Name: Dana Welts
Hometown: The Berkshires, Massachusetts
Guitar: Custom Teardrop
A guitarist enlists his friend to build a teardrop guitar like the one he saw Brian Jones playing with the Rolling Stones in the early 1960s.
Since I was an 11-year-old in 1963, I’ve been drawn to the teardrop-shaped guitar I saw Brian Jones playing in pictures of the Rolling Stones. It had such an artistic and classical shape compared to the Strats, Jaguars, and traditional ES guitars that were so popular among my preteen friends. I never lost the attraction to the Vox Mark VI guitars.
In December 2021, I was talking to my good friend Jeff, a builder and guitar tech extraordinaire, and mentioned that I always liked the teardrop. On a whim, I asked him if he’d consider building one for me. I seriously doubted he would have the time, and if he did, I would be waiting a long time. “Well,” he said, “I really would need a plan….” I thought, Hm, he’s a little interested.
I searched the internet and found a great drawing from the TDPRI forum and brought it to him. Jeff said he had a piece of mahogany that might fit, and that he’d also been looking at vintage Vox necks on eBay. He showed me the listing for a neck from a 1964 Vox Spitfire or Hurricane (the seller wasn’t sure which). We sealed the deal when he pointed out that the headstock didn’t have the same paddle design as the classic teardrop, and I told him that that was my least favorite part of the teardrop design. I preferred the headstock on the Spitfire/Hurricane.
The project went quickly from there. The plan was not to replicate an exact 1963 Mark VI, but to create a modern, roadworthy guitar with all the visual appeal of the Mark VI. Jeff went to work and four weeks later, I demoed the guitar before finishing. It felt and sounded incredible.
The pickups are a pair of Seymour Duncan P-100s wired through a 4-way modded (series/parallel) switch. The bridge and tuners are from a hardtail Fender Strat that Jeff happened to have hanging around. The maple headstock complements the warm white lacquer finish perfectly, and the guitar is appointed nicely with the obligatory Vox-style chicken-head knobs.
When I took delivery of the guitar, it looked absolutely beautiful, and I was onstage with it that weekend. I had a feeling that it would raise a lot of interest at shows and sure enough, on most nights, a guitar player in the audience finds their way to me and wants to talk about the guitar that they too remember from the ’60s. Every time I put the teardrop on and plug it in, I feel like I’ve come full circle with that kid from 1963 who dreamed about playing electric guitar in a rock ’n’ roll band. It’s pretty cool when dreams come true.
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With 1978’s Some Girls—one of the Stone’s biggest-selling studio albums—and its resulting US tour, the band reconnected with their gritty, groovin’, and brash roots.
Some Girls Live in Texas '78
Eagle Rock Entertainment
During the mid ’70s, the Stones had lost much of their raunchy, charismatic zeal. They had released Goat’s Head Soup, It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll, and Black and Blue—albums that were commercially successful, but tepidly received by critics who claimed the rockers had become stale and predictable compared to the punk and disco music that had taken over the airwaves. However, with 1978’s Some Girls—one of the Stone’s biggest-selling studio albums—and its resulting US tour, the band reconnected with their gritty, groovin’, and brash roots. Here again was the group that first swaggered out of London in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and the album’s songs and attitude restored the lads to their rightful place in rock ’n’ roll royalty. This rowdy energy powers the DVD and Blu-ray concert film Some Girls Live in Texas ’78.
The action starts with a burning cover of Chuck Berry’s “Let It Rock” and an equally overdriven rendition of Exile on Main St.’s “All Down the Line.” On the latter, Keith Richards uses a ’50s blonde Tele, although for most of the concert he relies on a black ’75 Telecaster Deluxe driving a Mesa/ Boogie Mark I. From there, Live in Texas offers up blistering takes on “Tumbling Dice,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” and “Star Star.” During the latter, Mick Jagger ad-libs “Jimmy Page is quite the rage, I couldn’t see the reason why.”
Key cuts include the stone-cold classic, “Beast of Burden,” a country-fried “Far Away Eyes” (with Ronnie Wood on lap steel), and a one-two combo of the phaserdriven, art-rock “Shattered” and punkmeets- Berry “Respectable.”
Picture quality isn’t great on Some Girls, and bonus features are pretty much limited to a 1978 appearance on Saturday Night Live, but the band’s raw talent and powerful musicianship more than make up for that. Yes, it’s only rock ’n’ roll, but we like it, yes we do.
PG's Joe Coffey is On Location at the 2010 LA Amp Show where he catches up with producer/engineer Andy Johns and guitarist Frank Infante. You may not know Andy Johns by name, but you probably have some of his work in your music collection. He's a prolific producer/engineer/mixer who has worked with such legendary acts like Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin's II, III, and IV), the Rolling Stones (Exile on Main St, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll), Van Halen (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), and even produced Eric Johnson's new disc Up Close. Johns talks about working with guitarists, earning co-production credits for his 21st birthday from sir Eric Clapton, and what it takes to get good guitar tone. Guitarist Frank Infante has worked with Blondie and has just finished recording on the newest New York Dolls effort due out later in 2011. Infante talks about finding your tone, his favorite amps, and some of his signature signal chains from this days in Blondie.
PG's Joe Coffey is On Location at the 2010 LA Amp Show where he catches up with producer/engineer Andy Johns and guitarist Frank Infante.
You may not know Andy Johns by name, but you probably have some of his work in your music collection. He's a prolific producer/engineer/mixer who has worked with such legendary acts like Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin's II, III, and IV), the Rolling Stones (Exile on Main St, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll), Van Halen (For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), and even produced Eric Johnson's new disc Up Close. Johns talks about working with guitarists, earning co-production credits for his 21st birthday from sir Eric Clapton, and what it takes to get good guitar tone.
Guitarist Frank Infante has worked with Blondie and has just finished recording on the newest New York Dolls effort due out later in 2011. Infante talks about finding your tone, his favorite amps, and some of his signature signal chains from this days in Blondie.