Leo Burrell This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. guitarz.blogspot.com

   guitarz.blogspot.com/2003_10_0 - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/1/2003   Last Visited: 11/10/2007

   Leo Burrell, retired pastor of Norwood Free Methodist Church, has invented and sells what he calls "the only truly ergonomic guitar." The guitar is constructed at an angle and without internal bracing to curve around the musician's body. It was patented three years ago. Burrell also invented a twisted neck guitar that was patented in 1985.

2. 2. Guitar Blog

   guitarz.blogspot.com/2003_10_0 - [Cached]

   Last Visited: 11/10/2007

   Leo Burrell, retired pastor of Norwood Free Methodist Church, has invented and sells what he calls "the only truly ergonomic guitar." The guitar is constructed at an angle and without internal bracing to curve around the musician's body. It was patented three years ago. Burrell also invented a twisted neck guitar that was patented in 1985.

3. 3. Graffiti Online - Issue Archive - Twisted guitars, horizontal windmills and catfish cars:

   www.grafwv.com/archive_showsto - [Cached]

   Published on: 4/3/2003   Last Visited: 1/23/2005

   Image: Leo Burrell's "twisted neck" guitars
   
   Twisted guitars, horizontal windmills and catfish cars:
   
   The innovative world of Leo Burrell
   ...
   Leo Burrell, a self-made jack-of-all-trades - and master of more than one - happened to be talking about his custom-made "twisted neck" guitars. But he may as well have been talking about his life.
   
   For as long as he can remember, the 68-year-old Huntington resident has looked at things differently than most. As a result, he's had a never-ending rush of ideas to improve the design and efficiency of a variety of items ranging from the sorting bridge at a U.S. Post Office mail distribution center to windmills and cars.
   
   His current brainchild is a revolutionary line of guitars that combines a "twisted neck" - a fingerboard that has a seven-degree twist - with a parabolic-shaped body that's contoured to fit the player.
   
   "I tried to conform but straight just doesn't work for me," Burrell said. "I tried to use normal bracing for two and one-half years and it just didn't work for me. And there was no reason for me to build a flat guitar. There are thousands of people who do that and they don't need me."
   
   Burrell hopes demand for his unique (and patented) design, an idea which first came to him in the early-'50s, will be sufficient to start a full-fledged production facility. His optimism is shared by those who have bought his instruments - Burrell has shipped guitars to various points in the U.S., and to Canada and Scotland - as well as members of the Wayne County Economic Development Authority who have taken more than a passing interest in his project.
   ...
   Now, Burrell is the classic work-at-home entrepreneur. He fashions the necks and bodies of his instruments in a cramped woodworking shop in a converted garage behind his house and does most of the finish work in his kitchen. Currently, guitar No. 55, a gorgeous instrument with a curly maple back and neck, and a spruce top, hangs, waiting for coats of laquer, above the washing machine.
   
   Burrell uses kiln-dried, locally grown walnut, maple ash and cherry from Jim C. Hamer Lumber in Kenova (a family-owned business that dates back to the '40s). Because his design is totally new, he had to fabricate most of his jigs for his router and come up with a unique bracing system for the curved bodies. He's currently working on No. 58.
   
   Burrell's brochure lists nine models, ranging from a standard-sized guitar to a jumbo and dreadnaught, as well as a classical model and an acoustic bass. The options are limited to types of wood, binding and tuning keys. Burrell also makes an equally eye-catching (and excellent sounding) line of electric guitars and basses that employ his "twisted neck" principle and offset body.
   
   "I don't work to specifications," he said unapologetically. "I'm an artist - if you like art you buy them."
   
   If the reaction to his guitars at a recent NAMM show (a showcase for new music products) in Nashville is any indication, Burrell may be on to something.
   
   "They brought a number of musicians over and they all said it was the best instrument they've ever played," Burrell said proudly.
   ...
   The path that led to the production of Burrell's twisted guitars was a long and circuitous one. Along the way, the luthier amassed a rather astounding resume.
   
   "I'm an old everything you can think of," he said.
   
   And he's not joking.
   
   Before retiring, Burrell's most recent gig was as an ordained minister. From 1989 until 1991, he was the pastor at the Norwood Free Methodist Church in West Huntington - one of the few jobs he actually had actual credentials for. Some of his other jobs included: start-up engineer at a number of nuclear power plants, building contractor, data entry, car salesman, real estate salesman and insurance salesman.
   
   "And I'm also a good bread baker," he added.
   
   So, being a man of the cloth, was Burrell's design a product of divine intervention?
   
   "I have to be careful about saying 'the holy spirit drove me to do this or that,'" he said.
   ...
   "I ate in their home and got to ride in the Tucker Torpedo," said Burrell. "Maybe that rubbed off on me."
   
   Years later, when Burrell was attending God's Bible School in Cincinnati, he stopped to pick up a classmate on his way to church. While he was waiting, he tried playing his friend's guitar.
   
   "I said to myself, 'I'll play the guitar when the guitar can conform to my shape and I don't have to conform to the guitar.' That was the beginning."
   
   But it would be another 30 years, while he was helping to get Michigan's Midland Nuclear Power Plant up and running, before he would take the next step.
   
   "I was making a little more money than we needed so my wife gave me permission to go to the shoebox - where I kept all my ideas - and pick out an invention to work on."
   
   Burrell applied for a patent in 1983 - without having ever made an instrument. He then made some calls to Bill Kaman, the owner of Ovation Guitars. Burrell felt that Kaman, whose guitars were also unconventional (they introduced a rounded, composite back) might be intrigued with his design.
   ...
   "He said he wasn't interested," said Burrell, "and that my twisted neck wouldn't work."
   
   Undeterred, Burrell purchased an old Crestline acoustic, removed the neck and went to work, following the drawings he used to obtain the patent. When he was done, the neck on his prototype - which still hangs on a wall in his house - had a dramatic 45 degree twist.
   
   "You have to do the ridiculous to illustrate the sublime," Burrell explained.
   
   Burrell and his wife Fran, a Huntington native, have been married since 1956. The couple moved back to Huntington in 1989, into the house Fran grew up in, and Leo took the pastor's job at the Norwood church. Then, he went to work building his first instrument.
   
   He completed his first guitar in March, 1991 and, to date, he's sold approximately 12. He's also donated six specially-made student instruments each to Mountain State Christian in Culloden and Oakdale Christian High School in Jackson, KY. Burrell said he is continually looking to improve both his production methods and the finished product.
   
   "I'm not a musician so I'm always asking, 'How does this sound?'," he said. "It's a constant consulting thing."
   
   Often working 16 hours a day, Burrell said he's driven to see his idea come to fruition.
   
   "At my age, I feel I had to accelerate my work so I could accomplish my goals before I bonk out," he said with a grin. "A man doesn't want to check out while his work is half done. I'm a man with a mission."
   
   Burrell said that, if he can put together the money, his next project is building the automobile that's been inside his head for years - perhaps since he road in the Tucker Torpedo some 60 years ago.
   
   "I envision shapes that make sense - and the automobile doesn't," he said.
   ...
   Burrell's instruments sell for approximately $2,400 for an electric (with a hardshell case) and $1,800 for his acoustic.
   
   For more information, contact Burrell at: 304/429-4848 or visit www.burrellguitars.com .