Anyone remember ronni Letekro

[toejam]

If I remember right didn't Ronnie have a 1\4 stepper guitar for a while ??

Wasn't he the one who invented it or had some hand in making it?

[MSGfan]

Ronnie's guitar tone on TNT's album "Knights of the New Thunder" is one of the best Ive ever heard!! Even by todays standards it's hard to beat!

[Jayster]

Hey guys ,
I pulled this from a differen't board - pretty thorough I'd say.





Joined: Oct 29, 2006
Posts: 125
Location: New England Posted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:52 am The ¼ Stepper was a Hamburguitar built in the late 80's for Ronni by American guitar luthier, Bernie Hamburger. On a normal guitar, every fret is a ½ step, while every two frets amounts to one whole step. The ¼ Stepper simply subdivides the guitar neck into quarter steps, i.e. every fret equals a ¼ step; every two frets equals ½ step; every three frets equals ¾ step; and, finally, every four frets equals your normal whole step. Only six strings, but twice as many frets in the first octave (I think it reverts back to normal fretting somewhere between twelfth and fifteenth fret; Ronni would have to answer that).

From what Bernie says (he has built two of my guitars), the guitar is very difficult to play. He relates that Ronni played it upon delivery, then put it in its case, saying that it's a "lead guitar." It is, understandably, very hard to play chords on because of the unusual finger stretches involved...even for simple triads.

ESP Japan has also made a ¼ Stepper proto-type for Ronni, which a friend spotted while visiting in Norway back in 2001. Still, Ronni stated in a fairly recent interview that it is difficult to play, but that he hopes to eventually get a company to manufacture them because someone out there will show the ingenuity to make the instrument really come alive. I think avant-garde, fusion, jazz, experimental, and Middle Eastern is the school of thought you probably want to tackle the guitar from.

Microtonal music is very odd to the western ear. To hear some very interesting microtonal music, listen to John Catler, probably the West's leading expert on the subject. I recommend his "Evolution For Electric Guitar & Orchestra." Very odd, indeed. Also, he has an idea for a specific microtonal guitar that is much more practical than the ¼ Stepper, namely his 12-Tone Invader. It allows you to play your standard scales and chords (without the crazy stretches), but adds the most "pleasant" tones from the Just Intonation Harmonic Series. You can hit the "true 3rd," which is the common micro-bend blues guitarists go for all the time, as well as a "true" major chord, tons of interesting extension chords, and your usual crazy chromatics. I know I want one badly! Someday...someday...

Check him out at microtones.com. Pretty cool site. Sweet guitars.

...someday...soon...

[jwoods986]

Funny seeing this thread, I just got Knights of the New Thunder on CD a couple months ago (still have Tell No Tales on tape -lol) and was thinking of starting a thread like this - Ronnie rocks!

[fullmetalguitar]

One of the greats for sure.
TNT was one of those bands that, in my opinion,
should have been huge. They had it all....
talent and great songs. An amazing singer and
a killer guitarist. Intuition should have gone platinum.

[horns666]

Yep..I have all RL's stuff including TNTs VERY first import and Vagabond w/Jorn Lande.

[chrisolson]

Yep..I have all RL's stuff including TNTs VERY first import and Vagabond w/Jorn Lande.

I have Vagabond - DON'T expect TNT type stuff... Very experimental to say the least.

[DJROBA]

Ronnie Kicks ass for sure!
I saw them at Monsters of Rock in 87!

[horns666]

I have Vagabond - DON'T expect TNT type stuff... Very experimental to say the least.

Yep, it is..not in a good way either. In a way that makes it sound dated.

BTW..Check out Starbreaker w/ Tony Harnell and Magnus Karlsson..you'll love it.

[chrisolson]

Yep, it is..not in a good way either. In a way that makes it sound dated.

BTW..Check out Starbreaker w/ Tony Harnell and Magnus Karlsson..you'll love it.

Got it. And if you like that, try Westworld as well - Tony, Mark Reale from Riot, and Bruno Ravell from Danger Danger.

[horns666]

Got it. And if you like that, try Westworld as well - Tony, Mark Reale from Riot, and Bruno Ravell from Danger Danger.

Got it..

well...ummm ehh...Y' know..

[Racerx2k]

Glad to see Ronnie getting some much-deserved love. They really shoulda been big.

[chrisolson]

Got it..

well...ummm ehh...Y' know..

LOL!!

[fuel0707]

There were two Vagabond discs - "Vagabond" and "A Huge Fan of Life". I've not had the chance to listen to either one, so I'll defer to Bill's sage review.

If you want to hear Ronni playing some pretty cool, hard rock, check out Wild Willy's Gang. "Camouflage" is the name of the disc and it's really great. Far better than the last two TNT records, in my opinion. And with a track called "Good Monkey", you know it's gotta be good stuff.

[chrisolson]

There were two Vagabond discs - "Vagabond" and "A Huge Fan of Life". I've not had the chance to listen to either one, so I'll defer to Bill's sage review.

If you want to hear Ronni playing some pretty cool, hard rock, check out Wild Willy's Gang. "Camouflage" is the name of the disc and it's really great. Far better than the last two TNT records, in my opinion. And with a track called "Good Monkey", you know it's gotta be good stuff.

Since I'm at work and can't go on a full-blown search for the disc, any links to places that have that disc?