In 1976, an invitation arrived at Alembic for Rick Turner from an unexpected source: John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. The band, then immersed in recording their seminal album “Rumours” at the Record Plant in Sausalito, with new additions Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, wanted Turner to visit. The purpose? To check on McVie’s early Alembic bass, assess Lindsey Buckingham’s Les Paul and Strat for any necessary tweaks, and perhaps, just to connect. This visit marked the beginning of a fascinating intersection between a master luthier and one of rock’s most innovative guitarists, profoundly influencing guitar history and, specifically, the iconic “Fleetwood Mac Guitar” sound.
Turner quickly found himself at ease with Fleetwood Mac and their studio team – Ken Caillat, Richard Dashut, Rick Sanchez, and guitar tech Ray Lindsey. Regular visits, fueled by the band’s generous hospitality, revealed a shared musical language with Lindsey Buckingham. Perhaps their parallel personal lives, both navigating marital breakups, fostered an unspoken understanding. Thankfully, as Turner wryly notes, he wasn’t trying to record an album with his then-wife amidst the turmoil.
One memorable night in Sausalito’s control room, Richard Dashut burst in, Billboard magazine in hand, exclaiming, “Number one! We’re number one!!” The band’s collective response was disbelief. Their previous album, “Fleetwood Mac,” the first featuring Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, had been released a year prior and, amidst the creative whirlwind and personal dramas of the “Rumours” sessions, had been largely forgotten. In the industry climate of the time, albums were often deemed failures if they didn’t ignite within the first six weeks. Fleetwood Mac had written it off, but now, unexpectedly, it was the top-selling album on the charts.
This success coincided with another significant victory: Mick Fleetwood and John McVie won their lawsuit against their former manager. Years prior, when Fleetwood Mac was essentially reduced to Mick, John, and Christine McVie, their manager had controversially assembled a fake band and sent them on tour as “Fleetwood Mac.” The ensuing lawsuit resulted in all of Fleetwood Mac’s Warner Brothers recording royalties being held in escrow. The band had been forced to rely on live performances with a rotating cast of guitarists. The arrival of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, initially playing covers of older Fleetwood Mac material, injected new life. Their original songs on the “Fleetwood Mac” album shifted the band’s trajectory, but the seismic impact wasn’t truly felt until the “Rumours” sessions. Suddenly, they were the world’s number one band, and years of frozen royalties were released.
John McVie began acquiring Alembic basses, brought to the studio by Turner himself. These included groundbreaking instruments: the first carbon fiber necked bass, a short-scale model in the shape Stanley Clarke would later popularize, and a long-scale fretless bass with a stainless steel fingerboard. This fretless bass became part of music history, its distinctive sound immortalized in the intro to the outro of “The Chain” from “Rumours” – that unmistakable “bum, ba ba bum ba ba ba ba ba booooommmmm” that precedes Lindsey Buckingham’s searing Stratocaster entrance.
For Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar sound on “Rumours,” Turner’s primary contribution was the installation of an Alembic “Stratoblaster” in his Stratocaster. This was the same preamp boost circuit Turner had previously installed in Lowell George’s guitar, famously heard on Little Feat’s live album, “Waiting for Columbus.” For Buckingham, the electric guitar sound that defines much of “Rumours” was achieved by driving his Stratocaster, equipped with the Stratoblaster at maximum gain, into a series of Hiwatt amplifiers. These amplifiers, while excellent for standard guitar output levels, proved no match for the boosted signal. The increased input caused the Hiwatt power transformers to overheat and fail after approximately 20 to 30 minutes of sustained high-gain guitar solos. Fortunately, with three Hiwatt amps at their disposal, a rotation system was established, sending a blown amp daily to Prune Music for repair. This setup, born from necessity, became integral to Buckingham’s raw and dynamic “fleetwood mac guitar” sound on the album.
Image of Lindsey Buckingham 1980 Fleetwood Mac
Alt text: Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac performing live in 1980, showcasing his energetic stage presence and signature guitar style.
Turner’s interactions with Buckingham sparked a deeper reflection on his own Alembic guitar designs. Their extensive guitar discussions led Turner to build Buckingham a custom Alembic guitar – a striking white instrument with black chrome hardware. However, Turner had been harboring concerns about the fundamental suitability of Alembic’s design for guitars, as opposed to basses. This was starkly evidenced by Alembic’s production ratio: 20 basses for every guitar. While some attributed this to the inherently clean sound of low impedance pickups and active electronics, Turner suspected a more profound issue. Even when using Alembic’s variable tone control filter to mimic the frequency response of classic guitars like Strats, Teles, or Gibson humbuckers, the sound still felt somehow “off.”
Turner began to believe the core problem lay in how the strings vibrated. The heavy bridge, mounted on a sustain block, coupled with the stiff, highly resonant neck laminate that ran through the body, from headstock to tail, seemed to restrict the natural string movement. The very construction that gave Alembic basses their visual and sonic distinction was, ironically, hindering their guitars from achieving a warm, inviting tone. Buckingham, who owned an Alembic guitar himself, echoed these sentiments, solidifying Turner’s conviction and setting him on a path to design a completely new instrument – one that would truly capture the “fleetwood mac guitar” spirit he was seeking.
Designing a guitar from the ground up requires a delicate balance: shedding preconceived notions while retaining valuable experience. Turner realized he needed to step back, analyze every design decision logically, and discard conventional wisdom. The process demanded starting with the desired sonic outcome and working backward, remaining open-minded, drawing upon past knowledge, and even seeking inspiration from outside the realm of musical instruments.
Turner’s vision was to create a guitar that blended the warmth of a Les Paul and SG with the clarity of a Stratocaster, adding an acoustic-like dimension to both sound and aesthetics. He aimed to craft an electric guitar that would resonate with acoustic players accustomed to the nuanced tones of vintage Martins, Larsons, and Gibsons, yet still deliver the powerful electric tones favored by guitarists like Peter Green, Eric Clapton, and, crucially, Lindsey Buckingham. The ideal sound, as Turner envisioned it, was akin to “lemon butter – rich with a tangy touch.” This tone needed to be inherent in the instrument’s construction, not simply achievable by swapping pickups on any generic guitar body. He understood that the magic lay in the intricate feedback loop between the vibrating strings and the resonant wood.
The body became the primary focus. Turner knew he had to abandon the neck-through body construction, which he felt limited the body wood’s contribution to tonal warmth. His favorite electric guitars, the original Les Paul Custom with its all-mahogany body (no maple cap) and the Gibson SG, shared a common thread: a mahogany body. Mahogany, known for its dryness in acoustic guitars, imparted a warmer tone in the thicker cuts used for electrics. Turner also aimed for a weight between a Les Paul and a Stratocaster, prioritizing player comfort. Drawing on his knowledge of PA speaker cabinet construction and echo chamber design, he considered the impact of parallel surfaces on standing waves, even in solid wood. He theorized that the SG’s somewhat limited frequency response might be due to parallel surfaces creating unwanted resonances. This led him to the idea of arched top and back surfaces, inspired by the cylindrical tops of 1890s Howe-Orme guitars – a key design element in his favorite vintage acoustics.
Image of Lindsey Buckingham Tusk Era guitar
Alt text: Close-up of Lindsey Buckingham playing a Rick Turner Model 1 guitar during Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk era, highlighting the guitar’s unique body shape.
Turner drafted blueprints for a new guitar featuring a set, glued-in neck and a mahogany body. For warmth, mahogany was chosen for the body, envisioned as a “clam shell” of two halves, each 1.25 inches thick at the center – conveniently matching the thickness of Alembic bass body center sections. For the neck, he ingeniously repurposed laminated scrap pieces from Alembic bass necks, stacking a heel block and scarfing on a peghead to create a stiff, 15-frets-to-the-body neck, reminiscent of a Stratocaster neck in its tonal properties. Combined with a rosewood fingerboard, it promised a balanced complement to the mahogany body. He presented the drawings to Buckingham, discussed the concept of a single pickup with semi-parametric EQ, made minor adjustments, and finalized the blueprint. Buckingham’s immediate response upon seeing the final design was, “I’ll take one as soon as you have it done.”
However, before Turner could build the prototype Model 1, turmoil struck Alembic. Business irregularities surfaced, and a significant amount of money seemed to be missing. Turner initiated an audit but was overruled and subsequently fired for his efforts. He learned a harsh lesson about minority ownership. Fortunately, Turner had previously moved years of canceled checks to his home, and he and a small team began meticulously examining the company’s books. The picture was grim. He involved an attorney and moved the accounting records to his office. A week later, on Pearl Harbor Day 1978, Turner’s house in Santa Rosa was destroyed by arson. He eventually reached a settlement with Alembic, receiving a financial payout and, crucially, ownership of the Model 1 design and his share of the carbon fiber neck patent. He learned a valuable, if cynical, lesson: justice and financial compensation are not always mutually attainable.
Amidst the chaos, Turner resolved to launch his own guitar company. Using the settlement funds and house insurance, he founded Turner Guitars with his then-brother-in-law as a junior partner. They established a workshop in Ignacio, Marin County, and began tooling up to produce the Model 1. A stroke of luck came when Larry Robinson, a friend, managed to purchase approximately 300 Alembic neck scrap laminates without revealing they were for Turner. Jim Furman, a former Alembic employee and friend, designed the preamp/EQ electronics, and Bill and Pat Bartolini agreed to manufacture the humbucker pickup Turner had designed, as he no longer had pickup winding facilities.
Image of Lindsey Buckingham Tusk Era close up
Alt text: Intimate shot of Lindsey Buckingham’s hands playing a Turner Model 1 guitar during a Fleetwood Mac Tusk tour performance, emphasizing his fingerstyle technique.
By the end of summer 1979, Turner completed the first three Model 1 prototypes. Knowing Fleetwood Mac was starting their Tusk tour in late October, he contacted Ray Lindsey, Buckingham’s guitar tech, to arrange a trial. Ray invited Turner to a Hollywood sound stage where the band was rehearsing. Arriving early, Turner watched Ray examine and admire the guitar. Ray plugged it in, placed it on a stand in front of Buckingham’s amps, and they retreated to chat. Buckingham arrived first, walked onstage, picked up the Model 1, and played for about half an hour before the rest of the band arrived. Turner was thrilled; it sounded exactly as he had envisioned. Buckingham then called out to Ray, “Leave the Les Paul, the Strat, and the Ovation at home. This is all I need now!” For Turner, it was a dream come true. The band began rehearsing, and the Model 1 guitar seamlessly integrated into the mix across all songs. Buckingham could coax acoustic-like tones, Strat-like clean sounds, or cranked, Santana-esque sustain from it. It was perfect. After about an hour, Mick Fleetwood approached Turner and declared, “OK, Rick, you did it. How fast can we get a backup for that guitar?” The “fleetwood mac guitar” sound, forever linked to Lindsey Buckingham, had found a new voice in the Turner Model 1, a testament to a chance encounter and a relentless pursuit of sonic perfection.
