Question: What's the weirdest-shaped guitar you own and how did you acquire it?
Justin Osborne – SUSTO
Photo by Dries Vandenberg
A: The weirdest-shaped guitar I own is by far my '80s Kramer Voyager. I never play it live, but it was actually one of the first guitars I ever bought way back in my early teens. I was at an antique shop with my mom and the guitar was there for only $75. I borrowed the money from my parents to buy it and had a lot of fun with it, mostly just playing in my room. My friend has been borrowing it indefinitely, but I still count it as a part of my guitar collection and will always remember it as my first electric guitar.
Current obsession:
My current musical obsession is Strand of Oaks' new album In Heaven. I've been a fan for a while now, and just love how Tim Showalter creates such a specific sonic landscape on his albums. This new one is a banger!
Strand of Oaks - Galacticana (Official Acoustic Video)
Strand of Oaks - Galacticana (Official Acoustic Video)Stream / Purchase: https://orcd.co/inheavenFollow Strand of Oaks:Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/...Sam Crowley – Reader of the Month
A: My Telecasket, which I built. White Zombie is one of my favorite bands of all time and has been since high school. I loved Sean Yseult's coffin basses from the moment I saw them and always thought if I could have a custom guitar, it would be a coffin. Fast forward 25+ years, as I was playing in my horror-rock band, the Electric Dead, it was time to finally do it. My father, who is a cabinet maker, and I built it together over the course of a few weeks.
Telecasket
The string-through body is a big slab of pine, and the binding/center stripe are walnut. My favorite guitarist is Billy Gibbons, so I had to put a Pearly Gates in there. His style also influenced the choice of no neck pickup and just a volume knob. Super simple. This being our first guitar project, we didn't want to tackle the neck, so I ordered that from Solo Music here in Ontario. I replaced the nut on that with a TUSQ nut and gave it a satin finish. The guitar is amazingly resonant, sounds absolutely huge, and the audience loves it!
Current obsession:
Photo by Blain Clausen
Always Billy Gibbons. To me, he's just the coolest guitar player ever!
Billy Gibbons X-Rays His Hands?! | The Big 5
The ZZ Top legend on what makes his “Pearly Gates” Les Paul so special, why he recently had his hands x-rayed, and the “slithering” slide guitarist whose wor...Shawn Hammond – Chief Content Officer
A: Unfortunately, I can't find a pic of the cherry-finished Gibson '67 Flying V reissue I had to sell in a pinch a decade and a half ago, but I really miss it—it had neato-sounding, splittable Duncan Seth Lover pickups.
The weirdest profiles in my collection now would be my old Schecter Ultra III (which has a TV Jones Magna'Tron in the bridge position) or my Mosrite-inspired Eastwood Sidejack Baritone DLX (with Curtis Novak JM-WR pickups).
Current obsession:
Of late, I've really been lusting after a DynaSonic-outfitted Gretsch Jet.
Ted Drozdowski – Senior Editor
Photo by John Thomas Collins
A: If you're an old Delta blues guitarist, you might have started on a 1-string like my diddley bow (below). It's got slices of pipe for the bridge and nut, an old banjo tuner, a galvanized-pot body with a genuine plywood top, and an old tobacco barn stave for the neck.
It was a gift from my friend Mike Mitchell, an artist in East Nashville, and I put in a Mexico-made Tele pickup, so it sounds nasty. It's a big hit at shows and sounds super-gnarly through a Marshall.
Current obsession:
Maybe a new combo for my stereo amp setup, or a damn cool small head? And to keep on keepin' on.