The Widowmaker

The Widowmaker is an abstractly guitar shaped industrial instrument initially invented by Deftly-D and evolved much further with the assistance and welding of Josh Calvi. Versions of the Widowmaker have been used in performances by Deftly-D in the bands Nau-Zee-auN, Terrorfakt, Zero Times Infinity, Orgy Of Noise, Abstinence, and in solo performances. The name Widowmaker was coined by Jared Falcon of November 14, Nau-Zee-auN and A Man's Death due to version 1.0 including a sauce pan that had numerous sharpened steel edges inside that Jared thought would make someone a widow if you put your hand inside. Other names suggested included, Manjo, due to 1.0 being shaped similar to a banjo, and spring guitar. There were many unamplified prototypes to the widowmaker designed for theatrics during Terrorfakt shows. The first prototype used a pipe, a metal rack panel and a lot of duct tape. As the idea evolved, Widowmaker 1.0 was the last of the duct tape models and the first to generate a rich variety of sound partially due to the use of a tension spring and the pieces held together in tension. As Widowmaker 1.0 neared it's death, Josh Calvi, of TerrEtroN offered to help Deftly-D weld together a new instrument with equipment that Josh had used to build his motorcycle. Widowmaker 2.0 featured 2 springs, a tensioned metal surface tightened like a snare drum head, an X panel made from hammered and cut pieces of motorcycle gas cans, and a bayonet cut from a motorcycle exhaust pipe. Widowmaker 2.0 was used for Orgy Of Noise, a Zero Times Infinity reunion at HellLabs, in Terrofakt and numerous shows including both 2009 and 2010's Festival Kinetik where it finally died when someone on stage sledgehammered it repeatedly while Deftly-D was not looking. The skeleton of 2.0 is not amplified and was used at a couple Terrorfakt shows including the 2010 Triton Festival at Coney Island. On September 10th, Deftly-D and Josh Calvi worked on Widowmaker 3.0 which will be used for the 1st time publicly in Nau-Zee-auN at ORDNANCE! on Friday October 1st. Pictures of the construction can be found in the album "The making of Widowmaker 3.0 in Dr. Franken-Calvi's laboratory" on this page. Widowmaker 3.0 is modular with instruments that can be combined or detached to be used as separate instruments. Parts of this version incorporate remains from v. 1.0 and 2.0 plus remains from a sacrificed guitar donated by Chris Castiglione and Jim Sullivan and various metal parts donated by Chris Catsiglione and Josh Calvi. Parts not used were offered by DJ Pet which may be incorporated into a new instrument or module at a later date.