Roger C. Field (born 31 July 1945) is an English designer and the inventor of the Foldaxe folding electric guitar, which won the Designers' Choice Award for the United States in 1980. He is also an inventor with over 100 patents, an industrial designer, and a guitarist. He has been written about in ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' magazineArticles in ''Playboy'' in Slovakia (2/'02), Brazil (6/'02), Russia (10/'02), Ukraine (10/'02), France (4/'03), Czech Republic (4/'04), Slovenia (6/'04), Bulgaria (4/'05), Hungary (3/'06), Romania (4/'06), Ukraine (8/'06), Lithuania (6/'12), Romania (9/'12), Croatia (11/'12), Mongolia (12/'12), Venezuela (2/'13), Portugal (4/'13), Czech Republic (11/'13), Slovakia (11/'13), Slovenia (3/'14) and Greece (10/'14). Articles in ''Penthouse'' in Germany (10/'01 and 8/'07), the Netherlands (8/'03) and Greece (11/'07). Article in ''Esquire'' in Romania (Summer 2014). 21 times in 16 countries, in '' Penthouse'' magazine four times in Europe, and in ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''. He is in four different ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

'' books in Europe, including one for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Early life

Field was born in

London, England London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His father was the owner and managing director of Siegmund Robinow & Son Ltd., a company in London and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, which at that time manufactured exclusive garments. After attending Stagenhoe Park near

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

from 1953–1958; he attended

The King's School, Canterbury The King's School is a public school in Canterbury, Kent, England. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group. It is Britain's oldest public school and is considered to be the oldest continuously op ...

, from 1958–1960; then Aiglon College in Switzerland from 1960–1963. Field attended the

California College of Arts and Crafts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a Private university, private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened ...

(now California College of the Arts) in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California, early in 1965, to major in

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

and graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

. Field also completed courses in film and television at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. In 1969, he filmed the California College of the Arts at the request of Harry X. Ford, the president of the college, in 16mm (titled ''To Be An Artist''), which included poet

Michael McClure Michael McClure (October 20, 1932 – May 4, 2020) was an American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist. After moving to San Francisco as a young man, he found fame as one of the five poets (including Allen Ginsberg) who read at the famo ...

, an English professor at CCAC at the time. The film, which was financed by the college, was later shown on television. Field, who was also an aviation enthusiast who had received a private pilot license with a multi-engine rating in California, then moved to Munich to work on the newly formed

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

project, contributing to the interior design of the aircraft. While in Munich, Field developed drill units to try to reduce the risk of cross-contamination for the dental industry ( and other patents). Field is currently marketing his professional 35mm film camera invention for cinema and television. The camera uses unperforated 35-mm film (which allows much wider exposed

image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

s), (). The camera could be used with Field's camera light screening unit ( matte box), which has been manufactured for many years by the Chrosziel Filmtechnik company in Germany ().

Foldaxe

While designing passenger seats for the

in 1975, Field had the idea for a folding electric guitar, which he named "Foldaxe" for being able to be transported as hand luggage under an aircraft seat. Guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

inspired Field in 1975 to design a folding guitar without the string tension changing and going out of tune. Field addresses it by designing a mechanism hidden in the guitar which, once the guitar has been tuned, keeps the string tension constant when folding and unfolding. Atkins appeared with

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

on television with the Foldaxe on Jane Pauley's '' The Today Show'' and on '' Entertainment This Week''. Field appeared several times on television shows with the Foldaxe. The Foldaxe was reviewed in ''Industrial Design'' magazine, winning the Designers' Choice Award sponsored by ''I. D.'' in 1980. In 1980, industrial designer Raymond Loewy sent Field a letter congratulating him on the design of the Foldaxe. The Foldaxe was featured in Atkins's book ''Me and My Guitars''.Atkins, Chet and Cochran, Russ. (2003). "Me and My Guitars". Milwaukee. Hal Leonard Corporation. . They have been played by

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, Lenny Breau, Paco de Lucia, John McLaughlin, Hank Marvin,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana, United States) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also ...

and

Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...

. The interest in The Foldaxe by Hank Marvin, guitarist for

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the bac ...

, led Field to be the instigator in 2001 of the reunion of the Shadows.

Jet Harris Terence "Jet" Harris (6 July 1939 – 18 March 2011) was an English rock and roll musician. He was an original member of Cliff Richard's backing band the Shadows, serving as the bass guitarist from the group's inception until April 1962, aft ...

of the Shadows addressed Field's intention to do so in the ''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (''ODT'') is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and ...

'', after meeting with Field and Bruce Welch near

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

in the Netherlands. Harris and Welch supported Field's efforts to influence Hank Marvin to return to the band. Field developed a guitar technique he calls 'Tap-Picking', a technique of adding additional bass notes to guitar fingerpicking by tapping and pulling-off the bass strings with the left hand at times when the right hand thumbpick and fingers are on the treble strings and cannot play bass notes. In the text of his tablature booklet with the LP ''Dadi's Picking Lights Up Nashville, Volume 1'', Marcel Dadi cited Field's playing ability as inspiration for the tune ''Roger Chesterfield''.

References

External links

World News Network article 25 July 2009
(''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'') with photo of Field in front of a poster of Arnold Schwarzenegger {{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Roger C. 1945 births Living people California College of the Arts alumni British inventors Artists from London English male guitarists British industrial designers People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Alumni of Aiglon College