Bradford Reed

Bradford Reed is an American multi-instrumentalist, experimental luthier, and member of the avant-garde band King Missile III. In the 1980s he invented the pencilina, a custom made string instrument.^[1][2]

Bradford Reed
Background information
Genres	Experimental
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Bells, drums, drum programming, guitar, kranton, melodica, organ, pencilina, percussion, piano, sampler, synthesizer, vocals
Years active	30
Labels	Manifatture Criminali, Shimmy Disc, Instinct

Discography

Reed at the unveiling of the Mucky statue in Gowanus

Inventor Bradford Reed playing his pencilina

Artist	Album	Record Label	Release Year
Bradford Reed	Ultra Fresh Super Vibe	Ft.Lb. Records	1992
Bradford Reed	Live! At Home	Ft.Lb. Records	1996
John S. Hall	The Body Has a Head	Manifatture Criminali	1996
King Missile III	Failure	Shimmy Disc	1998
Bradford Reed and Hoppy Kamiyama	The Bubbleman	Horen	1999
Bradford Reed and Hoppy Kamiyama	The Bubbleman 2 (A Day of the Iron Sausage)	Consipio/God Ocean	2000
Bradford Reed	The Stars My Destination	Ft.Lb. Records	2001
Bradford Reed	Solo Live Songs	Ft.Lb. Records	2003
King Missile III	The Psychopathology of Everyday Life	Instinct Records	2003
King Missile III	Royal Lunch	Important Records	2004
OHMSLICE	Conduit	Imaginator Records	2017
Bradford Reed	What's Good for the Goose Is Good	Youngbloods	2019
Satellite and the Harpoonist	Satellite Man	Tonic Records	2020

Pencilina

the pencilina

The pencilina is a custom-made string instrument that Reed invented in the 1980s. The instrument is a double neck 3rd bridge guitar.^{[citation needed]}

The pencilina is similar in construction to two long connected thin zithers. Its two "necks" each have a bridge, tuning pegs, and a set of strings; six strings on one neck and four on the other. Both are open tuned. The treble tuning is adjustable via a multiple tuning bridge. Wedged over and under the strings is a wooden drum stick for the treble/alto/tenor strings and a metal rod for the bass strings, which divide each string into two segments with different pitches. The divided strings can be then played separately, resulting in various harmonic overtones. There are four built-in pickups: two are contact mics mounted in the bridges at one end of each neck, and two are guitar-style electromagnetic pickups which are placed under the strings toward the opposite end. It's played by striking its strings with sticks and may also be plucked or bowed.^[1][2]

The Pencilina was featured on the book/album Orbitones, Spoonharps and Bellowphones (Elipsis Arts)^[3] and is described in Nice Noise by Bart Hopkin and Yuri Landman.^{[4][page needed]}