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I built Number 6 in Upstate New York over the course of the holidays in 2008, almost a year to the day since the completion of Number 1, as a variation on it’s direct predecessor, which I finished a few months prior. As with Number 5, Ciat-Lonbarde’s “Old Mr. Grassi” provides the core of this instrument, with the added bonus of two filters hooked to each of the instrument’s respective outputs. Of note on this particular model is the casing, which heralded a return to collaged wooden boxes with hinged lids for the sake of the traveling, etc. – a technique I still employ for “special” boxes, as well as the occasional gift to friends when the twinge of sentimentality doth require. However, unlike Number 3, which took months to collage, due to the fact that the entire lid of the box is composed of collaged purple petals from gardening magazines, Number 6’s paper was originally painted newsprint, whose design was provided by Paulina Velazquez-Solis.

For the faceplate, plexiglass was used once again, but with automotive spray paint used for the design instead of enamels, due to the fact that most of my paint and art supplies were in San Francisco at that time, while we were galavanting around the frozen tundra of the Hudson Valley, adorned in shoes that, above all else, were never intended for snow, ice or hills – long story, lots of falling down. On New Years Eve, after several nights of soldering by the fireside, creating a slightly eerie image of 21^st century, post-apocalyptic americana, this box was delivered to it’s current owner, one Mr. Kenneth Dombrowski in New York City. Enclosed is a recording I made with the box while jamming by the fire americana style at my parents’ house in upstate New York  – oh the haunting melodies! What saturnine dirges to the vespers of the solstice! Interesting to note on this box is its ability to broadcast wirelessly on certain frequencies, as I accidentally discovered after accidentally forgetting to plug the box into an amplifier, yet still being able to hear my performance on it, much to my stupefied conclusion. Accident aside, I’ve yet to recreate any sort of radio-modulated device since – I’ll get back to you when I finally do.