GuitarViol/Arpeggione Experimentations

[@videnteloco]

About 20 years ago I discover one guy who plays guitar in this way, now im discovering more people doing it and I think that's fantastic.

[@InsertName125]

Best GuitarViol video on KZbin.

[@guitardiva2]

Love your music and LOVE

[@Jon_Francis]

Thank you!

[@janettehill8544]

Spacious, Contemplative Music. LOVE IT!!

[@TogaManGuitarViols]

Awesome as always Jon! Cheers!

[@imaginary_scales]

Amazing work!

[@Jon_Francis]

Likewise!

[@guitfidle]

Absolutely beautiful!! Love the playing, and love the instrument (s). The bow at around 9 minutes looks like the one for my Sarangi :)

[@Jon_Francis]

guitfidle One of the many bows I use was designed for an esraj, pretty much the same as yours! Thank you for the kind words!

[@jaytc3218]

10:00 reminds me of a crowded market in Shanghai.

[@Jon_Francis]

best comment ever

[@InsertName125]

Awesome cat! I had the exact cat, and he used to do the same thing.

[@Jon_Francis]

It's in their DNA!

[@donaldyarosz4497]

Hey, I'm a fan!

[@DityaSangGita]

I really loved it! I am really curious about this instrument. I am a cellist btw. But I don't play the guitar. I think one should know both instruments to play this. I right here could barely touch that instrument, nothing more. I am happy seeing an artist like you, especially with this guitar viol 😊

[@Jon_Francis]

DityaSangGita Thank you for your kind words! I knew very little guitar and almost no cello when I started with the guitarviol (I was a bass player.) I think you need to treat the instrument as having its own unique voice. Having facility with a bow helps, but it just takes time, as with anything. I encourage you to try one if you can!

[@redfaust8189]

Beautiful stuff! Such an incredible instrument, and you really give it life.

[@Jon_Francis]

Thank you so much, Christopher!

[@redfaust8189]

Of course! I'm a guitarist and to me, the guitarviol is like the Mt. Everest of guitars. But it's expensive as fuck and even harder to find videos of it on KZbin. So thanks for providing some incredible tunes and atmospheric jams that show off your talent and that fill the guitarviol-sized hole in my heart. ☺ P.S. Sorry for the fan-boy overshare. 😅 Keep up the amazing artistry!

[@TogaManGuitarViols]

Christopher, thanks for your feedback! Jon is amazing and I live vicariously through his playing! ( have been so consumed getting a years of order at a time out the door and it's more than most imagine! At present, GVs are hand built (expensive to build) and not factory friendly for the consumer market. Please stay tuned! I am working on it!

[@redfaust8189]

TogaMan GuitarViols Oh my God! Jonathan! I am a big fan of your luthiery. I'm totally geeking out now! During a challenging time in my life, I had a picture of a guitarviol on my wall (I'm not making this up). I kept it there, with some other inspiring pictures, to inspire me to dream big and live an adventurous and meaningful life. Seriously, if you ever find a way to make an affordable guitarviol, for folks like me, I might never touch a standard guitar again! It would be a game changer! In the meantime, I will also keep enjoying Jon's jams and living vicariously through him. Haha! :)

[@TogaManGuitarViols]

Christopher, I am happy that what I have spent the last 30 plus years chasing has been an inspiration for you! I won't kid you, it has been a steep journey and I took some flack for even thinking of it in the early days! (80's). I was just building my dream instrument with little thought that I would be scrambling the last 15 of those years to make them for anxious and eager players! (so, yes, I barely play except for the occasional 15 second instagram clip these days - very little sandbox time!). Very few know what goes into each one of these manufacturing resistant pieces and I am often chided for not having a big mass production operation. The truth is I have had interest from big companies but they chickened out when they realized just how hard they are to make well enough to be playable! Ironically, I have been working on engineering/tooling for the next thing, but that has been in a holding pattern for a few years as month to month demands + current models going out. So progress is done in short sprints over time. Stay tuned!

[@zitherbefree]

Food for brain and soul 🎧

[@xhibitionism]

This is life just amazing.

[@johngunter3696]

Hey brother I gota say I love it but I kinda hate u at the same time lmfao simply because I've been working on this exact concept for several years and had a few prototypes built over the times. It none really satisfied me enough to bring out to the world just yet until recently I was able to find someone interested in paying for the creation and then distributing the new instrument once we searched to make sure it hadn't been done already yet here u are all the same glory ide thought was my own original idea I guess it was inevitable someone else was gona have the same concept too lol but man it's beautiful amazing job my uats off to u my freind congrats on it too it's simply awsome

[@Jon_Francis]

Jonathan's been building these for about fifteen years or so. I've been playing his stuff for about five or six years. There are also a few others out there building arpeggiones and da gambas too. There's enough room for everyone!

[@himynameiscameron1]

6:27 sounds like an adult swim bump

[@Cellosong2007]

Time for Schubert Arpeggione Sonata ❤❤❤

[@TogaManGuitarViols]

You are awesome

[@robsonberzerker1289]

amazing brother! Was it Togaman who created you this guitarviol? I'm from Brazil and would like to try to build one, the material is scarce, if possible could you one day record covers of traditional folk music, such as "the blacksmith", or metal classics? I would be very grateful to see how the dynamics would work!

[@Jon_Francis]

Thank you very much! Yes, both instruments are by Jonathan Wilson of Togaman. I will hopefully be doing trio shows of world music soon, so I would very much like to perform "The Blacksmith" and other trad tunes. I also play the electric in a band called Daughter Vision. If there is something in particular you would like to see, please let me know and I will try to get a video together.

[@joshua2400]

God Christ Jesus bless you both, have a nice day today my brothers

[@kimseniorb]

I wish they would be more reasonably priced.

[@FabienC-MusicAndSoundDesign]

What about that bass boost, though? :P

[@nostalgia_junkie]

6:27 very nujabes in vibe

[@kimseniorb]

Hi Jon, would you mind sharing the radius on the bridge or at 24th fret?

[@Jon_Francis]

Jonathan Wilson of Togaman Guitarviols can probably better explain it, but I know on the older models, the radius starts at 7.5" at the nut and projects to the bridge at 2.5". At the 24th fret, it’s 3.25" with a total scale of 21". That may have changed over the years.

[@ianlefeuvre5041]

Beautiful playing! Hey what's that you're using as a capo? I had Jonathan try to make me one for my guitarviol but it didn't quite work.. I love the way you can move yours on the fly while playing - what a fantastic option that is:)

[@Jon_Francis]

It’s actually just a hair scrunchy to cut down on string noise. I’ve not cracked the capo code yet!

[@gregparadi]

Hey Jon, great playing ! Which one is the Facebook group you are referring to? I am planning to get a GuitarViol, but I haven't seen any of them in Europe ... And I'd love try one before buying :(

[@Jon_Francis]

It's called TogaMan GuitarViol Player's Group. There are quite a few European players in there! Best of Luck to you!

[@dinomeneghin2987]

Great stuff! What bows are you using?

[@Jon_Francis]

Dino Meneghin Thanks! I use a lot of different ones. Usually a full size cello, but sometimes an esraj bow or a finger bow made by Expanding Hands.

[@dinomeneghin2987]

Thanks for the reply. Really cool stuff!

[@mattimaranda9638]

9:23 GEEZZZZ DON'T ever do that!!!

Yngwie Malmsteen has left he chat

[@brentbreault7606]

Your bow technique is awful

[@Jon_Francis]

Brent Breault self taught!