigar Box Guitar



More Cigar Box Guitars





Cohiba Cigar Box Resonator Guitar







Hollow Body Flying Vee







Boat Paddle headless travel guitar prototype







Hot Dog Bun Harmonica Mic prototype

        



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Start imagining what Ted Crocker can create for you...