“It’s a loony bin.” That’s how Michael Lemmo describes Norman’s Rare Guitars, the coveted Los Angeles shop. Lemmo was tapped to join the store and eventually host their popular Guitar of the Day web series after Norm’s son Jordan spotted Lemmo jamming in the store and introduced him to his shop-owner dad. Norm kept in touch and eventually offered Lemmo a job, starting with his Lemmo Demo series of affordable guitars.
Lemmo toured through July with Allan Rayman. Ahead of their date at Nashville’s Basement East, PG’s Chris Kies caught up with the guitarist for some unofficial Lemmo demos.
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Lemmo got this Jazzmaster new in 2012, and its wear and tear is 100 percent organic—no relic job. Over time, Lemmo says, he “went to town” with it, starting with swapping out the factory bridge for a Mastery bridge, which holds it in perfect tune. He switched in the green anodized pickguard, and inspired by his guitar hero Eddie Van Halen’s red kill switch, he installed a red knob on the volume pot, then a blue one for the tone knob, to give it a Nintendo 64 vibe. Finally, a friend helped him pot a PAF humbucker in the bridge position. Lemmo runs D’Addario NYXL .011s on this dino.
Gift from the God
Tucked into the headstock is Lemmo’s prized pick, a gift from EVH himself. As random luck would have it, the famous guitarist began dating Lemmo’s friend’s mother during Lemmo’s first year of high school in Pennsylvania, and 14-year-old Michael had the opportunity to spend a couple hours talking guitars with Eddie one day. Van Halen gifted him this pick, which doesn’t stay in a glass case—Lemmo performs with it.
Low-End Evergreen
This backup Jazzmaster circa 2000 is set up to be a low-register, baritone-like guitar, with heavier-gauge strings and another PAF in the bridge. Lemmo leans on it to complement key changes and vocals in the lower register.
Base Camp
Lemmo likes a robust, clean base tone to build from on electric. At home, he usually plays through pre-1965 Fender amplifiers and trusts his pedals to give him all the tonal flexibility he desires. For this gig, he’s rocking a backline Fender Twin.
Simple Pleasures
Lemmo relies on his stomps for tone sculpting, but he doesn’t need much to get the job done. His signal hits a Korg tuner, followed by an Xotic EP Booster, Bearfoot FX Honey Bee OD, Red Panda Context, Boss DD-7, and TC Electronic Ditto. They’re all wired up to a trusty Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7.
Andy Wood
The 11-track collection of instrumental compositions is slated for release on August 9th . Andy Wood is backed by a collection of some of Music City’s finest musicians on drums, bass, organ, keys, strings and even traditional Asian instruments. Guitar legends Joe Bonamassa and Brent Mason also lend their talents to album. The album is available in numerous physical configurations as well as available via all digital service providers here.
Free Range Chicken feat. Brent Mason (Official Music Video) - Andy Wood
From the opening track “Shoot The Sun Down” to the outro of “Believe,” Andy Wood expresses his emotions through his fingers and playing. Andy Wood tackles the Alice In Chains classic “Rooster” in a solo guitar arrangement that demonstrates Wood’s versatility on the instrument. Joe Bonamassa lends his talents to the track “Moaning Lisa” and thefirst single “Free Range Chicken” features another Nashville legend, Brent Mason.
Andy Wood, Charisma.
The tracklist for Charisma is:
1) Shoot The Sun Down
2) Free Range Chicken feat. Brent Mason
3) Rooster
4) Storms and Sparrows
5) Charisma
6) Cherry Blossoms
7) Master Gracey’s Manor
8) Hylia
9) Moaning Lisa feat. Joe Bonamassa
10) Copperhead
11) Believe
Andy Wood will be touring throughout 2024 and beyond in support of Charisma with a handful of recently announced dates and more dates to be announced in the future. Andy also hosts a sleepaway guitar camp - The Woodshed Guitar Experience – that will be returning this September and registration is currently open at https://www.woodshedguitarexperience.com. Aside from that, he also spends time as the band leader for the famed band The Stowaways onannual sold-out cruise, Shiprocked The announced tour dates are below and tickets for all upcoming events can be found at https://www.andywoodmusic.com/events/.