For some players, nothing says “hot rod” like a
souped-up Gretsch, tweaked for looks and revving
to full throttle, just like a hot-rodded ’57
Chevy.
This G6120SSC Brian Setzer Tribute comes
to us from Fuller’s Vintage Guitar. One of only 59
being made, it is a replica of the hot-rodded ’59
Gretsch 6120 that Setzer used on his early Stray
Cats albums, and still uses on tour today. This
cat is Trestle-braced and almost all maple (back,
sides, top, neck) with an ebony fretboard (9.45”
radius) and 22 frets. It has a 24.6” scale length,
with a 1-11/16” width at the nut. It has Schaller
machine heads, a “chop shop” pickguard and a
bent output jack. Two TV Jones Classic Pickups
are controlled by a 3-way pickup selector and
three volume knobs (individuals and master).
The
Bigsby is a B6CB and the Space Control bridge is
custom fortified with double-sticky carpet tape.
The empty hole by the pickup selector is where a
tone knob is supposed to be. In addition to exact
replicas of the skull, black cat and “Lucky Lady”
stickers on Setzer’s original, the guitar also features
two dice for pickup volume knobs—not just
any dice, but Monopoly dice. These guitars have
been selling for around $25,000.
A name synonymous with acoustic flattop
guitars, C.F. Martin has been an
industry leader since 1833 when Christian
Frederick Martin bucked the controlling
European guild system (violin builders had
exclusive rights to build guitars over cabinet
builders) and emigrated from Germany to
New York City to start his own guitar-building
company. Five years later, Martin moved
the company to Nazareth, Pennsylvania,
where it’s remained for 175 years, producing
more than 1.25 million guitars and several
industry-shaping innovations. In the 1850s,
Martin implemented internal X-bracing
using wooden struts to stabilize the top and
back, which helped the guitar project more
volume without distorting. The first dreadnoughts
were built around 1916 and named
after the Royal Navy’s HMS Dreadnought
because it appeared so big, massive, and
indestructible that it “nought to dread.”
And during the late 1920s, Martin created
their OM body shape with a 25.4"-scaled,
14-fret neck-joint.
While Martin has been a front-running
mainstay in the acoustic world, they’ve
attempted to enter the electric guitar rat
race on several occasions to no success. First
in 1959, the company equipped their D-18
and D-28 models with exposed pickups and
knobs on the guitars’ tops. Then in 1961,
Martin built its first true electric guitar with
the F series archtops. By 1965 the F series
archtops were replaced by the GT series,
which was halted in 1968. After a decade,
Martin chased their electric ambitions once
again, this time with the launching of the
E series—solidbody guitars and basses that
were only built from 1979–1982.
Shown here is Billie Joe Armstrong’s
Martin GT-70 that he acquired from eBay
right before Green Day’s most recent U.S.
tour. It features a semi-hollow plywood
body with f-holes, bound 22-fret mahogany
neck with rosewood fretboard, two
DeArmond pickups, Bigsby-style tailpiece,
and a larger, bound, non-traditional Martin
headstock. After acquiring the eBay steal, Armstrong’s tech Hans Buscher had to heat
press some neck relief—this is done because
the truss rod is maxed out and needs to be
reset to remove the unwanted curve. He
also leveled the frets and adjusted the neck
angle/pitch so the strings weren’t too close
to the pickups. “Like a Fender, the pole
pieces are the magnets, so having the strings
too close to the magnets and the guitar will
never tune or have any appreciable tone,”
Buscher says. “The GT’s tone—with the
DeArmond pickups—is a really bright and
strident sound that needs to be matched
with an appropriate amp. I don’t think that
Martin really wanted this guitar to have
the same characteristics as their acoustics—the GT-70’s bolt-on neck, flat fretboard,
and plastic nut kind of let you know that
Martin was trying something different for
their electrics.”
Since acquiring the semi-hollow Martin,
Billie Joe has made this GT-70 his unofficial
hotel and backstage guitar.
A special thanks to Billie Joe Armstrong’s
guitar tech Hans Buscher for the opportunity to
feature this fine piece of gear and its story.
Got some gear that would make a great Gear of the Month?
Then email pics and its story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
Since the vintage craze of the last two
or three decades began, we certainly
haven’t heard the highest of praise about
the instruments Fender produced from
late 1965 to 1985, when it was owned by
the Columbia Broadcasting System conglomerate.
Stratocasters, Telecasters, and
Jazz and Precision basses from the ’50s and
early ’60s sell for far more than CBS-era
guitars—sometimes fetching as much as an
exotic sports car or a comfortable middle-class
home.
Perceived design flaws introduced to
models during the CBS years include Strats
and Teles that went from 4- to 3-bolt neck
construction, and a larger headstock with
an exposed “bullet” truss rod. Later in the
’70s, cost-saving measures, such as using ash
rather than alder for bodies, and finishing
necks in polyester, were seen as missteps.
And cosmetic, finishing, and/or consistency
issues such as misaligned fret markers struck
many as a sign that Leo Fender’s innovative
outfit had lost its way.
However, plenty of everyday players—both now and then—think collectors’
derision of CBS-era Fenders is just
nitpicking. For instance, in 1973, David
Gilmour took his late ’71 bullet Strat’s
pickguard assembly—including the middle
and neck pickups—and put it in his
prized black Stratocaster. U2’s the Edge
used a black ’70s Strat on early hits like “I
Will Follow” and “Where the Streets Have
No Name,” and R&B session and touring
guitarist Josh Sklair jammed on the ’71
Strat pictured here with legendary musicians
like Etta James, Roy Orbison, and
Bo Diddley.
“I grew up on my ’61 SG/Les Paul, a
’70s Les Paul Custom, and an ES-175, but
I was always a stone-cold Jimi Hendrix
disciple,” says Sklair. “Living in Hollywood
in the ’80s, I decided it was time to get a
Stratocaster. So I bought one out of the
Recycler for $300.” His ’71 Strat had a natural
finish, Schaller tuners, and the bullet
truss rod. Sklair wasted little time customizing
the axe to make it his own.
First, he took it out to his backyard and
let loose with a can of white spray paint.
Then he enlisted the expertise of guitar
guru John Carruthers (Carruthers Guitars,
Fender Custom Shop, Yamaha, G&L), who
re-fretted the guitar’s neck, installed a midboost
feature, converted the neck joint to
a 4-bolt array, and added copper foil and
shielding paint to minimize hum from the
pickups and controls. Carruthers also added
a new 5-way switch and reversed the polarity
of the middle pickup to make the second
and fourth positions dead quiet.
“I took it on tour with Dick Clark’s
Good Ol’ Rock ’n’ Roll Show,” Sklair recalls.
“It was my go-to guitar when I joined up
with the amazing Etta James in ’85, and
was used all the way until she retired in
’09. I even used it on the recording of Roy
Orbison’s ‘Careless Heart’ in 1988.”
Even though Sklair revamped several
aspects of his Strat, he never dreamt of
altering one thing. “What brings me back
to this little Strat is its neck. By industry
standards, it’s not a great neck—because
it’s fat and not very wide. But it has been
really comfortable for my average-sized
hands, and I believe the big headstock
adds an almost Gibson-like mellowness to
its tone.”
While Sklair’s beloved ’71 Recycler find
is special to him because of how it plays
and sounds, as well as the countless memorable
performances and sessions he’s played
with it, it’s also special because on the
back it bears the signatures of five rock ’n’
roll greats—Roy Orbison, Dick Clark, Bo
Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Del Shannon.
“I’m not much of a signature guy
because I don’t want to be creepy,” Sklair
laughs. “I never asked Etta for hers because
it just didn’t feel right, but I did get a few
rock ’n’ roll heroes to sign it. It reminds me
of where this guitar and I have been.”
The 21st century guitarist wants endless
amp/effect/cabinet options in a
sardine-tin-sized package at the cost of a
dinner for two at Applebee’s. (Yes, we know
some purists still plug their ’57 Strat into
an original tweed Fender Twin with a coil
cable.) That said, it’s always fun to take a
look at vintage effects that paved the way.
In 1967, long before the current multi-effect-Maxwell-Smart craze, the Japanese
company Honey launched the dual-purpose
Psychedelic Machine. The briefcase-sized
unit combined two of the world’s most
unmistakable sounds for the first time—
the fuzz and chorus/vibrato. A year later,
Shin-ei took over manufacturing for Honey
and decided that these effects would fare
better as stand-alone offerings (Univox was
Shin-ei’s U.S. distributor). In 1968, they
unveiled two separate stompboxes—the
Super-Fuzz and the Uni-Vibe.
These pedals were taken to Mt.
Olympus-heights by two heavy hitters—
Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix. The
Super-Fuzz was deified after Townshend
used it throughout the Who’s 1970 Live at
Leeds performance, but most notably during
the rambunctious opening in “Sparks”
and the grisly, snarling solo in “Young Man
Blues.” The Uni-Vibe helped Hendrix mystify
guitarists and listeners with its swirling
chaos in the Band of Gypsys’ “Machine
Gun” and the more silky, waving textures in
“Izabella” off of First Rays of the New Rising
Sun. Today, the Super-Fuzz still breathes
fire in Dan Auerbach’s speaker-eating tone,
playing a central role in Black Keys cuts like
“Thickfreakness” and “’Till I Get My Way.”
The following year, Shin-ei developed
the U-250 Uni-Fuzz, which was an
AC-powered brother to their Super-Fuzz.
As seen here, the Uni-Fuzz is housed within
a brick-sized enclosure resembling a military-
ammo canister. Its minimal controls
are balance (volume) and expander (fuzz),
a 2-way tone switch, and an on/off switch.
The tone switch engages a 1 kHz filter that
scoops the mids creating a robust, bass-y
tone. The on/off switch kicks on the circuit
that produces both an upper octave and a
slight, lower octave—giving the Uni-Fuzz
some compression and a mild ring-modulator
effect.
Photo courtesy Univox Corp
“Like many purveyors of fuzz, my interest
had primarily been focused on Fuzz
Faces and Tone Benders, but after sampling
a late-’60s Super-Fuzz at Rivington
Music in NYC, I realized designer Fumio
Mieda caught magic in a bottle,” says Mark
Hunter, owner of this ’69 Uni-Fuzz. “I have
a few other fuzzes and have spent some
time with a Super-Fuzz, but there’s nothing
quite like the Uni-Fuzz I found on eBay.
Its sound is very intense and fat, but still
is responsive to how your guitar volume is
set—lots of shades of fuzz and destruction
to be had.”
Unabashedly so, Hunter admits to dropping
a small chunk of coin on his vintage
dirtbox, but says the Uni-Fuzz has repaid
him by way of woolly inspiration and musical
journeys.
“Whenever I get in a rut or just need
something to perk a few new ideas out
of my fingers, I can always count on the
Uni-Fuzz to break things up [laughs],” says
Hunter. “The ring-modulator aspect of it
inspired me to write some music based specifically
on that sound. To me, that’s worth
the investment in itself.”
A special thanks to Mark Hunter for the
opportunity to feature this fine piece of gear
and its story.
Got some gear that would make a great
Gear of the Month? Then email pics and its
story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
It all started when a drum shop owner couldn’t get rid of three pesky guitarists. If it weren’t for those meddling kids and their gosh-darned guitars, Jim Marshall might have made a name for himself selling drums. The pesky guitarists in question—Ritchie Blackmore, Big Jim Sullivan [the subject of PG’s February 2013 Forgotten Heroes feature], and Pete Townshend—were dissatisfied with their rigs. They yearned for more volume, more distortion, and the right sound. Marshall’s success in addressing those needs sealed the Lord of Loud’s legacy and forever changed the world of guitars and music.
In the early 1960s, after deciding to build handwired amps that rivaled Fender’s current stock, Marshall and his two closest cohorts—Ken Bran, a shop repairman, and Dudley Craven, an 18-year-old apprentice—began building Fender amp clones that used 5881 power tubes. Other small changes included Celestion 15-watt speakers compared to Fender’s preference for Jensen 15-watt models. After working with higher-gain preamp tubes—like the ECC83—and learning how different filters and capacitors had a transformative impact on the tone, Marshall heard a sound he knew guitarists would crave. Thus was born the iconic JTM45—which got its initials from Marshall’s son Jim Terry Marshall. A few years later, Marshall switched to KT66 tubes to create the even louder 100-watt Super Lead 1959. In 1968, the company dialed back the decibels with the unveiling of a 50-watt, small-box head that would be called the JMP—an acronym for “Jim Marshall Products.”
“What really makes this ’68 JMP unique among its brethren is that it was built in early 1968 and was one of two early prototypes that the company used to tweak things making the amp more efficient to build and still keeping it handwired,” says Gene Sinigalliano, owner of Ultra Sound Studios and Amp Sales. “Since the amplifier was a prototype, it is very likely that Jim Marshall or one of his top guys actually labored and constructed this specific plexi.” According to Sinigalliano, this particular Marshall model was an original design—a departure from the company’s first Fender Bassman-based amplifiers. Some of the long-lasting design shifts away from Marshall’s original recipe were the use of EL34 power tubes, a solid-state rectifier tube for more gain, and two separate channels— bright and normal. Guitarists such as Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, and countless others would eventually blend the two channels to get some of the most iconic guitar tones of all time.
“This particular plexi has Mullard EL34s, Mullard 12AX7s in the input, Amperex Bugle Boy and Mini Watt ECC83s,” says Sinigalliano. “All these tubes are similar to what was originally installed in this amp.” The 1968 straight-front 4x12 has Celestion pre-Rola G12-30 speakers with 041 cones, as well as its original basket-weave grille.
Aesthetically, 1968 marked the first year Marshall switched to using white-script logos instead of gold lettering. That year also marked the first time front panels bore the JMP (rather than JTM) designation. Further, ’68 saw one more Marshall evolution— the complete switchover from fret cloth to the basket-weave cab covering that had been partially instituted in late 1967.
A special thanks to Gene Sinigalliano and Ultra Sound Studios and Amp Sales for the opportunity to feature these fine pieces of gear and the story.
The very first stand-alone effects unit
for guitar was the DeArmond 601
Tremolo unit, devised in 1946 and more
widely available in 1948. (A review in Music
Trade Review in 1941 mentions two Story
& Clark pianos equipped with DeArmond
tremolos, guitar tremolos surfaced later.)
One of the first guitarists to get their
hands on one was legendary Bo Diddley.
He used it on his first and only No. 1 hit,
the polyrhythmic, bump-and-grind shuffle
“Bo Diddley” for Chess Records in 1955.
The uneven fuzzy warble of the DeArmond
601 trem pedal trailing Diddley’s provocative
clave rhythm cemented the signature
Bo Diddley beat, which was the rock that
roll was laid on. Other famous users of the
DeArmond 601 include ZZ Top’s Billy
Gibbons on “Zipper Job” and “Hairdresser,”
Muddy Waters’ on “Flood,” and Mr. Twang
Duane Eddy’s on “Rebel-’Rouser.”
The seminal stompbox seems meek
and mild with its granite-like exterior
and simplistic 2-knob control layout, but
underneath the hood hides a complex
mechanism. The tremolo effect works by
reducing the signal from the guitar—several
times a second—to the amp. For the
DeArmond 601, the guitar’s input signal
is grounded through a water-based, electrolytic
hydro-fluid located in a canister
inside the unit. (Current DeArmond 601
users refill the canister with Windex.)
Within the canister, insulated from the
body, is a pin that’s connected to the
incoming guitar signal. When activated, a
running motor shakes the canister, causing
the hydro-fluid to stir and splash against
the pin causing the guitar signal to ground.
Thus, creating the DeArmond’s signature
watery, liquid tone.
“I first heard of these in an old interview
with Billy Gibbons,” says Chris Gray,
owner of this DeArmond 601 tremolo
unit. Since the Reverend has been known
to weave a tale or two, Gray did some
homework on the grandfather of effects
and realized the best way to decipher the
truth from lore was to own one. After a few
months scouring eBay, Gray landed one
with a winning bid of just over $200 for
an all-original, fully-functioning, late-’40s
DeArmond tremolo. (The only thing he’s
had to replace is the power cord.) Upon
arrival, he was taken aback at how small yet
indestructible the fist-sized machine was
compared to most modern-analog pedals.
But the real shock value was in its sound.
“The DeArmond 601’s tone is a time
machine back to the ’50s—it’s an ancestor
of rock ’n’ roll with its dusting of grit and
varying depth,” says Gray. “This is not a
subtle effect—it adds all its personality to
your sound whether you’re ready for it or
not, so when I want to add some low-down
stank to a track, I just plug it into a small
tweed or Supro and let it take me where it
wants to go [laughs].”
A special thanks to Chris Gray and Daniel
Formosa (https://danformosa.com/dearmond/)
for the opportunity to feature this fine piece of
gear and its story.
Got some gear that would make a great
Gear of the Month? Then email pics and its
story to us at gotm@premierguitar.com.
