The N-Tune Story

The story of N-Tune begins the same as most good stories-at the beginning.

The N-Tune legend is the story of an epic journey. So savage was its genesis, that no one emerged unscathed. The year is 2002-a dark one by any sane man's recollection. Tom and Seth are at Tom's house, guitars at hand, sipping the latest microbrew ready to continue their life long dream of playing Stairway To Heaven note-for-note. Seth, being the perfectionist he can be, insisted on perfect tuning for the performance of such an iconic masterpiece. As fate would have it, his not-so-trusty tuner was nowhere to be found. "All I wanna do is play!" Seth howled as they searched. Tom could see the veins bulging on Seth's neck as he trashed his own house with increasing force-his concern for his old friend was growing.

Finally they located the cursed tuner under the refrigerator, where all objects wind up when not wanting to be found. Relieved, Tom opened two more beers, handing one to Seth. Unfortunately, events were to turn even darker. It seems the last time Seth used his tuner, he had forgotten to turn it off, and its batteries were quite dead. Seth fell to his knees, his hands curling into grotesque claws, crushing the offending tuner to dust. He cast his head to the heavens, raised his arms, and in a voice that could only be described as pure pathos, screamed, "How is this possible? Why can't somebody make a tuner built into a guitar?" Tom, somewhat frightened by his friend's outburst tried to comfort him, saying "Dude, its ok, we'll just tune by ear." Seth sprang up like a grasshopper on a hot plate. Something inside him snapped and he grabbed Tom by the collar, violently shaking him while screaming, "Tune by ear??? This is Stairway To frickin' Heaven we are trying to learn here!"

Tom was scared-and rightly so, as there are few things in this world as frightening as a Zepplin fan on a rampage. Seth's eyes were bulging like bloodshot eggs, and his breath was heavy with beer and bile. Tom managed to break free of Seth's maniac grasp with a quick knee to his groin, leaving Seth crumpled on the floor, a whimpering shell of his former self. Tom recovered his composure and began to feel somewhat responsible for Seth's breakdown, as it was he who suggested they get together and play in the first place.

Shaken, Tom began his holy quest to make things right with Seth. Luckily for all parties involved, Tom was somewhat of a Renaissance man, truly brilliant when it came to invention. He converted a second bedroom in his house into a makeshift lab and began working out ideas. His first idea involved pounding six tuning forks, each calibrated to one string, into the body of an electric guitar. He took this monstrosity to Seth, who immediately pronounced it "bogus" and smashed it over Tom's head. Smarting from the blow, but undeterred, Tom went back to his lab for prototype #2. This time, he routed out a cavity in the guitar's body and mounted an off-the-shelf electronic guitar tuner. Thinking this would do the trick, he again took it to Seth for his approval. "You've got to be kidding." Said Seth as he again, bashed Tom in the head with his own creation. By now Tom was ready to give up. The first shot to the head had wiped away most of his childhood memories, and he was loath to loose anymore. He went to bed with a heavy heart, knowing he would never achieve his goal of giving Seth a guitar with a built-in tuner. The next morning, he awoke, smarting from Seth's latest rebuke. He checked the bathroom mirror, hoping to find he still had a full set of teeth, when he saw itÑand what a glorious sight it was! Imprinted smack-dab in the middle of his forehead was a perfect bass relief of the volume knob from the guitar Seth had just yesterday, whacked him with. And then it happenedÑthat glorious moment when invention comes to life in the mind of the inventor, as if God himself dropped a holy meatball of inspiration right on Tom's already aching head. "Eureka!" he shouted as he ran to his bedroom-lab, still clad in nothing but a towel.

Tom was gripped in a euphoric haze as he wove hardware and electronics into a thing of such purity and beauty, it would have made Einstein pull his hair out in a fit of hateful envy. When he was done, Tom stepped back to witness what his own two hands had created, He could swear it glowed like the Grail itself! And what, you ask was sitting on Toms workbench? A black plastic box with two guitar knobs surrounded by a ring of LEDs. Tom couldn't wait to show this wondrous device to Seth. Being no fool, this time he did not mount it in a guitar, and then strapped on a crash helmet, just in case this prototype yet again aroused Seth's anger, and drove to Seth's house. When Seth set eyes on the unassuming device, he immediately understood its universal purity and rose up, to give Tom a congratulatory hug. Tom, fearing this gesture was the prelude to him getting stomped once more, dove under the table. Seth held the small black wonder in the air with one hand proclaiming "We are now N-Tune" and so they were.

Shortly after this epoch-defining moment, Seth and Tom put together a poker game in the hopes of gaining the financial resources to bring their vision to market. Attending the poker game was one Sam Sudore, who came looking to fleece some rubes in an effort to gain capital for his fledgling startup venture. As these Titians eyed each other, looking for the slightest sign of weakness so they could pounce, the conversation turned to guitars. Seth and Tom regaled Sam with tales of their new invention. Ever the skeptic, Sam told them he must see this wonder to believe it. Seth and Tom agreed, knowing they had captured lightning in a bottle. After the traditional business ritual of the Non Disclosure Agreement, Sam was ushered into the lab where he first laid eyes on what was to become the N-Tune built-in guitar tuner. Like Saul on the road to Damascus, he was immediately converted, and dropped all other business to devote himself to the now shared vision that nobody should have to go through the pain and misery that so afflicted Seth back on that dark day in 2002.

In that moment, N-Tune was fully formed, and ready to take on the world.