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/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 and that band
taught me to swim.
Thanks, Donna.
Thanks, Ryland, Shorty, and Bobby.
When
I lived in New Orleans, I used a smaller Fender rig
that would fit into the trunk of my Volvo P1800,
plus the Twin was just so damn loud...and heavy.
My 2x10 Vibrolux with a Fender Reverb unit
was great in the studio and live.
I can't believe I ever let it 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).
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 mahogony sides and
back, maple binding, ebony fingerboard with
microdot markers, and a clear pickguard (tap plate).
It
sounds very acoustic plugged straight into the
PA and I even record it straight into the board
along with a mic for some room ambience.
I bought 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.
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
I've
played this thing through my Line6 Ax2 2x12 Amp-modeling combo amp,
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.
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.
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. This newer
model had painted f-holes and the 'Marquis" tuning keys.
