Jimmy Vivino and the Black Italians are scheduled to perform on “Conan” January 28. The guitarist, who serves as music director on the late-night talk show hosted by Conan O’Brien, will guide the group through a performance of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.” The song appears on the band’s album, 13 Live, which was released on Blind Pig Records.
The Black Italians were formed 20 years ago around a residency at the Downtime Music Bar, New York City, where it attracted local and national touring musicians who would join impromptu jams. Vivino jokingly dubbed the communal group of musicians of various ethnicities The Black Italians, which he says was really “about being soulful cats.” The band re-formed last year to record 13 Live at Levon Helm’s barn studio in Woodstock New York. Vivino and his guitars (and amps) were featured in the July ’13 issue of Vintage Guitar.
Gretsch is expanding its Roots Collection of eclectic instruments to include several new guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, and banjos. Among the guitars are the G9550 New Yorker, which has an ached spruce top, laminated maple sides/arched back, vintage-style V-shaped mahogany neck profile, rosewood fingerboard, and a compensated rosewood bridge with trapeze tailpiece.
G9515 Jim Dandy Flat Top
The G9515 Jim Dandy Flat Top has agathis top and sides, a C-shaped nato neck, rosewood fingerboard, and rosewood top-load bridge with compensated saddle. The G9231 Bobtail Steel Square-Neck A.E. has a square mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, Gretsch Ampli-Sonic Spider resonator cone and bridge, and a Fishman Nashville Resophonic pickup.
G9231 Bobtail Steel Square Neck
The G9221 Bobtail Steel Round-Neck A.E. has a steel body, V-shaped mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, Gretsch Ampli-Sonic Spider resonator cone and bridge, and a Fishman Nashville Resophonic pickup. To see more, Visit www.gretschguitars.com.
J.D. Simo moved to Nashville seven years ago and quickly landed in the coveted hot spot as the lead guitarist in the Don Kelley band. After four years playing four nights a week in Nashville’s lower Broadway district, Simo took a hard left, forming a power trio that bears his name (with bassist Frank Swart and drummer Adam Abrashoff) and carries late-’60s rock sensibilities with strong improvisational leanings. Simo – the band – has since been blazing trails across the U.S. We caught up with its leader as the group readied a second studio album.
Why does a guy making inroads as a session player and playing with the Don Kelley gig set it aside to start a rock band?
The desire was always there, and I had tried to make this happen before, but the chemistry hadn’t been there. When Frank called me to jam with him and Adam, I quickly found that these were the only guys I wanted to play with.
Has playing in the band setting changed your gear choices?
Completely. I’d always lusted after the Gibson/Marshall thing, which suited the sound of this band. My love of Duane Allman, Paul Kossoff, Billy Gibbons, Jeff Beck Group, and late-’60s Clapton shaped my desire for that sound.
Gary Bohannon helped me get my tone together. I had a reissue Les Paul, a Marshall, and some boutique amps, but Gary helped me understand how frequencies need to blend in a band, and how to keep things from sounding like mud. That long journey really sent me playing all sorts of gear. So between Gary and Tommy Hatcher, I got to play through a ton of vintage Marshalls. I landed on a ’67 100-watt Super PA, which is essentially a ’67 Super Bass and is cleaner that the ’69 50-watt I was using. Going to the 100-watt had less to do with volume than the feel, frequencies, and lack of compression. The 50-watter’s compression made it hard for my guitar to mix well with the rhythm section.
The next step was acquisition of the ’62 ES-335, which Gary pulled out one day. It had a Bigsby on it at the time, but it was red with the block inlays. I convinced him to switch it to stop-tail, as the holes were already drilled. When he did, the guitar opened up and I found myself selling everything I owned to buy it from him, and now I don’t have a want for anything else! That, along with a wah and the Marshall, and I’m very happy.
Do you use a variac with the Marshall?
I do. Gary showed me how to use one to get the most out of the amp. Marshalls and old Voxes want to see 110 volts, but we get 120 to 128, which will kill tubes, so the variac lowers the voltage going to the transformers and tubes. The amp sounds better and last longer.
What kind of wah?
I use a Dunlop Bonamassa that I modified; it had a tad too much low-end and the throw of it was a little too long. I also painted it psychedelic. I had a ’67 Vox wah and it was the best-sounding wah, but it broke down, which really broke my heart.
The key to a good-sounding wah is to have it be a bit microphonic and having a shorter throw. Something being extremely microphonic is a problem, but being less so gives it a very reactive, and human, quality. Bonamassa showed me his and I was ready to try it – and I was ready to be less than impressed. But I was very pleasantly surprised. The second I plugged it into my rig, I knew it was right. It had that microphonic quality I was looking for. It is a great wah, and you can tailor it some like I did, if you want to.
How do you keep your sound consistent from venue to venue using a single guitar, amp, and wah?
When we started, we set up like most bands do, with our amps facing the audience. Frank, who is a successful engineer and producer, was getting frustrated with just the issue you are bringing up, consistency of sound from room to room. One night, he suggested we face our amps sideways, pointing at ourselves, not the audience, and we found that our sound was much more consistent. This also keeps our amps from beaming sound directly out into the audience, and we don’t have to rely on monitors. As far as the one-guitar thing, I really think bonding with one guitar really allows me to know the nuances of it, and play it better. And frankly, all of my favorite guitar players were known for playing one instrument.
This article originally appeared in VG August 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
What is it about Plexiglas? It’s so cool. You can see through it onstage. It’s dense, yet resonant. You’d think it would be the perfect medium for a mean rock and roll machine. And it’s not like people haven’t tried! But for some mysterious reason(s), practically every attempt to make a successful Plexiglas guitar has ended in, if not failure, at least some sort of debacle. Like with this 1980 Renaissance T-200G. The Renaissance guitar company was one of the latter instances, a debacle.
Plexiglas (or Lucite, both trade names), a clear polyacrylic thermoplastic made from acrylic acid, was developed during World War II. Plexiglas first showed up on guitars as trim in the 1950s, as fingerboards on lap steels and butterfly tuner buttons on some Klusons. Magnatone used a remarkable sandwich of blue-tinted plexiglas and aluminum on its spectacular Model 216 lap steel.
But as far as we know, the first use of Plexiglas for the body of a guitar was the so-called “Swan” made by EKO and a few one-offs by Fender in the early 1960s. These were basically promotional guitars made for music trade shows, not really production models available to the public, although the guitar seen here is hardly much different.
The first production Plexiglas guitar was the famous Ampeg Dan Armstrong “see-through” guitar offered from 1969 to ’71. Indeed, some of the first Japanese “copy” guitars introduced in 1970 were knock-offs of the Ampeg, including versions by Ibanez, Aria, Univox, and St. Louis Music’s The Electra, which became their brand name in the ’70s, They were pretty close but didn’t have removable pickups or the weird Danelectro bridges. To be honest, those knock-offs were a little lighter and often played better than the Ampeg original!
Despite use by Keith Richard, the Plexiglas idea had limited uptake. But the notion didn’t die. The idea was revived in 1977 in the then pretty rural Philadelphia suburb of Malvern, Pennsylvania, in the form of Renaissance guitars and basses. The man who initiated Renaissance was John Marshall, a local guitarist who learned guitarmaking from Eric Schulte and Augie LoPrinzi, both Philadelphia-area luthiers. He hooked up with two other partners, Phil Goldberg, who had a music store and was involved with a local recording studio, and Dan Lamb, a local studio guitarist. After some discussion, the decision was made to build in Plexiglas. Marshall designed the guitar and bass, which was a sort of cross between a Les Paul and Telecaster. Production commenced in 1978. Both guitars and basses had active circuitry with DiMarzio pickups. They were offered in Clear, Smokey Grey, and Black Plexi.
Renaissance had big plans for national distribution, but progress was slow and the brand never got much further than the Mid-Atlantic region. After about a year, trouble began to brew. Marshall, disgruntled, left the company to become a luthier for Martin. Renaissance began to have financial troubles.
In 1979, Renaissance recruited another area guitarist and music store owner from Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, John Dragonetti, to invest in the company. It proved a disastrous financial decision!
No sooner had Dragonetti been convinced to put in some hard-earned cash, the business exploded. His money had gone to pay bills and the I.R.S. was zeroing in. By 1980 he found himself in complete control of the company – but not in control of much. To try to save things, Dragonetti set about redesigning the line. He wasted a lot of time addressing player complaints that the guitars wouldn’t hold their tune due to expansion of the Plexiglas. And the guitars were just too expensive to make given their wholesale price, which was around $350.
His first solution was the guitar shown here, inspired by the B.C. Rich Bich. Active-electronics guitars had not been very popular, so he switched to passive DiMarzios, which allowed him to lighten the guitar by making it thinner, making players happy and saving on material. The original Renaissance company had been making its own components, including bridges and even knobs. Dragonetti switched to standard parts. He even tried outsourcing all or part of production, but had no luck.
Despite the cost-saving efforts, this is still a pretty deluxe guitar. In addition to the labor-heavy body, it sports a solid mahogany neck and an ebony fingerboard. In keeping with the style of the time, its fretboard side dots and nut are brass. This guitar has a Leo Quan Badass bridge, and pickups are DiMarzio X2N humbuckers, similar to Super Distortions popular at the time.
In addition to this model, Renaissance offered a corresponding bass and another shape without the scoop on the butt-end and a wavy lower bout. This latter model came with one or two pickups and in a bass version, as well.
John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful. At the summer NAMM show of 1980, Sunn amplifiers, enamored of Renaissance basses, approached him about building a line of guitars. Just at that moment, another company’s sales rep knocked a bass over and broke it, pointing out how poorly made it was. Sunn got spooked and backed out. Which probably was okay, because they promptly went out of business. And Renaissance’s number finally came up at the I.R.S. By the fall of ’80, Renaissance guitars were no more.
All Renaissance guitars and basses are pretty rare. Only 250 to 300 of the original design were produced, about two thirds of those basses, putting the guitars probably a little south of 100. Of the Dragonetti designs, only about 18 wavy guitars were built. Only five or six of the guitar shown here were ever made, making it about as rare as you can get.
The Plexiglas concept didn’t die with Renaissance. Recently, St. Louis Music reissued the original Ampeg guitar. B.C. Rich, inspiration of this design, offered a Plexi version of its Bich. And to celebrate the Milennium, Ibanez produced about 100 Plexi Joe Satriani guitars. Who knows? Maybe one day one of these will be a huge success! Then again, we wouldn’t have these rare birds to keep our eyes peeled for!
This article originally appeared in VG‘s February 2009 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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Most guitarists love the sound of a 12-string, but the thought of owning one often raises several questions. Should you get an acoustic or an electric? What about controlling feedback onstage? And aren’t they hard to tune? Carvin attempts to answer all of these questions with the AE185-12, a 12-string with both electric and piezo/acoustic pickups.
At first, the AE185-12 seems too good to be true: a thinline 12-string with both acoustic and electric tones, and weighing only 6.25 pounds. Moreover, this Carvin sports 24 frets on a thinner electric-style neck with the kind of super-low action the company is famous for. The guitar also has some formidable electronics. Interested? Thought so.
The test guitar was highly customized, featuring a mahogany body with a super-flamey maple top and a single f-hole (the stock version comes with an Englemann spruce top; see the website for available custom options). The AE185-12 neck is a through design and also made of mahogany. Its 24-fret ebony fingerboard has a 14″ radius and Carvin’s popular 25″ neck scale. The neck also features a 1.69″ nut and TUSQ saddle, with the strings feeding through the body. The headstock has Carvin’s new 19:1 locking tuners (six per side), so any tuning concerns flew out the window – the AE185-12 stays in tune like a champ. The test instrument also had chrome hardware (standard), abalone diamond inlays (white pearl dots are standard), tortoise body binding (another custom touch), and an abalone Carvin logo on the headstock.
For electronics, the test AE185-12 was equipped with standard Carvin humbuckers (C22J neck and C22B bridge; again, custom options abound), as well as an LR Baggs Ribbon Transducer for acoustic tones. No surprise, this puppy runs on active power, so a 9-volt battery compartment is located in the rear. For controls, there’s a master volume and active tone for the humbuckers, along with a three-way pickup selector. The Baggs piezo system has an active tone circuit, and a Pan control to blend the acoustic and electric sounds. Even sweeter are the separate output jacks for acoustic and electric signals, allowing the player to route them to different amps or PA inputs. There’s even a mono output to combine them for everyday convenience.
In the hand, the AE185-12 exhibits all the qualities that Carvin is famous for: a slim, super-fast neck with Carvin’s Rapid Play setup, a light body that hangs comfortably on a strap, and controls that are conveniently located for tweaking on the fly. The neck profile is a flatter “C” shape and very comfy to grip, even over the 15th fret (all 22 frets are easily accessible). The 25-inch scale is a joy, and the string spacing is great for both fingerpicking and flatpick work. The fast neck is also perfectly shred-ready – burning up and down the fingerboard is no problem.
Sound-wise, the AE185-12 offers myriad tones, from shimmering electric to fairly realistic acoustic. From the Beatles to the Byrds to “Stairway to Heaven” and any number of tracks from Yes, Genesis, or R.E.M., the AE185-12 can be mined for a world of 12-string textures. Granted, the guitar’s “acoustic” dimension doesn’t have the same depth as the genuine article, but for the gigging and recording player, this guitar could be a lifesaver. In fact, many listeners will never notice the difference.
Like most Carvins, the AE185-12 gets predictably high marks in sound, playability, and overall value. You have to admire Carvin designers for spending so much time figuring out the things that players really want and then making them reality. Certainly, George Harrison’s Rickenbacker 360/12 and Jimmy Page’s Gibson EDS-1275 were incredible instruments, but it’s quite likely that George and Jimmy would have drooled over the AE185-12. It’s a terrific reinvention of the 12-string guitar and one that will appeal to electric and acoustic enthusiasts equally.
This article originally appeared in VG August 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Jazz and R&B great Phil Upchurch said, “Lenny Breau was the most innovative guitarist since Wes Montgomery.” Considering that Montgomery is widely regarded as the third link in the chain of jazz guitar’s greatest stylists, after Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, it’s a lofty claim – but one with which Pat Metheny, Martin Taylor, and Tommy Emmanuel would likely agree.
Born in 1941, Breau was playing country music with his parents’ act at 12. After he’d absorbed and incorporated jazz, he was signed to RCA in ’69 by his initial inspiration, Chet Atkins. While his albums were dissected in hushed tones by fellow guitarists (his beautiful arpeggiated harmonics, his use of a custom seven-string with a high A), substance abuse accounted for his relative obscurity.
On August 12, 1984, Breau was the victim of a murder that remains unsolved. Thus, the discovery of tapes of a live gig barely two months prior is a major event. The guitar mastery on display in this intimate trio setting supports Upchurch’s declaration. The double-CD’s repertoire is mostly standards, but he takes a song like “My Funny Valentine” from ballad to smoking bebop, displaying colossal chops but even greater musicality. A fitting coda to a career cut far too short.
This article originally appeared in VG‘s February ’13 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Takamine’s new LTD2014 limited-edition acoustic/electric guitar has a slope-shoulder dreadnought cutaway design with a neck joined at the 12th fret. It combines a solid Sitka spruce top with a flame-maple back and maple sides, Takamine’s dual-channel CT4-DX preamp and Palathetic under-saddle pickup, ivoroid binding with abalone body and headstock purfling, abalone rosette, ebony fingerboard, bone nut, rosewood bridge with split bone saddle, black tuners, and a Black Burst finish. Its fingerboard and pickguard are adorned with imagery of the the snow grouse, or raicho, a bird that inhabits the Hida Mountains, which provided the inspiration for the Takamine name. Visit www.takamine.com.
The Les Paul Foundation, formed by the late guitarist/inventor to encourage young people to pursue their interests in music, sound and engineering, has announced its latest round of grants. Organizations set to receive them include the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, to provide schools with instruments; the Wisconsin Foundation for School Music, for its garage-band competition (Launchpad) and Music Biz Day program for young musicians in Wisconsin schools; the Soulsville Foundation/Stax Music Academy of Memphis, for its Les Paul Spring Break Workshops program, which provides classes and clinics to middle- and high-school students; Guitars for Vets, which shares the healing power of music with military veterans by providing free private guitar lessons and a guitar to each student; the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum, which houses a permanent exhibit in honor of Paul and operates the Les Paul Sound Lab for children; the Mahwah Museum in New Jersey, which hosts an exhibit on Paul that includes visual displays, interactive elements, artifacts and educational programs.
“We feel privileged and excited to support these organizations with [these] grants,” said Michael Braunstein, Executive Director of The Les Paul Foundation. “Throughout Les’ life, he remained steadfast in his belief that everyone deserved the opportunity to experience, enjoy, learn or heal through the gift of music. We know that the support we are providing will help continue his legacy through the programs and services being offered by these recipients.”
Paul supported music education, engineering, innovation, medical research and several other causes throughout his life. For more on the foundation and this year’s grants recipients, go to www.lespaulfoundation.org.
In 1984, Christian Roebling went from being just another guy watching TV to creating what was likely the first television program to focus on and feature guitar players and builders. Though few outside of New York City knew of its existence, in its six years on the air, “The Guitar Show” played host to some of the heaviest hitters in guitardom.
The show essentially began one night when Roebling tuned to Manhattan Cable television and saw “…a guy doing a live show and taking phone calls from viewers.” That guy happened to be Jim Chladek, owner of Metro Access and a pioneer in cable television. Roebling called in and, on the air, asked, “How can somebody do a show?”
Soon after, he visited Chladek in the studio and was offered a job. “Back then, on-the-job training was the only way to learn,” he said. “So I started pulling cables, sweeping floors, doing audio, operating the camera – I learned every job in the studio.”
Though his salary was far from a king’s ransom, Roebling was attracted to the gig because it was a wonderful opportunity to learn, and provided a creative outlet via the element that sealed the deal – two hours of studio time each week. A certifiable guitarhead, Roebling knew exactly what he wanted to do.
“The concept was simple; a weekly show dedicated to the guitar, its players, and manufacturers,” he said. “All I had to do was look in The Village Voice to see who was playing around town – there was no shortage of players on any given week.”
While his expectations may have been realistic, his thoughts for a first guest were, he admits, a bit “pie in the sky.”
“I knew my first guest had to be Les Paul,” he said. “Les played every Monday night at Fat Tuesdays in New York City, so I went to see him on August 20. I remember sitting there, amazed at watching him play and tell these wonderful stories. He was generous with his time and talked to everyone who approached after his set. And he would sign anything – guitars, pickguards, photographs – smiling the whole time.
“I waited until after his last set, so I could ask him to be on the show. I thought he’d ask ‘Who are you?’ or say ‘Get away from me, kid!’ or ‘Sure, and bring lots of money!’ – which I didn’t have! But when I told him about that show and how I thought he would be the perfect first guest, he said, ‘Sure, bring your crew next week.’
“So, on August 27, he let us film his entire set. Afterward, he spoke to everyone in the club, then sat to talk while the bartender stacked chairs. Les never rushed, and talked as long as I had questions.”
Roebling left the club that night on an undeniable (and justified) “success high.” But of course one episode – stellar though it may be – didn’t mean he had a “show.” There would have to be other guests, and he faced a daunting challenge finding a suitable follow-up, but…
“I had a friend who knew Rick Derringer,” he said. “Rick was a favorite of mine since his early hits and I remember seeing him tear the roof off of The Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1972 with Johnny Winter And. So I gave him a call. At first, he played the role of rock star – a bit standoffish, like, ‘I dunno… Who’s been on?’ When I told him Les Paul was on the first episode, he totally changed! He was like, ‘Let me know when and where!’ He was wonderful to be around, and as a guest he was fantastic.”
Lining up artists for subsequent episodes, the first question was usually like Derringer’s; “Who’s been on?” But once told who had appeared in episodes one and two, they signed on. Larry Coryell was third, and for 50 episodes, Roebling says he never had trouble filling guest slots.
’88 J-200, replete with signatures carved into virtually every inch of their bodies, front and back.
“One of the highlights for me was booking Jimmy Page,” he recalled. “That episode was taped at Les Paul’s house when Led Zeppelin had reunited to play Live Aid. Jimmy brought all of his guitars for the show, including his iconic Gibson doubleneck, the Fender ‘Bender,’ and his Les Paul Standard, and he got to hang with one of his idols! I don’t know how it could have gotten any better than that.”
“The Guitar Show” didn’t discriminate when it came to genres. Legends from the jazz realm appeared, including Joe Pass, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, Charlie Byrd, John Scofield, Bill Frisell, Larry Coryell, Emily Remler, and others. Fans of the blues got to enjoy Roebling’s talks with Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, John Hammond, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Joe Louis Walker, and others, while rock fans saw Roebling sit with idols like Page, Derringer, Paul Gilbert, Jay Jay French and Eddie Ojeda of Twisted Sister, and Phil and Dave Alvin from The Blasters. Even classical guitarists were represented by Sharon Isbin, Benjamin Verdery, and Carlos Barbosa-Lima. Then there were those who trended toward uncategorizable, like Richie Havens, Cornell Dupree, Adrian Legg, John Fahey, and Danny Gatton.
Today, Roebling keeps alive the memories of the show by way of the internet (search youtube.com for Front Row Music NYC) and two pieces of memorabilia he holds very close to his heart – guitars given to the show. The first is an ’84 Les Paul that Roebling obtained by contacting Norlin Industries, Gibson’s parent company at the time. “I asked if they wanted to be on the first show, since Les Paul was going to be the guest. I suggested they appear to talk about new products and, of course, Les. In return, I asked them to leave a guitar so I could have future guests engrave their autographs into it.”
Paul did indeed engrave his signature, along with the date. “Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown signed the Les Paul along the entire fretboard!” said Roebling. “Danny Gatton signed it under the strings, and as he was doing so, he jokingly said, ‘I should be behind bars!’”
By 1988, its body surfaces started running out of space, Roebling called Gibson and then-new CEO Henry Juszkiewicz to see if he wanted to be a guest, and donate another guitar. “I told Henry we needed a larger guitar to hold a lot of signatures, so I requested a black J-200.” Juszkiewicz and Gibson obliged.
Les Paul was the first guest on “The Guitar Show,” and the first to engrave his signature on Roebling’s Les Paul.
Other manufacturers who appeared included Bill Kaman, president of Ovation, as well as Steve Grom from Fender, Paul Reed Smith from PRS, Rich Lasner and Bill Cummiskey from Ibanez, Jim Funada from Yamaha, Ned Steinberger, Chris Martin, Seymour Duncan, and Dennis Berardi from Kramer.
The final episode of “The Guitar Show” aired in 1990 and when he looks back today, Roebling is well aware that beyond having Les Paul do the first show (“Without Les, none of it would have happened,” he says), the world – and TV production – were very different in the mid ’80s.
“The whole system was simpler – I had a free studio, the airtime on Manhattan Cable TV was free, the director and crew were my friends, who worked for free! I only had to pay for the tape stock and spend a bit of money to edit the show.”
Roebling went on to produce a video magazine called “GuitarVisions” (1990-’91), which featured Steve Stevens, Michael Hedges, Ralph Towner, John Fahey, “Gatemouth” Brown, Birelli Lagrene, and others, followed by “Guitar Masters,” (’92) where he interviewed Jeff Golub, Reeves Gabrels, John Petrucci, and Sonny Landreth, a video documentation of Scott Chinery’s Blue Guitar Party (’96) where Roebling interviewed Scotty Moore, Steve Howe, Bob Brozman, and others, and video for the “JVC Jazz Tribute To Johnny Smith” (’99). Since 2000, he has worked with Stefan Grossman, helping produce instructional videos by Rory Block, Martin Taylor, and Grossman himself. He also directed a series of “Guitar Artistry” videos for David Bromberg, Woody Mann, and Geoff Muldaur.
Today, Roebling is an experienced gigging guitarist/singer/songwriter who plays reguarly around NYC and recently recorded an album titled Leave Here Runnin.’ “Making ‘The Guitar Show’ was an incredible experience,” he said. “It was the only weekly television show dedicated to the guitar. I had a front-row seat to the world’s greatest guitar players.” Today, he regularly fields requests to re-start the series, and agrees its time may have come.
This article originally appeared in VG August 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Today’s guitar market is one of extreme preferences. For some, the idea of countless options and exotic woods and craftsmanship is the name of the game. For others, the tendency is more toward “aged” instruments that recall days gone by. What often seem to be missing on this spectrum are instruments that fall somewhere in the middle. This is where Ohio luthier John Mosconi and his team have found their niche – making handcrafted guitars with vintage inspiration, but with basic, modern functionality. Their latest offering is the Tremcaster Single Ninety, a minimalist’s dream.
The Single Ninety uses Tremcaster’s patented body and headstock styling with a super-lightweight pine body bolted to a maple-on-maple honey-lacquered neck. An optional rosewood fingerboard is available for those who desire a little deeper tone and midrange. The headstock is finished in a honey lacquer reminiscent of other amber-tinted finishes on the market. Gotoh vintage-style tuners have a classic nickel finish, and a hand-cut bone nut rounds out the neck’s traditional appointments.
The Single Ninety’s body continues the guitar’s minimal, straightforward approach. There is no binding but a range of classic colors recall the ’50s and ’60s. The test model came in a nicely sprayed vintage white with just the right hint of cream. The body hardware also exhibited a vintage flair, as well as pro-quality components, including a Schaller roller bridge and a Bigsby tailpiece.
Giving the Single Ninety its oomph are electronics designed to rock. A Gibson P-90 holds the guitar’s lone pickup position, giving it the spirit of a Junior but also added versatility, thanks to a three-way switch with bassy, normal, and hot positions, allowing much more diversity than normally found in P-90-style instruments. The attention to detail is taken even further with the use of Switchcraft controls and CTS potentiometers. The end result is a handcrafted, American-made instrument that won’t break the bank.
The Single Ninety was put through its paces both live and in the studio. The process proved just how diverse the aforementioned features make this instrument. For a single-pickup guitar, the tonal options were impressive. The bassier setting truly offered the most applications for non-rock styles. The roundness was right at home for cleaner tones. Here, blues and chicken-picked country seemed to excel, and even clean runs for modern jazz styles and even fusion.
The normal setting was classic P-90 and tailored to the needs of more classic rock styles. With a slightly compressed setting, some spring reverb with tremolo, and application of the Bigsby, let there be no question that the Tremcaster Single Ninety will transport the player to Surf Central. In fact, it might be difficult to not want to just “hang ten” all day on the Single Ninety, but this guitar definitely has more to offer.
As hinted at earlier, if there is one thing that this guitar can do it is rock out. Without fail, the Single Ninety kept driving and the harder it was pushed the more it liked to open up. The hotter switch position on the Single Ninety translates to a superb, souped-up Junior tone. Aggressive but with plenty of bite, the guitar can flat out demolish power chords. The pine body surprisingly gives it a nice top end, preventing the P-90 from getting either muddy or overly twangy. Pine has never been a popular option for instruments, but the Single Ninety makes an argument for it being used more often.
Kudos to Tremcaster for offering a unique and straightforward instrument in the Single Ninety. Its styling may not be for everyone, but the guitar can hang in there with any rocker and is a lot more diverse than what might initially meet the eye. The best part is the price – at just over a grand this is an American-made instrument priced like similar import models. Who wouldn’t prefer to support our own when it comes to a handbuilt low-production-run guitar?
This article originally appeared in VG August 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Takamine’s new LTD2014 limited-edition acoustic/electric guitar has a slope-shoulder dreadnought cutaway design with a neck joined at the 12th fret. It combines a solid Sitka spruce top with a flame-maple back and maple sides, Takamine’s dual-channel CT4-DX preamp and Palathetic under-saddle pickup, ivoroid binding with abalone body and headstock purfling, abalone rosette, ebony fingerboard, bone nut, rosewood bridge with split bone saddle, black tuners, and a Black Burst finish. Its fingerboard and pickguard are adorned with imagery of the the snow grouse, or raicho, a bird that inhabits the Hida Mountains, which provided the inspiration for the Takamine name. Visit www.takamine.com.
The Les Paul Foundation, formed by the late guitarist/inventor to encourage young people to pursue their interests in music, sound and engineering, has announced its latest round of grants. Organizations set to receive them include the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, to provide schools with instruments; the Wisconsin Foundation for School Music, for its garage-band competition (Launchpad) and Music Biz Day program for young musicians in Wisconsin schools; the Soulsville Foundation/Stax Music Academy of Memphis, for its Les Paul Spring Break Workshops program, which provides classes and clinics to middle- and high-school students; Guitars for Vets, which shares the healing power of music with military veterans by providing free private guitar lessons and a guitar to each student; the Waukesha County Historical Society and Museum, which houses a permanent exhibit in honor of Paul and operates the Les Paul Sound Lab for children; the Mahwah Museum in New Jersey, which hosts an exhibit on Paul that includes visual displays, interactive elements, artifacts and educational programs.
