I recently was sent a new, improved version of the Big Ten tone ring from Richard Kulesh, Jr. While it is similar to the old Big Ten, I feel that it is a greatly improved tone ring.

I tried it on several rims, The first one I tried it on was a Tony Pass submerged maple block rim. This was not the best combination for me with this ring. It sounded very powerful, but a bit brash.

The next combination was the Big Ten with the Tony Pass submerged block birch rim. This is an excellent combination. The sound was very clear on each string. The clarity up the next was excellent. There was plenty of volume available. And the variance in tone between the X and Y positions (picking near the bridge and picking near the end of the fingerboard) gave me a range of "colors" that I could easily work with. The bass was also very solid. This is the combination I prefer. It is a rich, full sound that is very flexible and easy to work with.

Rick asked me to also try it on a tone bell rim. I seldom do tone bell installations except as a "last resort" kind of thing, but I still had a tone bell rim, so I pulled it out, and built a banjo around it. This was a really fine combination. Again, there was very strong bass, a full, rich tone, plenty of contrast, lots of clarity, and plenty of punch. In fact, some people might prefer this sound to the regular submerged birch rim.

All in all, I can say this is one of the best rings I have tested.

For more information, contact Rick Kulesh at: kulesh.tonering@earthlink.net

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