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Sir
Zoltan David
Dancing Metals Studio
The
Jewelry
Press |
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Sometimes innovation requires the convergence of a serendipitous meeting. A fresh look at something from a happenstance observer without the baggage of actually knowing how it works, or how it's supposed to work. Case in point, the LZ slide, developed by jewelry designer Zoltan David and slide guitarist Lance Keltner. Zoltan was designing an engagement ring last year for Lance's fiancé' when the conversation turned to music. Lance has been playing guitar since the age of ten, and has been a recording Artist and touring pro for most of his life. He is widely known for his expertise playing slide guitar, so much so that he always carries a slide in his pocket, even when there's no guitar around, just like a child that always wears their bathing suit under their clothes during the summer, in case a pool shows up. When Lance pulled out his slide, a simple brass tube, made the same way it's been made for decades, the not so obvious question out of Zoltan's mouth was “Why isn't it finger shaped?”
The next not-so obvious question was, why aren't they tapered? Most people's fingers are tapered, some are tapered a lot. So started the collaboration between rock guitarist and jewelry designer to create a better mousetrap – umm, slide. The result is functionally perfect – it has lost the physical limitations and drawbacks of a conventional slide by changing several significant factors. It is finger-shaped so that it is ergonomically correct and does not roll around on the finger, it is sized at two points to fit the client's naturally tapered finger exactly, and it is weight appropriate. These four simple innovations allow the most important enhancement to function: a raised contact point. According to Lance, “the fact that the slide now does not turn, gives me the ability to have almost a pinpoint contact, I can actually aim the slide to a contact point.” The LZ slide is also made in cobalt chromium, which is very light, and the contact bar can be made in whatever material the musician prefers. Historically slides have been made in brass, glass, steel and porcelain; each musician prefers a particular material for producing a particular tonal quality. Even different types of glass produce different timbres, and brass is known for richer, fuller tones with more harmonics. Lance and Zoltan are currently working on a version that will allow different material contact bars to be interchangeable, allowing for a myriad of different slide tones from Delta to Rock and all points in between. Who would deny the aficionado who needs a sapphire contact bar to play their spiritual song, think Duane Allman's crying tone on “Midnight Rider", but who needs dinosaur bone to bring out the primal in their animal song. Pull out any Led Zeppelin track that Jimmy Page plays slide on and you will hear that aggression.
One might think that when musicians with the fame and panache of Muddy Waters or Eric Clapton are playing custom guitars designed specifically for them, that someone would have taken an interest in customizing a slide. I suppose the old brass tube worked well enough to make them sound amazing, but most musicians can use a little help getting that perfect tone and passion delivered from heart to mind, and from hands, to strings, amp and speaker.
Lance's guitar slide was the first one delivered. It is custom fit and
weighted perfectly to his finger and hand. His slide is made in
lightweight cobalt chromium steel with a diamond-like hard midnight
black finish that is wear and scratch resistant. The contact bar is in
brass and it has a byzantine style open grill motif. The first time
Lance used his slide, he fell in love with it, it now lives in his
pocket and goes wherever Lance goes. Is it affordable? No. But neither is an Aston Martin or a Bentley, and you still want one of those, right?
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Maybe
an obvious question for Zoltan – since he has been making rings for his
clients for over thirty years that are, yes, finger-shaped. Big
surprise – your fingers aren't round, they're finger-shaped- that is to
say, square with rounded corners.
Anyone
that knows Zoltan knows that he doesn't do the simple version of
anything. The piece de resistance of the LZ slide is the ability to
customize the outer face of the slide. You may be partial to the
showing your pride in the great state of Texas with a five pointed star
relief, but your bandmate may prefer the profile of his favorite
girlfriend (be careful, it's like getting a tattoo, it's there
forever...).