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COMEDY CORPORATE RADIO PHOTO WRITING POLITICAL WEBSITES AWARDS PERSONAL |
ELECTRICS
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1958 Guild X175 w/Bigsby Roller vibrato tailpiece
010
- .048 round Bought as a fixer in 1999 and restored in by Mike Lull Guitars in Bellevue, WA. It’s a beautiful, fairly rare guitar with original hard case, but lacking original clear plastic knobs. I’m using numbered speed knobs (Guild3.jpg.) The pick-ups look like P90's but were actually made by DeArmond. This old-time delivers Rock-a-Billy or Wes Montgomery tones with the flip of a switch.
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1974 Gibson Les Paul Standard w/Washburn 2001 tuner/vibrato and locking nut Pyramid .009 - .046 round I got this split maple top, mahogany sandwich body “boat anchor” new in Red Bluff, CA in `74 and modified it over the years. I left the original Humbucker in the neck position and had a DiMarzio, then a Bartolini installed at the bridge (similar to a V93C-N with a very bright, clear tone.) Wiring is standard except for a “pull pot” on the Bart’s volume that adds a slight treble boost for added edge. The locking nut is a bugger, but in combo with the massive bridge tuner. I can swing the guitar around my head by the wang bar without any change in tuning. Truly amazing… slam the wang down or try to rip it off the guitar and it returns to perfect tune every time. A rather intoxicating noisemaker. Sustain? As Nigel Tufnel says, “Shhhhh! You hear that? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”
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1983 Fender Stratocaster Elite (Limited production) Pyramid .009 - .046 round
This is a US made Strat, manufactured during the 80s. Fender was trying out a form of active electronics that would later become the Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster with the same electronics: TBX and Midrange Boost/Cut, as well as pickups designed by EMG. What makes the Elite unique to the Stratocaster line is that it has no tremolo cavity. Instead it has a very tricky Kahler like designed tremolo system. The 5-way toggle was replaced by 3 buttons to configure the pickups and produce a variety of settings, Tele, Strat, and honest-to-God Humbucker tones. The middle button activates the dummy coil and can turn it to be a midrange boost or a Humbucker, so you get 7 settings instead of 5. The body is made of ash, making it extremely resonant. Unlike other Strats, the output jack is on the side of the body. The pickups are a precursor design to lace sensors and are unique to the Elite. It has active electronics (9v.) and is probably the most versatile Strat ever made by Fender. I had it paint shielded and it wonderfully quiet, even when sitting directly in front of the ART-825 at high volume. The story goes… Dan Smith, the head of Fender guitars, approached Clapton to discuss a plan to create a guitar to Clapton's specifications and market it under his name. Clapton told them to make an exact copy of "Blackie" (his favorite Strat), especially the shape of the neck. Fender made up a neck and put it on a Strat Elite guitar body for Clapton to try. The Strat Elite was pretty much a failed model that was only produced from early 1983 to mid-1984, so it's a pretty good bet that Fender had a number just laying about! Among the Elite's features was a "mid boost" control, which on the Elite was meant to mimic the output and sound of a Gibson Les Paul. Clapton loved the boost (which he calls a "compressor") and told Fender to keep it, but he wanted "more of the compressor". The guitar can be seen in an interview with Lee Dickson that ran in a 1985 issue of Guitar Player magazine. It's a black Elite body with a different neck attached (quite easy to tell). The fact that Clapton's favorite guitar was a Fender, apparently had nothing to do with the fact that his signature guitar is marketed by that company. The original production guitar was available in three colors - charcoal grey, Torino red, and 7-Up green. Per Clapton's request, the color black was not offered initially, but was added as an option around 1991. Alpine white was also added about the time of the "Nothing But the Blues" tour.
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2000 Fender Telecaster Custom Pyramid .009 - .046 round
Last Summer I put a bunch on gear on consignment at a local gear shop – Oscar Schmidt acoustic 6-string, a beater Mexi Strat, a Peavey amp, a Crate Amp, and a Fender Squier amp.
While waiting for the clerk to write up the consignment, I noticed this Tele hanging behind the register. It had a crappy tobacco sunburst paintjob with a nick out of the finish about the size of a quarter near the rear strap button. Apparently some dipshit dropped it and popped the polyurethane off the body.
It played great and sounded like a million bucks, so I traded my stuff for the Tele, a hard shell case, some Pyramids, and $150.
When I got it home, I disassembled it and used a pick to “pick off” the rest of the finish. Every bit came of in little flakes exposing a very gorgeous raw swamp ash body. I sanded it out, lined the cavities with .003 copper (40 gauge) and soldered it all into the ground wire, hand rubbed the plank with a honey walnut stain, then sprayed on @ 12 coats of clear urethane. Drying and sanding between coats took just over two weeks, but the result was very pretty.
This is currently my favorite. It can ring like a bell, snarl, scream, cry, howl, and whisper. I love this guitar. It makes me practice harder and listen more carefully.
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1964 Fender Bandmaster |
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