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My `62 Telecaster.
Originally Lake Placid Blue when I bought it
after joining Richmond country artist,
Donna
Meade and Country Road.
Donna was and is a great singer and musician.
I played this through a `65 Fender Twin w/ JBLs that I'd
borrowed-then-bought from one of Donna's brothers.
I was a long-haired, liberal, 21yo baby thrown into
the C&W pool and she, her brother Ryland, and that band
taught me to swim.
Thanks, Donna.
Thanks, Ryland, Shorty, and Ricky.
When
I moved to New Orleans in 1973, I was loaned
this brown Vibrolux (1x12) and a Fender Reverb unit
which were great live and in the studio...
... and
would fit into the trunk of my
Volvo ( `64 P1800).
I can't believe I ever let them go.
1978
Tele > MXR Dynacomp (Red) >
Pignose amp > Fender Twin
I
refitted the Tele with Joe Barden blade pickups
Joe's shop was right here in Virginia, and he let me try these
saying if I didn't want 'em, to bring `em back"...
... and I never took them back.
His p-ups are humbucking, just about noiseless,
but clear and hot, with a warm neck pickup, while
keeping that beautiful Fender single pole sound
but with increased dynamic picking response. Yeah.
He'd work with Danny Gatton on getting them right,
and when Fender issued a Danny Gatton model,
it came with Bardens and the zircon side markers
on the neck (so you could see them in the stage lights).
My friend, Murdoch MacNeil, lined all of the
Tele's electronics chanels with copper shielding, too.
It's very quiet and the dynamic range is huge.
`76
Ibanez Custom Agent
Model 2405
...my brush with humbuckers.
I was really lured by the inlaid
mock Bigsby Tailpiece & the
headstock's nod to The Gibson mandolin,
but it's got all the heft and tone of a Les Paul
and plays easier.
I'd
played a Takamine acoustic with a cutaway
during the touring years because the ease of playing
and I could carry-on or "gate-check" it when flying.
But,
when I wanted an acoustic that sounded like
an old Gibson J-45 with it's warmth, getting the right
bite when you flatpicked it, I happened upon my
Larrivee D-05e
with
it's Fishman Blender pickup system
(piezo under the bridge plus a condensor mic near the hole).
I use Elixer Medium/Lite strings and keep the action
maybe a little too high so that it rings like a bell.
It's beautifully simple with maple sides and
back, light maple binding, ebony fingerboard with
microdot markers, and a clear pickguard (tap plate).
2015
Gibson J-45 Standard
with
an L.R.Baggs Anthem
pickup system
(piezo under the bridge plus an interior mic mounted to the bottom
of the bridge).
Beautiful round sound: resonant bass, full mids that leave space for
vocals,
and articulate treble when you need it.
It responds so nicely to picking style and attack.
A Tusque compensated saddle makes this thing in tune
all the way up the neck.
Acoustically, it's awesome.
Straight
into the board, it is awesome.
Feedback is nonexistant in the PA/Monitors.
There's a Calton
case for this one.
I
use the Boomerang III phrase loop pedal...
which is brilliantly laid out, user-variable, and perfectly
suited for my live performance.
For me, along with beautiful stereo sound, you can record a two beat
"master" phrase, on top of which you can a record in sync
a second
"slave" phrase of any length...as long as it is time-multiple
of the Master.
In other words, you don't have to lay down an entire 4-bar
Master
for a 4-Bar Second (slave) phrase. This also allows you to record
a 12-bar 3rd phrase is you want.
It has no loop file storage (for prerecorded recall) but, for me,
that
would be like playing to Karaoke. Creating the loops shows the saavy
listener how tricky the process is, how you can use loops in various
ways, plus it has that element of danger...since you can screw it
up.
Anyway, it's just very cool and way flexible
...and it's made in Texas, USA by a funny guy.
________
I'd
waited 20 years for a Tele with a Joe Glaser B-string bender system,
after playing Mike Murphy's Relic Tele in Sun Valley...
I'll bet that I played that thing for 4 hours while we talked.
I finally found one that has a Glaser B-bender and a G-bender
The guitar strap Dunlap Strap-lok attaches to the B lever and
raises the B a whole step by pushing the neck down.
A second Strap-lok runs from the G lever to my belt loop and
raises the G a whole step by pushing the neck away from me.
Basically;
one mistake and my pants come down...
both physically and metaphorically.
You
"tune" the excursion of the pull/bend with each of
the two black, knurled screw caps in the bottom picture.
Additionally, the custom neck is wider with a 1 3/4" nut which
gives me
more room to move, and the Nashville setup with Seymore Duncans
has a beautiful sound with great sustain and responsiveness.
I
also switched-out the old 250k tone pot for a StellarTone
ToneStyler G-11.
Essentially, it's a treble roll-off, rotary switch, at ten
high-frequency points, with the
eleventh position being a virtual "bypass" of the tone pot...just
pickup-to-jack wide-open.
It can change the whole nature of the Tele sound. In the neck pickup,
with the
tone rolled all the way to bass, there is still enough mid to distinguish
the note clearly.
This
is, now, my go-to Tele. It can spank or be mellow and clear.
The
Blue Tele is a real piece of work.
My first solid maple neck, it's got plenty-o-twang, but, wait, there's
more:
-
Seymore
Duncan Vintage p'ups
-
a
Bill Warford
B&W Bender system for the B and G strings;
...smooth operation, an asthetically clean installation and mechanism.
-
GraphTech
Acousti-phonic piezo
bridge saddles, an add'l 2-position push-push volume
knob for "mellow" and "brighter" acoustic (like
an Ovation) sound,
and a 3-position micro switch for Magnetic-only / Both / Piezo-only.
-
GraphTech
Hexpander
analog-to-midi converter with a 13-pin midi out jack.
I
use an Axon Ax100 MKII midi converter which has internal sound
programs
and although I'm not crazy about them...the string patches are
nice...,
the midi-thru makes it work with other synth tone generators,
like my Korg T-3.
I'm not using this live, because it's just another think
to set up.
This ax, though, is a great playing and sounding ax.
It's just nuts.
The
2012 Fano Alt de Facto sp6.
With beautifully balanced Lindy Fralin Tele & P-90 pickups,
this has an immense tone palette.
In the middle position, I roll back its volume knob, just a bit,
to get that crisp, funk, rhythm tone.
Neck position has the warm, P-90 tone. Roll the volume knob full,
when I need a little more grind.
The tone pot has a big-ass resister that I can't figure out, but
it really works.
This is a tone Monster; it can spank, it can jangle, and it can
play the blues.
The neck is like glass, with a compound radius fingerboard.
Great sustain from the light mahogany body and neck,
the Fano bridgeplate, and compensated brass saddles.
It's my all-`round go-to.
The
2015 Gretsch G6128T TVP Power Jet.
It's a Duo Jet with two TV Jones Filtertron pickups..hotter output
that regular Filtertrons...
the mahogony body has routed-out chambers that make for a light
guitar,
semi-hollowbodied tone, with incredible sustain.
The scale is 24.5"... a full inch shorter that a Tele...great
for jazz & Rockabilly.
The
2017 "Gibson 355".
Overwound Parsons PAFs: Alnico 1 at the bridge & Alnico 5 on
the neck...
flamed maple body and a maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboard, nice
semi-hollowbodied tone,
with incredible sustain. Grover tuners and a Dietrich
String Butler.
The
2011 Epiphone 1961 Casino 50th Anniversary
Hollowbody and P90s...and "bikini logo".
Line6 Variax
700
Modeling Guitar
Just unbelievable..
This
great playing instrument
has a chip in it that reproduces
the tonality and picking response (w/ some latency)
of a wall-full of classic electric guitars:
Tele, Strat, Les Pauls, Riks (6&12), Gretsch,
Gibson 335 & Jazz boxes, plus pretty cool Dobro,
Danelectro, Acoustic 6 & 12 string models.
With the Variax Workbench software,
I've "built" some guitar
models of my own,
including some software drop/open tunings.
Exaggerat!ons
bassist, Jerry Kelleher, got the Line6 Variax 704 Bass.
When Line 6 discontinued the 5-string model (705),
I snagged one off of eBay.
Now, the P-bass is in the attic.
It's
a new world, kids.
Line6 Variax
300 nylon
string
Modeling Classical Guitar, has two modeled guitars, a warm 1867 Torres
Classical
and a brighter, punchier 2004 Maldonado Flamenco guitar, with a blend/balance
slider to mix the two.
I can, then, store up to 9 settings.
It's a beautiful sound and fairly nice playing, plus; no feedback.
In
`96, I entered the realm of amp-modeling amps with this Line6 Ax2
2x12.
Asthetically unpleasing, it was very well laid out for tweaking params
and it sounds great. The effects through its stereo speakers, very
cool.
But I usually opt for the speaker-less Line6 "Pod X3 Live"
floorboard...
...stereo, straight into the board (just using the monitors).
Each patch gives me two complete modeled amplifier and effects chains
that can be blended (an AC30 and Roland Jazz Chorus 120 rig for instance),
used separately, or together-but-sent-to-seperate-outputs...like guitar
mono to left xlr out and bass to right xlr out...yeah, it's got great
bass amp models, too.
Both Variaxes (700 and 705) plug in via RJ-45 jacks;
The Tele, via 1/4" phone jack
I get hours of smiles from innumerable tones live and in the studio.
2012:
The Vox VT20+...
20
Watts, 1x8" Vox speaker (closed cabinet)
Amp modeling for the preamp stage, but a 12ax7 tube ("valve")
just before
the ultraquiet power amp stage...with a volume knob before each stage.
I
like the Dumble Overdrive Clean and the Vox AC15 &
30 models for country/chicken-picking
and jazz, and the tube gives it the nice overdriven poweramp sag,
but at a listenable level.
I mic this up for bigger gigs, but it keeps up in a jam with drums.
This amp was a real find; light, versatile, beautiful tone, &
inexpensive.
2020:
The Vox VT40x...
40
Watts, 1x10" Celstian Blue speaker (closed cabinet)
Amp modeling with a 12ax7 tube ("valve") in the preamp stage,
before
the ultraquiet power amp stage..
I
like the Delux Clean and the Vox AC30TB and AC15
models for country/chicken-picking
and jazz, and the tube gives it the nice overdriven sag,
I mic this up to send to the Rang looper.
This amp is a great middle between the VT20 and VT120; light, versatile,
beautiful tone,
and
can keep up , even if unmiced.
The Vox VT120
Same
preamp stage as the VT20, but a 120
watt, twin 12" version.
The Power amp stage has volume attenuation, but the tube gives it
the nice, overdriven poweramp sag, at a variable, listenable level.
This amp has more "meat", more gravitas, that the little
single 8" VT20.
When there's need to crank onstage.
It takes up more floorspace in the truck, though,
so it depends on how much other gear is going.
But, also, a real find: 40 lbs, versatile, and beautiful tone(s).
The
top panel is the same as the VT20.
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During my freshman year in high school, my parents had
a unaccountable lapse in judgement. I entered the
world of rock `n roll with my first electric bass guitar:
a Tempo bass and a Sears Silvertone 1 15" amplifier. The
Tempo taught me how to endure hours of torture, bad sound,
muscle & blister pain...this ability would serve me
later, in my comedy career.
After
6 mos. of sporatic gigs with my first band "Alfie &
The Others" (there was, after all, no real "Alfie"...my
first scandal), I got a Univox copy of a "Beatle Bass"...
I
found my 
Later
that same year, I bought a `65 Gretsch Nashville with the Grover
Imperial tuning keys...that's it, behind my leg, in the shot
above.
