Alvino Rey - My bonnie lies over the ocean

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 21 Jan 2011 8:06 pm

Now that's entertainment .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPoJ6x9 ... r_embedded#!

CrowBear Schmitt · Post by **CrowBear Schmitt** » 22 Jan 2011 1:33 am

it sho'is Andy
when watching Alvino's clips, it's great to see that it was all said & done back then

Kekoa Blanchet · Post by **Kekoa Blanchet** » 22 Jan 2011 9:11 am

That's a great clip, Andy! I remember as a kid watching Alvino Rey on the King Family TV show. I was fascinated by his Singing Guitar. Here's a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia entry on "Talk Box":

In 1939, Alvino Rey used a carbon throat microphone wired in such a way as to modulate his electric steel guitar sound. The mic, originally developed for military pilot communications, was placed on the throat of Rey's wife Luise King (one of The King Sisters), who stood behind a curtain and mouthed the words, along with the guitar lines. The novel-sounding combination was called "Singing Guitar", but was not developed further. Rey also created a somewhat similar "talking" effect, by manipulating the tone controls of his Fender electric guitar, but the vocal effect was less pronounced.

Your post prompted me to look around in cyberspace and I ran across this clip, with Alvino Rey telling us all about his instrument.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95eWrUcBfuk

George Keoki Lake · Post by **George Keoki Lake** » 23 Jan 2011 10:32 am

Ya gotta wonder how Louise was able to co-ordinate her voice so precisely with Alvino's steel work !

Robbie Lee · Post by **Robbie Lee** » 27 Jan 2011 8:36 am

I love Alvino Rey so much. If he's not the most underrated entertainer of the 20th century, I don't know who is. So important to the history of popular music, and virtually unknown to my generation.

Where's Stringy?!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 27 Jan 2011 8:39 am

Yeah, and while everyone rightly talks about Leo Fender, Les Paul and Merle Travis, Alvino's name is often left out. He was a very important consultant to the guitar industry.

Robbie Lee · Post by **Robbie Lee** » 27 Jan 2011 8:49 am

I don't remember if this was ever discussed here, but a year ago at Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival, there were a couple of Alvino's instruments on display. I never got the scoop on them, but he seemed to have the most unusual things. Scroll down on this page, and look at the third photo.

http://www.mosriteforum.com/forum/viewt ... =26&t=1292

Deke Dickerson · Post by **Deke Dickerson** » 31 Jan 2011 10:15 pm

Those Alvino guitars were brought down from Utah by noted collector Lynn Wheelwright, who knew Alvino very well and wound up purchasing a bunch of Alvino's instruments from the family.