#99. Ron Samuels: From Arcata to Concert Halls: Building World-Class Marimbas

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt Podcast with my new best friend, Ron.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Ron.

Ron Samuels: Hey, Scott. How you doing?

Scott Hammond: I'm doing good, man. Uh, glad to have you.

Ron Samuels: Hey, I'm so glad to be here, and thank you for inviting me.

Scott Hammond: So your company's Marimba One, is that correct?

Ron Samuels: It is Marimba One. Uh, yes, that's true.

Scott Hammond: In Arcata.

Ron Samuels: Arcata, it is.

Scott Hammond: Which is in California in Humboldt County.

Ron Samuels: Right there.

Scott Hammond: I gotta use my, my prop right away.

Scott Hammond: It's like-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … see over there on the map.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, good to have you, man. Glad to- glad you're here.

Ron Samuels: All right. Thank you.

Scott Hammond: So it turns out, um, you and I were at Humboldt State about the same

Scott Hammond: time.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Were you there around '78? Was that your first year?

Ron Samuels: Um, I, I-

Scott Hammond: Second year?

Ron Samuels: … '76 was when I, when I-

Scott Hammond: So you were already o- on campus before I was.

Ron Samuels: I guess so, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, 'cause I had met you early on, uh, one of my first days, I think-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … at Humboldt State at the-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … uh, remember the Buck House where-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Cluster was?

Ron Samuels: Yep.

Scott Hammond: The yurt, the yurt. In the back they had a yurt.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, and a dome. Do you remember the dome?

Scott Hammond: They had a dome, yeah.

Ron Samuels: S- yeah. Actually, I built that dome with a friend of mine-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Ron Samuels: … and then helped out on the yurt.

Scott Hammond: Were you in the Cluster program?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, I was. Were you in Cluster, too?

Scott Hammond: I was. I was at the last year-

Ron Samuels: Wow

Scott Hammond: … right before they closed it down.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Great program.

Ron Samuels: Yes. Yeah, yeah. It… The people who did well were, were self-motivated.

Scott Hammond: Yes, they were.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, you had to be a self-motivator to-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, which, which I learned later on.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: I didn't, I didn't quite have that one together then.

Scott Hammond: But hey, now you do. You own a company that's, uh, world-class. But I wanna hear the Ron story. So how did you, uh, how'd you get to this chair today?

Ron Samuels: W- uh, so, so how, how did I come to marimbas?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, how did you come to, uh, where'd you grow up? What'd you do?

Ron Samuels: Oh, oh, oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: How'd you wander to Humboldt?

Ron Samuels: So I grew up in, in Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and at the time, every weekend I'd go hiking, go somewhere beautiful, as much as I could. And I looked on a map and found, uh, the California state school that was furthest from LA, and it was-

Scott Hammond: That was-

Ron Samuels: … Humboldt State University.

Scott Hammond: You too?

Ron Samuels: And, and so, so that was my- … that, that was my, uh, approach. And so I came here-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and, and, and fell in love with being here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, we just got back from Glendora. We were down there for, uh… m- my wife's from Ojai, so we went out to-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … look at her old, uh, stomping grounds.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And you know, it's funny. I, I like LA. I just don't like the people or the traffic.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Well, now that I go ba-… I still go back there. My mom still lives there, and I like it a lot more now than I ever did then.

Scott Hammond: It's clear. You can see the mountains.

Ron Samuels: See the mountains. There's great food and-

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah

Ron Samuels: … it's, it's, it's fun.

Scott Hammond: Same for San Diego. I was really surprised you could see the mountains, uh, uh, behind San Diego or behind-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … like Mount Baldy behind the valley there.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. It's beautiful.

Scott Hammond: It's gorgeous.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, what'd you do down there? Just grew up in the valley, valley guys?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. They, I grew up in the valley-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and had, you know, pretty large group of friends, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … we'd all just play in the afternoons and weekends and-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Ron Samuels: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: So what'd you study at Humboldt?

Ron Samuels: At Humboldt State University, uh, I was in Cluster for a year, which is a-

Scott Hammond: Yep

Ron Samuels: … which is a interdisciplinary general education program. And, uh, and then after that, I was an undeclared major, and I took a lot of music classes, a lot of math classes, just, just on my own.

Ron Samuels: I like math.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and that's, that's what I did.

Scott Hammond: I love, you know, cl- we were talking about Cluster a little bit earlier. What it was was a, uh, uh, for our listeners that may not know what Cluster is, uh, it was an alternative general education, uh, program that was on the quarterly system.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And correct me if I'm wrong, no tests, no grades.

Ron Samuels: That's right.

Scott Hammond: You-

Ron Samuels: Just evaluations

Scott Hammond: … evaluations. You show up, you put up, and you-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … uh, participate, and you have to attend. And, uh, it's, it's somewhat self-directed, but also every, every semester had, quarter rather, had a different theme.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, I think winter was, uh, Hum- well, fall/winter was Humboldt County, the core of Humboldt County, and

Scott Hammond: then-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … uh, or was it the great mind? Eh, and then I think spring or, or winter was great minds of the

Scott Hammond: West-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and history. And then the last one, with the fun one, was you get to go to the desert Southwest for three weeks.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Oh, my gosh.

Ron Samuels: Huh. That's great.

Scott Hammond: It was great. We wanna go back 'cause it was so much… We saw so many cool things, and these are professors that had been to the Southwest-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … in the spring and had all the connections to all the people-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, that's great

Scott Hammond: … and the, and the sights.

Ron Samuels: That's so great.

Scott Hammond: Yes. R- good way to get units. So what'd you end up majoring in, Ron?

Ron Samuels: Uh, I never was a declared major.

Ron Samuels: Actually, uh, yeah, I never was a declared major.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, I, I went to school off and on. I'd, I'd go to school for a while, and then I'd stop going and, and work for a while. I did, uh, forestry work, like watershed rehabilitation.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, just back and forth until I got interested in, in, uh, in playing the marimba.

Scott Hammond: And then you got into music.

Ron Samuels: That's right, yes.

Scott Hammond: How'd you get into marimba?

Ron Samuels: You know, I, I actually heard, I heard the marimba at a festival.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And it was, it was African style marimba, which

Ron Samuels: is diatonic, and that's the white keys as opposed to, like, white keys and black pe- keys-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Ron Samuels: … like you find in a piano.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And it was, uh, in an, an ensemble format, so it was a group of instruments and all playing these in- interlocking rhythms.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And I thought it was really great. And so I came back, and then I re-enrolled at, at Humboldt State University and started taking marimba. And-

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool

Ron Samuels: … and what I discovered, that was more classical marimba-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … where you're reading music and reading rhythm and, and, uh… So I played, so I studied for a year, and then I, uh, I was, you know, I wanted to buy one, and I realized they were more than I can afford. So I just, just sort of on a lark thought, "I'll just go ahead and try building one," 'cause-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … it's so much to play, so much fun to play.

Scott Hammond: Did you build it at Humboldt State? Or at your shop?

Ron Samuels: No, I, I, I built it in my living room and other people's garages- … and anywhere I could.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, my backpack.

Scott Hammond: So were you playing at this point, too?

Ron Samuels: Um, w- I, uh, well, at that point, school ended s- and, uh, it was summertime, so I couldn't get into school to practice. So I just, uh, I, I dropped out again and, uh-

Ron Samuels: … and, and, and, and basically started making my own instrument. At that time, things were remarkably inexpensive around

Ron Samuels: here.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And so rent was very cheap, food, everything was inexpensive. So it was like, oh, I, I could, you know, take some time and do this. And I got– I actually worked for Dell'Arte for a while during that period of time.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow. So we just had Michael Fields on.

Ron Samuels: Oh, you did? Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: What a great guy.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yep.

Scott Hammond: So you know Joan and the whole crew back in the day?

Ron Samuels: Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: I was– I worked on one of their road shows.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: The one that, where they toured California and LA and-

Ron Samuels: Uh, it was Malpractice.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And, and so, uh, we went up, all the way up to Canada and down to LA. It was fun, in Sacramento.

Scott Hammond: He's got a lot of stories. They're pretty deep.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I love that.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, nice man. So, uh, what'd you do after college then? Did you just start building marimbas?

Ron Samuels: Um, so

Ron Samuels: yeah. So I, I built, I built a marimba, and it came out like, you know, pretty horrible. You know? And, uh, and so, uh, uh, and so I, I, I decided, okay, I need to, like, learn how to work with wood 'cause I never really worked with wood before.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: So I got a job in a woodworking shop, and, uh, actually ended up being there for five years.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, you know, making some money and, and, uh, and in the evenings, I was essentially using that shop, and for a while I rented my own shop just to like-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Ron Samuels: … you know, okay, I gotta learn how to, to tune the wood.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And so 'cause, 'cause part of marimba making is you're actually tuning a

Ron Samuels: vib- you, you're tuning this wood to vibrate in a very specific way. And, uh, so any wood can vibrate.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: You just have to, like, figure out how to, how to correctly mount it and then how to tune it to make it sound musical.

Scott Hammond: Wow, so it's a unique, uniquely crafted instrument.

Ron Samuels: It's unusual, yeah. It's, it's an ancient instrument.

Scott Hammond: Will it season with time like a good Martin guitar?

Ron Samuels: Um, y- um, y- yes, but it'll season, um, if you send out an instrument, like two instruments of, of good quality, and one of them's to, um, a really good player, and the other would be in an uncontrolled environment, like, like a school where kids could have at it and do anything they want to it.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And if you send them out and they're both equal, and you get them back and you check the keyboard, so one that was played by, by, like a, a conscious, deliberate musician-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … is gonna sound much better than the one that was-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … chaotically played. And we could tell when we get them back how, often, you know, to a certain degree, how they were played 'cause a good player will actually develop the keyboard by-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Ron Samuels: … where they strike and go, "Oh, this is the area that I, I love this sound. When I hit this piece of wood, this particular note, this is the sound I love."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: So they're gonna work that spot and, and actually develop it.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so you took the marimba vision right out of college and started doing this.

Scott Hammond: This is-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … lifelong. You didn't go to the Navy or do anything else.

Ron Samuels: I, I did not go to the Navy.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. I, I hadn't thought about that.

Scott Hammond: Good to know.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I thought anything's wrong with the Navy.

Ron Samuels: No, no, no.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: No, I love it. Um, so I wa- I wanna do, uh, uh, the AI v- section of our show real quick.

Ron Samuels: Oh, wow. Interesting.

Scott Hammond: See what AI has to say. Just-

Ron Samuels: Well-

Scott Hammond: We never really w- whip this out-

Ron Samuels: Uh

Scott Hammond: … too early, but-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I think it's, it's, it's really great.

Scott Hammond: So, um, uh, Ron, Ron Samuels' story begins in Humboldt County, where the natural beauty and creative culture nurtured his early fascination with music and craftsmanship.

Scott Hammond: Fair?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, I think so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Sometimes AI lies about stuff and-

Ron Samuels: Uh

Scott Hammond: … gets it wrong.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He's from Tennessee. No.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: That's not true. Um, uh, Samuel recognized early the limitations of the available marimbas in the United States. Okay. They– I imagine that to be true. They were a very limited source, sourced item, right?

Ron Samuels: I mean, I mean, I'm not sure about that so much.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: I just recognize that, that they were really cool, and I didn't know-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Ron Samuels: … they were limited or, or needed to be improved or anything.

Scott Hammond: Many instruments suffered from inconsistent tuning, poor materials, and unreliable construction, which hampered professional performance and

Scott Hammond: education.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, so yeah, over time, I, I grew to understand that.

Scott Hammond: There's some crap in the market, in other words.

Ron Samuels: Y- yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Pe- people who say it's really great, but really-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … haven't worked out the bugs.

Scott Hammond: Hey, I wanna get a marimba on Amazon.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, pr- maybe not.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Um, taught himself the in- intricacies of instrument design, wood selection, and acoustic optimization. That's a cool phrase.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I, I, I didn't know that was a thing. Uh, and then you found in '87, it says you founded Marimba One.

Ron Samuels: That's right, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So you guys are, like, old.

Ron Samuels: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Silverbacks.

Scott Hammond: Almost almost as old as Steve Cole.

Ron Samuels: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Hey, Steve.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is Steve still working with you?

Ron Samuels: He is, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wanna hear my Steve Cole story?

Ron Samuels: I, I'd love to.

Scott Hammond: If you're just joining us, by the way, my new best friend, Ron Samuels from Marimba One, which is in Arcata, which is in California. And, uh, I, I get the sense that you guys are, like, the, um, I don't know. I was, I would say Martin Guitar. That's not even– that's too big. Maybe a really specialized marimba source for, for the marketplace of musicians.

Ron Samuels: Um, y- y- yeah. We're– I, I wouldn't consider us, like, exclusive, like, you know, out of range, crazy expensive.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Ron Samuels: But we're definitely highly specialized and focused, I would

Ron Samuels: say. Uh, I mean, honestly, m- more than any other manufacturer, I believe.

Scott Hammond: I was t- use the word jag. You're the jag of-

Ron Samuels: The jag, yeah

Scott Hammond: … you're the Mick Jagger.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. So Steve Cole, what, what are you thinking about Steve?

Scott Hammond: Let's ta- let's talk about Steve Cole.

Scott Hammond: Um, um, when, when I was, before I was married to Joni, which I have been for forty-five years, um- I lived with Janet and Steve Cole when they were building Yakima

Scott Hammond: racks.

Ron Samuels: Oh, I didn't know that.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: He would work six days a week, twelve hours a day.

Ron Samuels: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so, uh, uh, faithful and diligent, and the guy would ride his bike to work every day in the rain.

Scott Hammond: I'm going-

Ron Samuels: He-

Scott Hammond: "Who is this guy?"

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they turned me on to really good music and just… You know, I was a college room-housemate.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, I think a pretty good one probably at the end of the day. I was probably pretty responsible.

Ron Samuels: You, you did your dishes and swept up?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I didn't really clean. Maybe I did. So I gr- I, I actually raised rabbits, and I would make a rabbit stew. I'd put them in a crockpot-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … with a can of soup.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Come back and have a student's feast at night.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And so they, they got into raising rabbits, I think, after that. But just a, a lovely guy, and I've known him through the years and-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … you know, un- understated.

Scott Hammond: He-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, very understated.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: So, so Steve Cole, there was, it was my understanding there were, there were two people who really founded the company, Steve and– Steve Cole and Don

Ron Samuels: Banducci.

Scott Hammond: And Don, yeah.

Ron Samuels: And Steve was the engineer. And, and I met Steve, um, I think it was maybe two thousand or two thousand and one, I'm not really sure, and I was– I went to Freshwater Stables. I was getting truckloads of manure for my garden.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Ron Samuels: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Was it free?

Ron Samuels: It, it was free.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, and, uh, and Steve was there. I recognized who he was, but I never s- we'd never talked.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Ron Samuels: And so we just started talking while we're shoveling our manure into our, in our trucks.

Scott Hammond: That's funny.

Ron Samuels: And, and so he had, he just sold Yakima.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And Steve has a, like you were saying, a real love of music, and he's also an excellent singer. He's got a very low bass-

Scott Hammond: Oh, he's got that low voice.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And so he, you know, I invited him over just to check out what I was doing and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … and, and really we've been working together ever since.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So he, he transitioned right over from making,

Scott Hammond: uh, Yakima.

Ron Samuels: He-

Scott Hammond: Yakima was a rack system that-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, competed with, uh, Thule.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it, you have a– yous can see 'em. There's two in the whole world. Those are the two.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: There's, there's knockoffs, but those are the guys.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. And, and so S-S- Steve– like you're saying, Steve is just this really wonderful, kind, gentle person that's got, like, a heart of gold.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And he brought these really interesting specialties

Ron Samuels: from Yakima-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … um, that he's really set up over there to marimba one.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you're engineering parts for, for marimbas and, and specialty

Scott Hammond: sort of-

Ron Samuels: Yes

Scott Hammond: … I can't imagine what they would be, but okay.

Ron Samuels: So, so, so, so, um, he, he brought over a lot. He's, he's a, he's a, he's a really interesting guy. And so if you need to, like, glue some strange materials together-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … he'll figure out the cor-

Scott Hammond: How to do it

Ron Samuels: … the correct properties of the glue you need.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Ron Samuels: But what he started with with us is, is extrusions and injection molding. And extrusions are where, like with the little kid, you have the lump of clay, and you put it in the little holder, and you press the lever, and a little heart or star comes out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: That's extrusion. So pretty much-

Scott Hammond: I remember those, yeah

Ron Samuels: … pushes it out. And so we started designing up our own extrusion so we could be really deliberate about what we

Ron Samuels: were making.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Ron Samuels: And then he started designing up these injection mold parts that interface with the extrusions, and they're, like, engineered pl-plastics like nylon-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … acrylic, things like that.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, um, so he started doing that.

Ron Samuels: And then,

Ron Samuels: um, and then sometime later, we, we started purchasing, uh, CNC machinery.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And so we'd put our extrusions on the CNC machinery and machine it out in various ways that were designed to interface with these injection molded parts. So Steve developed these whole systems of frames. We, we'd work together on the concepts-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and he would, like, Steve would work it out, and then we'd-

Scott Hammond: Just figure it out

Ron Samuels: … get it into production.

Scott Hammond: Invaluable.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, really great.

Scott Hammond: So that, that was all part of c-c-creating the, the assembly line, which is a, a poor way to say how you build these.

Ron Samuels: Y-yeah, like, we, we, we batch everything out.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and so, you know, everything is, w-um, we have, like, really good drawings, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … documented out and, you know-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Ron Samuels: … we go, "Okay, we're gonna make a run of these, you know, these frames, you know,

Ron Samuels: today-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and these resonators tomorrow"-

Scott Hammond: Great

Ron Samuels: … kind of thing.

Scott Hammond: Hey, could you, could you bring in the marimba real quick? The one that you, the one that you bought today?

Ron Samuels: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Just kidding. That's, that's, that's funny. Um, they're actually pretty big and pretty heavy, right?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, so a t- a typical marimba for us is just over eight

Ron Samuels: feet long.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and yeah, so and it's probably close to three hundred pounds.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So if I was to tell Siri to play some marimba music-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … right now, what, what would come up? Would it be Dave Brubeck?

Ron Samuels: Oh, that-

Scott Hammond: Would it be-

Ron Samuels: Uh, n- yeah, I-

Scott Hammond: … Chick Corea?

Ron Samuels: I wish, I wish.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: It'd be more like a contem-contemporary classical music.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And so but if you were to call something up on Siri, like, um, a really

Ron Samuels: beautiful, uh, some beautiful pieces on marimba would be like, "Okay, Siri, play the Bach Cello Suites on marimba."

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, there's been excuse me, a number of people who've recorded those.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. So that'd be like a good place to begin.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And then there, the, the music, there's, there's been quite a bit of music written for the marimba-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Ron Samuels: … that's would be con- like contemporary music. And, uh, some of it's solo, some of it's with like

Ron Samuels: drums and-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … all sorts of instruments.

Scott Hammond: So who's the marimba dude or the marimba chick that's-

Ron Samuels: Right

Scott Hammond: … known, known for-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … tours and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … plays with symphony or…

Ron Samuels: I mean, that, that's a great question. I mean, there, um-

Scott Hammond: And it's, it's gotta be dozens, but-

Ron Samuels: Y-yeah, yeah. Um, there's– what, what's really happening right now is there's a whole younger generation of players that are coming on, and there was some pioneer players, you know, that are older and, uh, who, who really Elevated the whole level of, of marimba. And, uh, and now these younger players, they're like, they're doing what the older players-

Scott Hammond: I see

Ron Samuels: … you know, were excelling at. Just, you know, just sort of, uh, at a very… Uh, the younger players are-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … are really amazing. They're, they're really something.

Scott Hammond: It sounds like bluegrass and then Sam Bush and new grass and-

Ron Samuels: Yes

Scott Hammond: … all the other stuff that took off from there.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. That, that's, that's a great analogy.

Scott Hammond: And then you have Fish and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … String Cheese Incident and-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … all the other guys that-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … took off with a theme.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Cool. I wanna play some tonight. Hey, uh, let's… Hey, you wonder what the bell is for?

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Let's play for a minute.

Ron Samuels: Okay.

Scott Hammond: So you're playing today for a Dick Taylor milk chocolate bar, 55% with Alexandria Farm, Alexandria Farm

Scott Hammond: A2 milk.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: You know those guys up in-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Smith River?

Ron Samuels: Great milk.

Scott Hammond: Actually, they're, yeah, they're great. And they also are in, uh, f- Ferndale too. They have a farm down there.

Ron Samuels: Huh.

Scott Hammond: These guys are buds. They're supposedly really… Oh, it's hazelnut too.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: But it's not quite yours yet-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … 'cause you have to answer some questions.

Ron Samuels: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Are you ready?

Ron Samuels: I'm, I'm nervous.

Scott Hammond: Are you a little excited?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, I'm pretty excited.

Scott Hammond: Are you ?

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It gets your heart a little bit.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay, question number one. Hey, Ron Samuels, what's your best day ever?

Ron Samuels: Wow.

Ron Samuels: Um, well, the best day ever that actually comes to memory right now for me was, what's today? It was actually, well, the, my best day ever was when I married my wife Kelly, for sure.

Scott Hammond: That's correct.

Ron Samuels: And-

Scott Hammond: Hear that, hear that, Kelly?

Ron Samuels: And, uh, um, and right up there is when my children were born.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Ron Samuels: And so that's like-

Scott Hammond: How many kids do you guys have?

Ron Samuels: Uh, we have three kids.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: How long you guys been married?

Ron Samuels: Gosh, we've been married for, uh, since 2011, or

Ron Samuels: 2013.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, I know. That's great.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Ron Samuels: And, and my s- yeah. Do you wanna hear my second best day?

Scott Hammond: Uh, that, but yes, I do.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. But there's, those, those first ones are all, like, right in there, you know?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: It's, I guess it's really about family. And, uh, and then, and the next one was, uh, believe it or not, just a week ago.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, I know. Sorry. It's, uh …

Scott Hammond: Great. That's-

Ron Samuels: Yeah. It's fresh in my mind. There's prob- there, there's probably a lot of other ones back there, but I forgot

Ron Samuels: about them.

Scott Hammond: This one's cleaner and fresher.

Ron Samuels: And, and so, uh, at, so at, at Marimba One, we've been working on creating a synthetic alternative to using rosewood because the, we use rosewood from Belize and Guatemala on all our marimbas and xylophones. And, um, and rosewood, this particular r- there's different rosewoods around the world, and the one we use is extraordinarily resonant and warm-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Ron Samuels: … sounding. And, uh, warm sound at the base, and at the top, and it has this brilliance, and there's really no other wood that can do that with such a great tonal range. And the wood is, is, uh, is very limited. It's restricted on its cutting because it's been overcut.

Ron Samuels: So, so I set us out several years ago to, to develop a

Ron Samuels: synthetic-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … material that would mimic rosewood. And, and, um, and other marimba companies out there have these alternatives, but, to rosewood, but they really don't sound musical.

Ron Samuels: They're-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … they ring super long, so when you're playing music, everything bleeds over into everything else.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Ron Samuels: And they're super bright, and, uh, nothing like rosewood. So we set out to develop this synthetic alternative to rosewood, and we just sort of like launched it at a trade show a week ago.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and, and we spent, like, we spent years doing this, figuring it out.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Lots of trials and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … tribulations.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, all sorts of things.

Scott Hammond: And so it, it launched. It's-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, it did

Scott Hammond: … it's, it's real. It works.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It, it-

Ron Samuels: It actually, uh, um, yeah, it was really cool. People, uh, people at the show were like, were very appreciative and grateful for it.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: They said, "Wow, this is the first time we've ever heard anything that sounds like rosewood that's not rosewood."

Scott Hammond: And endangered forests are thanking you everywhere.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I suppose you gotta really source this stuff really carefully.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's not cheap.

Ron Samuels: It's not cheap, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And it's, it's an ordeal to, to procure.

Scott Hammond: So was Steve part of that R&D project?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, he was. He was.

Scott Hammond: Yeah?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, Steve, and it involved Steve, another engineer we brought

Ron Samuels: on, uh, lo- local engineer, and then several of my tuners.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Um, and, and other, so all, other people that sort of run, like, the, the back logistics organizations-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … around, you know, you know, buying stuff, sourcing it.

Ron Samuels: So yeah-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … it was a lot of people.

Scott Hammond: I bet they'd say you're a great leader. It sounds like you're the guy.

Ron Samuels: Um, well, that's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … that's a compliment. I don't know. You have to ask them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What do you guys think?

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: All right, question number two.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Worst day ever for all the candy bar.

Ron Samuels: Oh, my goodness. Wow.

Scott Hammond: It's not candy, by the way. Sh- Joni gets mad when, when I call this candy.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like gour- it's-

Ron Samuels: It's gourmet.

Scott Hammond: It's a $500 bottle of scotch in-

Ron Samuels: That's right

Scott Hammond: … but it's a chocolate bar.

Ron Samuels: That's right.

Scott Hammond: Wow, what's the worst day ever? Like, in my life? Or-

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Or, you know, sometimes. Well, um, gosh, let me think here. Um, I mean, how, how does one really answer that? I mean, it could be-

Scott Hammond: S-

Ron Samuels: It could be super personal. It could be-

Scott Hammond: Could be-

Ron Samuels: Um-

Scott Hammond: … cultural

Ron Samuels: … cul- cultural, yeah, ex-

Scott Hammond: Political.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, no kidding. Okay.

Scott Hammond: Physical.

Ron Samuels: Right. Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Um,

Ron Samuels: um, well, well, well-

Scott Hammond: Somebody answered and said that, "You know, I don't really have one."

Ron Samuels: Well, I-

Scott Hammond: "All my days have been great."

Ron Samuels: I, I wouldn't say all my days have been great.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Um, but I don't feel like I, I honestly don't feel like I have a day that stands out that is, uh, if only that day had never happened.

Ron Samuels: I mean-

Scott Hammond: An iconic, terrible day

Ron Samuels: … I, I've not had that.

Scott Hammond: Good.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, so-

Scott Hammond: That's good

Ron Samuels: … yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, hey, question number three.

Ron Samuels: Wow. Dodged that bullet.

Scott Hammond: You're getting, you're getting there. Yeah, you can, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, you could have the whole day with Kel- Kelly, right?

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's, uh, 9:00 to 9:00 AM to PM.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's in Humboldt.

Ron Samuels: Oh, wow.

Scott Hammond: What would you do with, what would you do with your day?

Ron Samuels: Oh, well, that's really easy. So we would, you know, we'd make like a nice- You know, nice breakfast,

Ron Samuels: just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … tasty homemade kind of breakfast. And then we'd, uh, we'd grab the dogs, and we'd more than likely head up to the beach.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Ron Samuels: You know, g- drive from West Haven to Trinidad along the beach, look at the ocean

Ron Samuels: and then-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … and then, uh, you know, maybe go to Clam Beach or go w- go to one of the further northern beaches and just-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … go for a nice long walk.

Scott Hammond: Like it.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, um, you know, let the dogs run free and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and, uh, l- look at the surf, listen to the surf-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … you know, just have fun, shoes off.

Scott Hammond: Love it, man.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I actually get that. I've been doing a Saturday Sabbath walk in-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … Clam Beach and Little River and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … with Joni, without Joni-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … just praying and kind of just turning everything off and-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. It's great

Scott Hammond: … it's, uh, transformational actually. It's great.

Ron Samuels: It, it really is.

Scott Hammond: Turn it off, man, and get out there.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. It, it's so, it's so amazing what we have just moments

Ron Samuels: away.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: It's, it's miraculous.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We discovered that we were right on the north end of McKinleyville.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Dows Prairie, and we can… For COVID, we had our date nights right up, like you said, West Haven to-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Trinidad on Scenic Drive.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And it was just park the van, pull the doors open-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … turn on Led Zeppelin really loud.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, and just look at, you know-

Scott Hammond: Or marimba music. I'm sorry.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. Look, you know, follow the sunset.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah. No, it-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … it's, it's really amazing-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … 'cause it's, it's really warm and… 'Cause when it's refracting, there's… You, you'd think you might be in Southern California.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And then the sun sets, and it's 20 degrees.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. I, I think we have the most beautiful sunsets here.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: I really do.

Scott Hammond: And, you know, cloudy days are actually the best, best sunset days.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Not fully clouded in fog, but just-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … spotted clouds are just-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … the show just goes on and on.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. You get so many colors.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Hey, one more question.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What do you find fulfilling in your life?

Ron Samuels: Um, let's see. Uh, w- what I find fulfilling is, is, uh… I mean, honestly, like, e- every day I'm… I really am grateful to, to be married to my wife, Kelly, who's just this fantastic person.

Ron Samuels: I really do.

Scott Hammond: Nice. Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And so I feel like, you know, just the luckiest guy.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and what I'm doing feels really fulfilling-

Scott Hammond: That's cool

Ron Samuels: … because I get to… You know, I'm really, I'm passionate about it-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … and I'm super into it. And, uh, there's this whole infrastructure that's set up to do, that's, like, purpose developed to set up to build these really great instruments. So get to keep doing that with all these really, really great people at my business.

Scott Hammond: It's cool. I was thinking we'll talk about legacy in a minute, but-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … some of these instruments are gonna be out there for decades, right?

Scott Hammond: In-

Ron Samuels: Yeah-

Scott Hammond: … schools and-

Ron Samuels: They'll be out there longer than us

Scott Hammond: … bands and… Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause they'll, they'll season with time and get better, and so you'll, you-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … your legacy will live on-

Ron Samuels: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … it turns out.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, I think so.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, at least that's part of it.

Ron Samuels: Through, through the instruments, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I love that. That's cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Hey, uh, let's change it up here. So, hey, turns out winner, winner, chicken dinner,

Scott Hammond: my friend.

Ron Samuels: Whoa.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And you have to share it with Kelly.

Ron Samuels: Absolutely.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: That's great. Thank you so much.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah, enjoy, man. Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Thank you, Dick Taylor.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, especially, especially thank you, Quality Body. I forgot to talk about them.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Um, these guys are actually one of my sponsors, and they're great guys-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … down on, uh… They're on West Del Norte, and, uh, Ross Creech is a good friend of mine, and these guys are killing it.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Nice.

Scott Hammond: So if you

Scott Hammond: … Seems like I'm pitching body work on a podcast.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that's, uh, not really what I wanna do, but, hey, um, one day you, too, will probably need body work, and th- they're, they're guys that are amazing.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And good guys, job suppliers, community, just-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, contributors. They're, they're cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, we need it all to make it work, right?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. We need a team of, team of good businesses. Hey, let's talk about Humboldt for a minute.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just the county in, in general.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: In terms of what do you see, uh, what, what do you see down, what do you see as our issues, and then what do you see down the road for the

Scott Hammond: county, um, I don't know, demographically, population issues?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Uh, um-

Scott Hammond: As a business owner, as a resident.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. Well, it's very expensive these days to be here, the opposite of when I started making my business.

Scott Hammond: My gosh, yeah.

Ron Samuels: And so, yeah, cost of living here is super expensive. Everything from fuel to food, to, to rent, to buying a place. So I think that's a big deal for a lot of people.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, yeah, it's, it makes, you know, it makes it challenging.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. When I have, uh, when I see $5.19 on gas still, I'm going-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … "Are you kidding me?"

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And my bo- my former boss in Texas-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … texts me gas pump pictures-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … on his actual cell phone.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: $2.19.

Ron Samuels: $2.19.

Scott Hammond: You're kidding me. You're just killing me, man.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy.

Scott Hammond: And, and good luck trying to rent or buy a place.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I mean, it's just, um-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I, I think you're right. It's, it's become very expensive to live here.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. And Humboldt County has always been a place you have to really wanna be here to be here, and it's very true today economically.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's a tough place to-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … um, make a living. I think survive is a better word.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We did it on one income with nine kids.

Ron Samuels: Wow.

Scott Hammond: Which is, um, I don't know if that makes me special, but it's-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … you have to bust your ass.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you better, um, get used to it 'cause there's, I guess there's handouts, but there's, if you wanna grow and you wanna provide-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … you're gonna have to work hard, as you know.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: As a, as a business owner. I imagine you had a lot of long days.

Ron Samuels: I had a lot, lot of very long days.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Coming home just shredded and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. S- you know, starting modestly early, but working late.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. And, and on the weekends.

Scott Hammond: Especially if you get something going that's, like, a cool idea. I imagine if something starts to get traction, then you're

Scott Hammond: gonna-

Scott Hammond: Stay on-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … that R&D, whatever.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. O- o- originally it was, it was like, "Okay, I gotta figure this out for this next group of instruments."

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: It was like development on the fly.

Ron Samuels: And so I, I probably had a ship date, so I'd work like crazy to make it all happen, and then just always to, to sort of tackle different things. It was f- usually it was to instrument development. That's really what it was.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, figuring things out.

Scott Hammond: So when you say a batch, how many do you do in a batch these days?

Ron Samuels: Well, these days, um,

Ron Samuels: these days everything is in production all at once essentially.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And so the marimba can be broken down into the tone bars-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … the rows of tone bars that are tuned that you strike with yarn-wrapped mallets, and then hanging below the tone bars is a corresponding resonator, and that's tuned to the same frequency as the, the rosewood tone bar.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And so, um, so you imagine, like if you're blowing a bottle of beer and you get a frequency, and then you drain some liquid out of it, the frequency gets lower.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Ron Samuels: So w- all the resonators, all the resonators have plugs in them, and so the lower the frequency of the tone bar, the, the deeper the plug is in the resonator. And so you wouldn't think so, but we've worked re- like years and years and years getting those relationships really dialed between the frequency of the piece

Ron Samuels: of wood-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Ron Samuels: … and the frequency of the resonator-

Scott Hammond: Cool

Ron Samuels: … just, just to squeeze out, uh, a little more sound.

Scott Hammond: And how are those regulated, with foot, foot pedals?

Ron Samuels: No, that'd be the vibraphone.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: So, so, uh, so the marimba, they, the resonators just hang directly underneath-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Ron Samuels: … the, uh, the bars.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And there's, there's a lot of tricks you can do, particularly on the low end.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Like you could shape the sound. If you have a really bright sound-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Ron Samuels: … you could build out the inside of the resonator in different ways to emphasize the fundamental that's the lowest frequency and maybe attenuate the

Ron Samuels: overtones.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, so yeah, so the, so the vibraphone, that'd be like, think of like Gary Burton or, or Milt, Milt Jackson, and that has the damp- damper pad. The vibraphone, instead of being rosewood, it's, it's

Ron Samuels: aluminum.

Scott Hammond: Those are all aluminum keys, right?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. And we make those as well.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow. And xylophones.

Ron Samuels: And xylophones, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And what's the difference there?

Ron Samuels: So, okay, so the xylophone is actually back to rosewood, but the xylophone, the proportion of the tone bars is much narrower and longer than a marimba.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right. Okay.

Ron Samuels: And, and just, just the sheer proportion of itself gives its, gives it, uh, its own unique sound signature. And also when, when you tune… Do, do you play guitar or…?

Scott Hammond: I do.

Ron Samuels: So, so when you stretch a string-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … the harmonic series is this mathematical, like proportional event that occurs when you pluck the string. You could like take a tape measure and map out where all the harmonics are.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And but with, uh, um, with marimba bars, it doesn't work that way. Depending how you– If you take a marimba bar and you flip it over, you'll see this arch.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Ron Samuels: And depending on how you shape that arch, you're actually positioning the

Ron Samuels: overtones.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Ron Samuels: So a marimba has a different overtone positioning than does a

Ron Samuels: xylophone.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: So xylophone tone bars look like found objects in a way. You could say, "Oh, I could see how someone walking out in the woods picks up the, what really almost looks like a stick and starts hitting on it," and go, "Oh, wow, this actually rings."

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Okay. So there's a profound difference.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So back to Humboldt.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What, what do you like about living here?

Ron Samuels: Oh.

Scott Hammond: Besides it being expensive.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Um, I mean, um, I, I, I love being here. It's so beautiful. The air is great to breathe, like, uh, the ocean, the clouds, the sky.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Good reminders

Ron Samuels: … I, I, I live in Arcata, so-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … you know, if it's not raining, I'll ride my bike to work.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Ron Samuels: And, and so it's, it's, it's, it's a primo spot. Like when I travel, I'm always so happy to

Ron Samuels: come home.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I, I'll tie in a quick story. Anytime I get off an airplane-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and we just got back from, from Burbank-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and opened the door of the airplane-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and after you get the jet fuel-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … passed-

Ron Samuels: Yes

Scott Hammond: … you're going "Oh, it's Trinidad.

Scott Hammond: I can smell-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … air." And all of our kids that have, adult kids that have come back-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … go, "Dad, the air here is mind-blowing."

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "It's better than-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Boise, Idaho or Amsterdam or Medford or-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … blah, blah."

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So it's, uh, it's– that's another point of thanks 'cause it's considered to be one of the most pure air-

Ron Samuels: Is that right?

Scott Hammond: … sources. Like up Trinidad way, they measure, there's a-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … there's an air, uh, machine.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. Air measuring machine.

Scott Hammond: That measure

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It measures the air quality.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: It's pretty pristine. Not always.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: But, um-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … yeah. Anything else you'd say about Humboldt? What do you see is our opportunities going forward?

Ron Samuels: Um, um, actually, that's a great question.

Ron Samuels: Um,

Ron Samuels: I think,

Ron Samuels: um, I think I, like sort of my timing, I lucked out because there was all this talent from Yakima and, uh, there's, there's some, there's the number of older, you know, you know, Yakima people who actually work with me. And so all this talent, I think there's, there's a lot of talent here that is unusual for our population base. So it'd be engineering talent-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … uh, design. There's, there's so many artists here. I, I, I think it's a very, a really creative place.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And I, and I like, I lump in engineering in the creative realm.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … and, and, and so I just think there's just a lot of very creative people here, so it, it makes, it makes unique things possible-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … that, that really wouldn't be possible elsewhere.

Ron Samuels: And,

Ron Samuels: um, yeah, I, I think it's-

Scott Hammond: Like a Hayashi down, down-

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is that close to where you guys are?

Ron Samuels: It is, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Down by the pub?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. It's like-

Scott Hammond: Pub area?

Ron Samuels: … a couple, a couple stone throws away from-

Scott Hammond: Pub district, yeah

Ron Samuels: … the pub district, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I saw a show there the other night, Robbie Fulks, who was at-

Ron Samuels: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: What-

Ron Samuels: With Jenny Scheinman.

Scott Hammond: Oh, Jenny Scheinman.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Plays the fiddle.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. She's, she's-

Scott Hammond: Man, she rocks

Ron Samuels: … she's phenomenal. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Now she, she r- really added to his whole deal.

Scott Hammond: I-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … I wasn't clear if they were touring together or not, but-

Ron Samuels: I-

Scott Hammond: … she's played with a couple people locally.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. I, I, I believe they were, because actually I ran into her on the airplane when I was flying to a trade show a week and a half ago-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … and we were going, both going south.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: So she told me she was gonna meet Robbie Fulks, I think, in LA and, and start on going tour with him right then and there.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And-

Scott Hammond: What a nice, what a great show that is.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And that whole pub district is-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … gorgeous down there.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Right. The Playhouse, yeah, the Playhouse is so much for the

Ron Samuels: community.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's really g- And she keeps a, you know, Jackie keeps a really affordable

Scott Hammond: show.

Ron Samuels: She does. She does.

Scott Hammond: 20 bucks for this guy, it's like a, this guy's a bargain.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. It's great.

Scott Hammond: Um.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And that's kind of to your point, not only are they local-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … uh, creators and creative people, but those very s- the same, the self-same bring other creative folks through town, like the, the troubadours-

Ron Samuels: Yes

Scott Hammond: … to come and play.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. It's great. It's really great.

Scott Hammond: So what's your personal music taste? What do you like to listen to, kind of like go to on-

Ron Samuels: Um

Scott Hammond: … in the car on the way home tonight, what would you-

Ron Samuels: So-

Scott Hammond: … pl- top three or four that you'd plug in?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, so, so, uh, I, um, uh, you know, I love the Grateful Dead, so definitely listen to Grateful Dead.

Scott Hammond: You're a Dead, Deadhead, yeah?

Ron Samuels: Um-

Scott Hammond: Deadhead

Ron Samuels: … uh, and, and I actually very much enjoy listening to Bach.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, um, the, the, uh-

Scott Hammond: They're kind of similar.

Ron Samuels: Y- it's kind of similar. I, I, I'm, I'm a big fan of the cello,

Ron Samuels: so-

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay

Ron Samuels: … I, I listen to, uh, you know, like the Cello Suites and, and, uh,

Ron Samuels: um-

Scott Hammond: Oh, I got a show for you.

Ron Samuels: Uh-

Scott Hammond: Dirty Cello. She's amazing.

Ron Samuels: Is that right? Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: She played at the Eagle House a couple months ago.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And they're, they're, uh, they're not big yet, but she's great. She can do Hendrix and-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … and rock and roll on this-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … big old cell- And she's really… This band's really, really good.

Ron Samuels: Oh, wow. Right.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: I'll definitely have to check them out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, if you ever get to see them, they're playing in Oregon here s- shortly.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: But, uh, quite good. And I interrupted you.

Scott Hammond: Sorry.

Ron Samuels: No, no, no, it's good. Well, and, uh, yeah, so what else?

Ron Samuels: Um, um, I like listening to, like, to, to string orchestras. You know, I sort of, uh… You know, in, in different jazz music, I've been, I've been lucky enough to be turned on to a lot of different jazz through, through a lot of the players we work with.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And so a lot of jazz, vibraphone, and that just morphs into other jazz in general.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, yeah, I, I mean, I, I don't often get to do this, but if I can, it's usually on a long driving trip, I'll like really focus in on some specific genres of

Ron Samuels: music.

Scott Hammond: Deep tracks.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, like the-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … drive from here to San Francisco.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Okay?

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, no, yeah, no doubt.

Scott Hammond: I, um… Yeah, just kind of curious. So you're really kind of eclectic.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: It's, it's a, a broad mix. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know who we discovered this summer, and I've seen a lot of shows since I was 14 in San Diego-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … um, String Cheese Incident.

Scott Hammond: They're-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Gosh, they're amazing.

Ron Samuels: They are. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They played at, at the Britt Festival in Oregon. You ever been over the border in Jacksonville-

Ron Samuels: Y- um-

Scott Hammond: … to see a show?

Ron Samuels: I've never seen a show there.

Scott Hammond: Oh, dude.

Ron Samuels: It's great.

Scott Hammond: It's a 50-year festival. It's great.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And they started, uh, June with, with, uh, all of June is, uh, a symphony and orchestras.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And then it starts up July 1 through late September, and it's,

Scott Hammond: um-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … they've had everybody, Willie Nelson, Steve Martin, and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, all the, all the reggae bands.

Scott Hammond: And we saw-

Ron Samuels: All the greats. Yeah

Scott Hammond: … saw String Cheese there. They did like a three or four-hour show, and they were-

Ron Samuels: Oh, that's quite a show.

Scott Hammond: It was great, man.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: A lot of tie-dye. If you didn't have tie-dye, you weren't really dressed-

Ron Samuels: Uh

Scott Hammond: … for the occasion.

Ron Samuels: All right, all right. Did, did you stand out w- without your tie-dye?

Scott Hammond: Actually, I, uh, I think I wore my Woodstock tie-dye.

Ron Samuels: Oh, whoa.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Do you know that I was born at Woodstock?

Ron Samuels: Were you really?

Scott Hammond: No, I w-

Ron Samuels: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I got asked that o-

Ron Samuels: Were you-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, I was conceived there. My wife goes, "Just stop." Just… It's not Hammond, Hammond Trail, Hammond Bridge.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We own the whole thing. Joni goes, "Just please stop-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … doing this to people." So, uh, yeah, String Cheese, I was really impressed. And then-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … they came and did… They never do the same set.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh, which makes it interesting.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, which makes it really fun.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: My office mate saw them 10 times this year to see them, I think she said 82 times in her lifetime.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: So they've been around 30 years plus.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So they just started playing and didn't stop for an hour and a half.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: 20-minute break-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and did it again.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … song to song, just-

Ron Samuels: Yeah. That's great. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, improvisational and-

Scott Hammond: Quite good

Ron Samuels: … and, uh, yeah. That's-

Scott Hammond: And people, it's a little bit like church. It was pretty friendly.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: There's like a, kind of a vibe there and-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … you know, I had to scoot a guy in front of me out of the way. He, he didn't have a ticket.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: What are you doing here? Get out of here.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: You know? There's love and peace, but there's also order, so just move it, chief.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Get out of here.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: Anyway, um, well, I must be getting old and commenting like that.

Scott Hammond: Uh, any other takes on Humboldt that you like about, uh, the county?

Ron Samuels: Um, yeah, uh, you know, I love the people here.

Ron Samuels: It's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … I mean, everybody's here 'cause they wanna be here, or most people are here 'cause they wanna be here, I'd say.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well said.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, and there's a lot of just really fine… Not every place has that kind of deliberate intention to, to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … where you are.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: So yeah, you could feel it.

Scott Hammond: Does everybody wanna be in Redding when it's 127?

Ron Samuels: Right. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I don't… Maybe not.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. No one's gonna go outside.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Why, yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You're not going out there-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … not till, uh, midnight or after-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … to swim in the pool. Uh, so a little bit more on, uh,

Scott Hammond: uh, you. So,

Scott Hammond: uh, at the, uh… When you're in production, I had a production question. It slipped me, but,

Scott Hammond: um, how many employees?

Ron Samuels: Oh, we got, we've got over 20 employees.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you guys are like real McCoy, full-on Humboldt business.

Ron Samuels: Uh, yeah, I mean, we're, you know, we're, we, we take it seriously.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So will you, will you, uh, uh, create another branch someday, or do you see this as being a, a one-off for, for a lifetime in terms of just its scale?

Ron Samuels: Oh, oh, that's interesting. Um, I-

Ron Samuels: Um, uh, you know, essentially everything that we do, we're in a way it's not– it's, it's a, it's, it's not necessarily done. Like there's a lot of things that a bit are like solid, you know, we feel really confident or there's like no warranty problems.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: But we're still open to changing things if we discover something.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: So it's not so much creating like a whole new, you know, a whole new product or something.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: But I guess i- the things that we're interested, curious about that if there's problems we wanna deal with. But then there's always new instruments is, you know, that, um, that, that make it super interesting.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, um, because we set up this whole system so we c- we can do other instruments and, uh, like y- and so the marimba, vibraphones, xylophone fall into the, it's called the mallet percussion category.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Ron Samuels: So it's, you know, you're, you're striking it with mallets.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And there's– and, uh, so there's some other, uh, instruments in there, like there's the bells.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: It's, it's a hilarious word called glockenspiel.

Scott Hammond: The glockenspiel.

Ron Samuels: The glockenspiel.

Scott Hammond: What does that mean?

Ron Samuels: Um, I don't know. I-

Scott Hammond: Spiel is like speak, right?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, glockenspiel. So glock, I think it may be, um, German. I'm not really sure actually.

Ron Samuels: But-

Scott Hammond: I'm pretty sure that's Germanic, yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, and so, uh, and so, you know, it's the– I would consider that instrument tonally and musically the opposite of

Ron Samuels: the marimba.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Ron Samuels: Like the marimba in the, particularly in the bass end is this really like warm, visceral sound that, I mean, that's really the reason why I make it, that I wanted to make marimbas. I just love the bass end.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, 'cause it, you could feel it and it's got this great, really great feeling

Ron Samuels: to it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: So the glockenspiel is the opposite. So that's like, you know, that's like a big hesitation on my part. We don't make those, you know-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … but maybe one day. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: You never know

Ron Samuels: … and, um, but we, we did a really fun project.

Ron Samuels: Um, um, we started it maybe two years ago, and, uh, it's a marimba, but so a marimba, like a piano, low notes are on the left, high notes are on the right, white keys, black keys. So you have that like, you know, it's a, it's a cultural reference.

Ron Samuels: So, so, so I came up with this instrument where it, it, it, it diverges from that layout.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Ron Samuels: And it's more like in a sort of a, we call it the jewel marimba, and the notes work off diagonals.

Ron Samuels: And, uh-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Ron Samuels: … and so that was a super fun project because, um, what makes a project most fun, I think at Marimba One, is when it inv- the most people it can involve, the more fun and interesting it is.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Because everybody has a lot of unique talents.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: And so there, you know, it's the tuners, it's the engineers-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … it's, you know, the actual assemblers, like everything. And so, so that instrument became, um,

Ron Samuels: in an in most businesses, like you sort of pre– you plan out, okay, product

Ron Samuels: development.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Ron Samuels: We're gonna like do this, this, you know, on this calendar schedule.

Ron Samuels: So it just sort of happened, you know, and everybody was like, "Oh man, you're doing this to us right now?" But it turned out everybody got on board because-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Ron Samuels: … it was so interesting. And, uh-

Scott Hammond: A prototype.

Ron Samuels: Y- yeah. So actually we built like, you know, a dozen of them now or something. And, uh, so, um, that's been one of the more fun things-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … that we've done in a long time.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Cool. Changing lives through sound. I like, I like what AI came up with here for this-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh. All right

Scott Hammond: … paragraph. Uh, that's good. Cr-cr-crucial role in the careers of countless musicians. That's a pretty big order, but probably true.

Ron Samuels: Um, I mean, we're, we're making people these really nice instruments, so hopefully-

Scott Hammond: Educator Gordon Stout, uh, credits Marimba One for enabling him his expressive range and

Scott Hammond: technical precision. Um, similarly, percu- uh, percussion ensembles in institutions like Juilliard

Scott Hammond: School-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … whoa, and Eastman School of Music, I don't really know what that is, probably pretty big-

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … uh, rely on Marimba, Marimba One instruments for both teaching and performance. Cool. That's-

Ron Samuels: And like the San Francisco Symphony, LA Phil-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Ron Samuels: … Chicago Symphony. A lo- you know, a lot of symphonies have our stuff and universities.

Scott Hammond: Cool. So you guys have done business with like the, some of the big boys.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. But everybody's just the same when it comes down to it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just wanna buy a m- good marimba.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. And, and, and, and give them what they-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … what they expect to get.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love that, man. So you probably traveled and met a lot of, seen a lot of these folks that use the instruments then.

Ron Samuels: Um, yeah, over the years I have.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Ron Samuels: Yes. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Where's Eastman School?

Ron Samuels: Eastman School is in Rochester, New York.

Scott Hammond: Okay. That's upstate.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I have a sister from up that way.

Ron Samuels: Oh, yeah?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Never been up there yet. Wanna go. Well, cool. Hey, let's talk about, uh, let's talk about your legacy. And, uh, so I always, at the end of the show, I usually talk about, uh, what do you wanna be remembered for? Uh, Joni's dad who's really plucky, uh, guy from LA.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Who are you and what do you want? We'll start with that. Who are you and, and what do you want, Ron Samuels?

Ron Samuels: Well, um, you know, who am I is something I'd like to think that's evolving and changing every day.

Scott Hammond: That's a good answer, yeah.

Ron Samuels: As, as best I can, you know, but I'm sort of stuck in, stuck in my, my ways and, you know, I'm sure-

Scott Hammond: Who is it? Yeah.

Ron Samuels: It, um, y- you know, uh,

Ron Samuels: who am I?

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Um, well, I, I believe that I'd want for everyone to live a, uh, uh, um, a ethical, creative and life that allows them to, you know, to be fed and housed-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … be comfortable and-

Scott Hammond: Amen

Ron Samuels: … and so,

Ron Samuels: um, I mean, but really who I am, that's sort of a crazy question, you know? I, you know, I have no idea who I am.

Scott Hammond: That's good, evolving.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I'm evolving into, I don't know.

Ron Samuels: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Who am I? Like, I'll, I'll never do it that way again.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: So.

Scott Hammond: That's good.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, I've learned the lesson.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's not who I am.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, and so at, at the end of life, at, at your-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … celebration of life, what, what would we, what would you hope people would say

Scott Hammond: about you?

Ron Samuels: Well, if it's people I built instruments for, they'd probably say, "He emailed me a

Ron Samuels: bunch."

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Ron Samuels: You know?

Ron Samuels: He was-

Scott Hammond: Wanted clarity.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He emailed a lot. Um, so those people would say that. Um, uh, I, I think people,

Ron Samuels: um… Let's see. Well, on, on my family's side, like, you know, I would think they f- would feel, I would hope, I would really hope that they'd feel like well-loved and cared for.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Ron Samuels: You know, and, and, uh, um, yeah, I re- You know, that's really important to me, work at that with my wife-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Ron Samuels: … and kids.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, um, and, uh, you know, and then on sorta like the, the instrument side, that, that whole side of my life-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Ron Samuels: … uh,

Ron Samuels: um, you know, people might say that I loved and cared for the instruments I've been-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … building all these years, too.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Ron Samuels: I, you know-

Scott Hammond: That's-

Ron Samuels: … and that, that's what my hope would be.

Scott Hammond: And there's the work family that are part of that-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … I'm sure, too.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: The team.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: The outrageous team that's like-

Scott Hammond: Love that, yeah

Ron Samuels: … yeah, on– They're, they're, they are the A team.

Scott Hammond: I, uh, had lunch with my friend Ron Palegi, used to own the Tri-City Paper-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … back in the day, and several years ago, we were at, uh, Brick and Fire somewhere.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I said, "So what, what's your life about?" He goes, "Scott, I just take care of people."

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And I go, "Wow, that's profound and simple and brief."

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: And I thought, "You take care of people. That's good. I– Me too."

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: "I wanna take care of people like that."

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? My people-

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh

Scott Hammond: … the ones that God's put in my life.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: I wanna take care of those guys.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know? So, uh, similar answer. So what are we putting on your gravestone? What would you t- t- the brief thing, provided you were given that?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah. I, I'm not gonna have a gravestone. I'm just gonna be composted out there and-

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah. That's also a, also a good answer. No wrong answers here.

Ron Samuels: Uh-huh.

Scott Hammond: I like that.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So a- any parting shots? Anything you wanna, uh… Oh, let– How do, how do we get ahold of Marimba One?

Ron Samuels: Uh, you just look us up-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … on, on, uh, social media or find our website and-

Scott Hammond: ChatGPT.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You were gonna say Google it. Now you can say chat it.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's gonna be the next-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … next level.

Ron Samuels: So, so yeah, you c- you could find us there and, and, you know, see a lot of the things that we're doing.

Scott Hammond: Do you do community related things like in schools or t- tours or, uh, uh…

Ron Samuels: Y- yes, yes.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: We, we, we give tours, and we, we put on mini concerts almost always at the playhouse-

Scott Hammond: Okay

Ron Samuels: … and artists that come through.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, yeah, we give, you know, we, um,

Ron Samuels: we, uh, w- you know, we support the Eureka Symphony and, and-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Ron Samuels: … local schools, built some instruments for actually Fortuna High.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's neat.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's 'cause they're school, school related that way.

Ron Samuels: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So d- what, uh, uh, kind of begs the question, so a, a traveling marimba player, will he or she bring their own instrument?

Ron Samuels: Um, not if they could help it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like a Hammond B-3 organ. It's as big as this desk.

Ron Samuels: It is. It is.

Scott Hammond: And heavier.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, it's an ordeal.

Scott Hammond: So-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … if there's lo- resident marimbas, it's, it's a good thing.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, and, and, uh, um, if it's a vibraphone player, they're small enough

Ron Samuels: where-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Ron Samuels: … you could, you know, b- bring your instrument with you.

Scott Hammond: I could set those up.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, and, uh, and– or otherwise, you know, if someone's-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Ron Samuels: … coming through here or another venue, we'll, we'll supply them with the

Ron Samuels: instrument.

Scott Hammond: So tours of the factory, get schools or kids or groups that come through?

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, we've given, we've given many school tours-

Scott Hammond: That's super cool

Ron Samuels: … of the factory and, and, uh, yeah, a lot of kids and… You know, it's interesting. I, I sort of remember groups, and, uh, one time I, I gave a tour to, uh, a group of like, I don't know. It was, it was– These were like senior, senior citizens, out in their 80s, you know, and, and, a- a- and older. And what was so interesting is they actually asked the most interesting questions. They were the most engaged.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Ron Samuels: And I was going, "Wow, that is so interesting. I would not have suspected that."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good. I bet it's educational fun thing.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So we can find you at marimbaone.com or somewhere and then-

Ron Samuels: That's where you find us, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good. Well, hey, thanks for being here.

Ron Samuels: Hey, thank you, Scott, for-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Ron Samuels: … inviting me here to do all this.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Oh, I'm gonna go I think I'm gonna go home listen to some marimba, marimba music right away.

Ron Samuels: Okay.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: 'Cause why not?

Ron Samuels: Yeah. That's-

Scott Hammond: Maybe some Dead too.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, so, so one place where you could hear marimba music that we've all heard it is, uh, Rolling Stones, "Under My

Ron Samuels: Thumb."

Scott Hammond: Yes.

Ron Samuels: And so there's marimba on there. You go, "Oh, wow, check that out." You know?

Scott Hammond: Yes, "Under My Thumb."

Ron Samuels: And that's like… And, uh, and then you could hear it in a lot of different music.

Scott Hammond: Any other songs come to mind? I was gonna say any Dead songs with marimba.

Ron Samuels: Uh, none that I can think of.

Scott Hammond: There's-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bet there's one out there-

Ron Samuels: Yeah, yeah

Scott Hammond: … somewhere.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, we did make instruments for Mickey Hart and, uh-

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: He, he, I guess he used them for– with the Dead, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Specifically for Mickey?

Ron Samuels: For– Yeah, s- and those are, those are balafones.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: And, uh, f- for a while I was making balafones, which are, uh, with, with gourds as resonators.

Scott Hammond: Oh, right.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Ron Samuels: Yeah, they're fun instruments.

Scott Hammond: That's a specialty thing.

Ron Samuels: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Um, hey, well, hey, appreciate you being here. And, uh, hey, uh, if you would like, you could love us, like us, join us, uh, donate to us. Uh, I've got, uh, we're all over Access Me- uh, Access

Scott Hammond: Humboldt TV-

Ron Samuels: Oh, that's great

Scott Hammond: … and we're on YouTube-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and we're on all the podcast, uh, platforms.

Scott Hammond: So, uh-

Ron Samuels: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … make a comment, uh, on Ron and I, and thanks for joining us. Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast. My new best friend, Ron Samuels.

Scott Hammond: Thanks, Ron.

Ron Samuels: Hey, thank you, Scott.

Scott Hammond: Thanks for being here. I appreciate you.

Ron Samuels: All right. All the best.