• Test Guitar I / 1981 Custom Charvel
  • San Luis Obispo - Visiting L.R. Baggs / 2005
  • Test Bike 1997 Yamaha V-Max (Black Max)
  • Test Guitar I / 1981 Custom Charvel

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About me

Hello! My name is Kai Tachibana. The last name is Japanese and I got it from my adoptive parents. In fact, my birth name is "Oestereich". I was born in Hamburg/Germany and also live here.

I've been playing guitar since I was young, later bass and sometimes keyboards in a cover band. I prefer to play double bass (see picture) - most recently in a Gothabilly band - but also jazz standards or country & western. Who is interested: Here are a few stages of my career:


  • At 10, I got my first electronics kit and at 12, my first guitar. Since then, electronics and music have been a part of my life and have been inspiring me to this day.

  • As a trained radio & TV technician, I completed an internship at the Music Center No1 in the early 80s. That was my foundation for the development of musical equipment. Through the electronic repairshop, which I soon took over, I was able to gain experience with amplifiers, effect devices, synthesizers, mixers, speakers and especially tube amplifiers.
    During my military service I even repaired fighter jets (Lockheed F104G Starfighter) ;-)

  • The next logical step was not long in coming. In 1985, the first development on which I was instrumental in the market was the legendary Nobels Sound Studio 1. (see Development of the Sound Studio 1)

  • This was followed by the Nobels MS-8 midi controller and a cooperation with Fender, which marketed several Nobels products in the US under their "Fender" label.

  • Finally, a whole range of different effect pedals, as well as practical little "boxes", such as mini mixers, signal splitters, DI boxes, MIDI switchers, MIDI volume controllers, preamps, etc.

  • After many further developments and cooperations, in the late 90s I got my studies in electrical engineering. My diploma thesis was the MF-10, a programmable MIDI footcontroller with switching outputs. Unfortunately, the device did not go into production as planned.

  • At the end of 2005, I took over Nobels for two years. During this time I developed devices for Fender, SFX Digitune and Intelli.

  • From 2008 to 2015, I gained new experiences in a very successful team at Shadow Electronics known for pickups and preamps for various acoustic instruments (guitar, mandolin, ukulele, violin, double bass, etc.).

  • In April 2015, I started as a developer at Tronical GmbH.There they mainly built automatic tuning systems for guitars from Gibson. My task was to develop the successor (Powertune).

  • June 2019: Start Nordland® Electronics

  • Januar 2020: Sales start of the ODR-C Overdrive

  • September 2020: Sales start of the ODR-C [BLACK EDITION]

  • June 2021: Sales start of the ODR-CC and ODR-CC+ Compact Overdrives

  • August 2021: Sales start of the ODR-CC+ [Black Edition] Compact Overdrive

  • December 2022: Sales start of the ODR-C 30th Anniversary (Limited Edition of 200 pcs)

  • March 2023: Sales start of the ODR-CS Custom Special Overdrive

 

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to encounter exciting challenges and to work with people who have inspired me. And that should stay that way, because to be better, it is to be constantly in the exchange.

Nevertheless: What always came up short were my own ideas and projects. Here I am fulfilling a need that has been growing in me for a very long time. In my drawer I have a lot of other ideas that have accumulated over time and that I would like to realize.

 

My references

I have been designing and developing electronic devices for the music industry for almost 40 years. Except for two exceptions, I was involved in all Nobels products. At Shadow I was the authoritative hardware electronics specialist from 2007. Later I worked as project manager (Manager R&D) at Tronical GmbH (Automatic Tuning Systems for Tronical and Gibson)

Here is an excerpt of the produced devices:

During my Nobels time (end of the 80s until the end of 2007)

  • Nobels Sound Studio SST-1, SST-1X and SST-19 (programmable preamp with effects)
  • Nobels effects pedal series (Overdrive, Distortion, Chorus, Delay, Tremolo, Preamps, etc.)
  • Nobels MIDI Controller & Switcher (MS-4, MV-C, MS-8, MF-1, MF-2)
  • Nobels Compact Series (Signal Splitter, Mixer, Looper, etc.)
  • Nobels guitar amplifier
  • Nobels headphone amplifier
  • Fender MS-8 MIDI Controller (same as Nobels MS-8)
  • Fender Mycro (bass & guitar, identical to Nobels Mycro)
  • Fender Stereo-Pak Headphone Amplifier with Chorus / Delay (Bass & Guitar, identical to Nobels Stereo-Pak)
  • Kramer Mini PAK Headphone Amplifier (USA)
  • Shadow preamp with chorus
  • Hohner active bass electronics (The Jack etc.)
  • RAM / Series 10 effect pedals (USA only, identical Nobels effect pedals)
  • SFX-Digitune effect pedals (Korea)
  • EXE Effect Pedals and Pedal Tuners (China)


During my Shadow time (2008 to 2015)

  • Epiphone Ultra III (LP guitar electronics with USB)
  • Epiphone various Acoustic Guitar Preamps
  • Shadow Rockabilly RB-Pro Double Bass Preamp
  • Shadow Preamps for Zither, Mandolin, Guitars, etc.
  • KALA Ukulele Preamps
  • Traveler Guitars Acoustic, Guitar Preamps, EG-1 Effect Section
  • LAG Acoustic Guitar Preamps
  • Lakewood Acoustic Guitar Preamps
  • Hanika* Acoustic Guitar Preamps
  • Martin Acoustic Guitar Preamps
  • Aetnica electronic Cajon
  • Meinl Percussion Pedal


During my Tronical  period (2015 to 2018)

  • Gibson / Tronical PowerTune System (various versions)

 

As a freelancer since 2019

  • Nobels, Shadow: Hoshino (Ibanez), Meinl, Ovation, Breedlove

 

* Note: All brands listed here (Nobels, Fender, Shadow, Tronical, Hohner, Kramer, Epiphone, Gibson, Kala, Lag, Lakewood, Hanika, Martin, Breedlove, Aetnica, Meinl) do not belong to my person or my company Nordland Electronics!

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