Rock ’n’ roll has a long tradition of building on the work of previous stars and reinterpreting their influences. The Beatles honored the Isley Brothers, Elvis covered Little Richard … up to contemporaries like the Black Keys celebrating hill country blues beacons R. L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, and Greta Van Fleet echoing Led Zeppelin and Motown. Dirty Honey is reenergizing the hard-rock sound of the 1970s and sleazy Sunset swagger of the 1980s with their amalgamation of heroes that range from Prince and Queen to AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses.
Before Dirty Honey’s headlining show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, PG’s Chris Kies popped onstage to witness the power and might of guitarist John Notto’s Appetite-ish assault. Notto shows off a pair of old-soul Les Pauls, explains his intermittent two-amp approach (and where he stole it from), and we enjoy a treat encounter with a very special ’burst.
[Brought to you by D’Addario XS Electric Strings]
It’s a Jimmy Thing
John Notto is an ardent follower of Jimmy Page and Led Zeppelin. (Check out his Hooked video, where he explains how Page’s storytelling riffs still impact his playing.) And while it’s clearly documented that Pagey often played Teles and low-powered amps in the studio, when it came time to rock onstage, he brought out the big guns. Continuing the Les Paul-into-a-Marshall heritage, Notto brings a pair of both on the road. His longtime No. 1 is a 2003 Gibson Custom Shop Historic Collection ’58 Les Paul Standard he bought in 2011. It features both Tom Murphy’s relic’ing handiwork and some natural wear-and-tear applied by Notto himself. The only change he’s made to this ’burst is swapping out the stock pickups for a set of Righteous Sound RAFs that offer a low-output purr, allowing the amp to do the heavy lifting. All his 6-strings take D’Addario NYXLs (.010–.052).
Tobacco Tone
While Notto has owned the ’58 reissue longer and it’s been on more Dirty Honey recordings than any other guitar, he admits that, in the live game, this 2019 Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s has taken first prize. It was upgraded with Righteous Sound RAF-2s. (Notto says these pickups are a tad hotter, providing more stank, and they have a spike in the 1-3k range.)
Greenie’s Brother
Let’s be clear: This is not John Notto’s guitar. This real-deal 1959 Gibson Les Paul (Gemini 9 2204) belongs to Gibson Brand President Cesar Gueikian. It was lent to Notto for the Nashville gig, and we’re sure Gueikian had private security watching Notto’s every move while it was in his possession. Besides being an iconic instrument from the legendary year, this Gemini started its life on the Kalamazoo workbenches alongside Peter Green’s famous “Greenie” ’burst, as they’re sequential serial numbers. (If we’re splitting hairs, this Gemini was built ahead of Green’s axe. Here you can see a cool photo of Greenie’s current owner, Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, and Gueikian posing with their treasures.) Notto mentions that the playing experience with this ’burst is like controlling an “electric eel,” because it’s so alive and reactive to everything he feeds it. Another takeaway from his time with the guitar is how “notes feed back but still stay sweet and desirable.”
The Real Deal
No relic master can match 63 years of aging.
Badge of Pride
Imagine the stories this headstock could tell if it could talk…. And, in a way, it can.
Marshall, Marshall!
Notto packs a punch when he hits the road. He travels with a potent pair of Marshalls. On the left he has an original 50W 1987 Marshall Silver Jubilee 2550, and on the right, he’s got a 2018 Marshall 1987X that’s essentially a 50W plexi reissue. The 2018 carries the load for most of the show (including taking all his pedals), but whenever it’s solo time, Notto engages (via a Radial BigShot ABY) the Silver Jubilee. He took the amp-for-solos trick from current Black Crowes’ lead guitarist and Earthless leader Isaiah Mitchell, who he saw use this setup when Dirty Honey opened for them in 2021. Both heads hit their own Marshall 1960BX 4x12s, loaded with Celestion G12M Greenbacks (25W).
Main Mule
Here’s how he dials in his plexi reissue.
Solo Stinger
And here’s how the Silver Jubilee complements the plexi when Notto hits the gas and steps into the spotlight.
Pedals for Pleasure
Keeping in the tradition of rock royalty, Notto tours with the essentials (aside from his Electro-Harmonix Nano POG that has the octave-up dialed down a bit and is only used on the band’s cover of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”). The bulk of the night gets colored by four tone-tailoring tools: an MXR Uni-Vibe, MXR Echoplex, MXR Reverb, and an Xotic SP Compressor. The Dunlop 535Q Cry Baby Q Mini Wah gets sprinkled in throughout the set. The Radial BigShot ABY switcher controls the amps, while the TC Electronic PolyTune 2 Noir keeps his guitars in check.
This trio from 1964, accompanied by a 1969 Super Bass head and 8x10 cab, projects a ready-to-rock attitude.
Each of these instruments had an asymmetrical body shape comprised of two mahogany wings attached to a long mahogany neck running all the way through the center. Their resemblance to the smooth fins of now-vintage automobiles remains striking. The guitars used Seth Lover's mini-humbuckers, which were invented in the late '50s. The basses had a new humbucker design that used molds from earlier lap-steel pickups. Another departure from Gibson tradition for the guitars was the use of six banjo-style tuners positioned in a row along the right side of the headstock—the opposite of Fender's arrangement. More typical heavy-duty four-in-line tuners were required for the hefty strings of the basses, however. The standard finish was a dark tobacco sunburst, but any of 10 custom colors—similar to Fender's, but with different names—could be ordered for an additional $15.
The instruments pictured here were originally purchased by a reform school for boys, to be used by its music department.
The guitars were numbered according to price, with the single-pickup Firebird I—outfitted with just two dials for tone and volume—selling for the lowest amount. The neck of the Firebird I has dot inlays and no binding, while more costly models have binding, and some have trapezoidal inlays. The 1963 catalog described the Firebird I this way: "The new solidbody by Gibson that is priced for the growing economy-minded market. Gives you all of the fine performance of this exciting new series of guitars at a price you can afford. You have to try it to believe it." And here's how that catalog described the Thunderbird II: "A fine, new economy-priced bass by Gibson. It offers clear sustaining response, that throaty bass tone, and the easy fast low-action that allows you to always play at your best." The T-bird II is also a single-pickup model, with the same control set as its Firebird I counterpart.
The Firebird I sports a single mini humbucker. With fewer windings than a PAF, these pickups tend to have a brighter sound.
The instruments from 1964 pictured here—a pair of Firebird I models and a Thunderbird II—were originally purchased by a reform school for boys, to be used by its music department. At some point, they were put in a store room and spent the next few decades undisturbed. Recently, a new employee who knew a bit about guitars discovered them. Realizing their value, he reached out to multiple dealers and Gibson to bid on the instruments. Our store was able to acquire them and keep them together as a set. The original price for a Firebird I was $189.50. The current value is $12,500. The original price for a Thunderbird II was $260, and the current value is $9,000.
Lap-steel pickups were the inspiration for the Thunderbirds' pickups. Versions from the '60s have a reputation for prominent mid and treble response, with rich core lows and a tad of inherent distortion.
The lure of the Firebird's modernist look and its bold tone has appealed to a host of blue-ribbon players over the decades, including Allen Collins, Eric Clapton, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Phil Manzanera, Gary Moore, Brian Jones, Dave Grohl, Warren Haynes, and Johnny Winter. And notable Thunderbird players include Kim Gordon, Adam Clayton, Mike Watt, Tom Hamilton, Tom Petersson, Jared Followill, and Jackie Foxx.
The Thunderbird's upper bout has a distinctive emblem based on Native American art. The Firebird has a similarly positioned logo of a phoenix rising from ashes.
Behind the 'Birds is a 1969 Marshall Super Bass 100-watt plexi head, formerly owned by Eric Johnson. The cabinet is a rare late-'60s 8x10. The current value for the head is $5,000, while the cabinet is worth $2,500.
Sources for this article include Gibson Electrics by A.R. Duchossoir; Flying V, Explorer, Firebird: An Odd-Shaped History of Gibson's Weird Electric Guitars by Tony Bacon; Gibson Guitars—Ted McCarty's Golden Era: 1948-1966 by Gil Hembree; and Gibson Amplifiers: 1933-2008 by Wallace Marx Jr.
