Last year I purchased a 1959 Gretsch Single Anniversary guitar. It had already been modified heavily, so the price was lower than a re-issue. This was actually one of the deciding factors as:

1. I didn’t want a museum piece and would probably want to change things.

2. I’ve wanted a Gretsch semi, since I was 15.

3. I wanted filter-tron pickups and a bigsby, which this had.

4. I love feedback.

I must confess I was worried about the colour before I saw it, it’s two-tone smoke green! However I think it looks amazing, the front is more off white really, with a hint of green, at least, that’s what I keep telling myself!

Brian's guitar

The electrics are original, just a Volume pot on the bottom, I’m not a fan of multiple pots and switches being a Telecaster player. Even on that I NEVER use the tone pot so this is perfect. An extra pickup has been added at the back, converting it to a Double anniversary, this is a TV Jones filtertron, which I was prepared to change if necessary but have discovered it sounds great. It’s had a switch added, to change between pickups, and a Bigsby tremolo and bridge, which I wanted anyway. Whoever modified this guitar did a good job, the switch and pickup are in just the right place and really neatly routed and wired, much better than I could do, also the added switch, tremolo and pickup surrounds are all Gretsch originals, so it couldn’t have been better!

I quickly discovered after a couple of gigs, that I can’t live with a floating bridge! I like the solid Bigsbys’, as I think they add tone, so I just drilled it carefully and screwed it down to the top. I spent ages checking the intonation and marking it out, I must have drunk 6 cups of coffee just procrastinating, but eventually I made the holes !

That one modification has made such a difference to this instrument, I’ve started playing it all the time, the black de-armond has been relegated to back up.

The sound? It’s like all my favourite guitar tracks, overdriven it’s aggressive, like Who’s Next, or mellow, like Cortez the killer and clean it’s just 50’s country twang, it’s the most rock and roll guitar I’ve ever owned!

The tuners are original basic open Grovers, which seem to work fine but I will probably change them, I’ll never sell this guitar anyhow.

Not much else has changed really, the home made tube pre amp got really noisy so I bit the bullet and ordered a BK Butler Tube Driver, from the man himself in the USA.

It’s an awesome device, I re-built my pedal board when I installed it, making a much neater job of it this time, using hard, solid core RF cable and replaced all the patch leads with right angle metal jack plugs.

I used the Butler pedal for about 15 gigs, and then decided the overdrive sounded a little buzzy, so I tried a whole bunch of N.O.S. valves in there, different brands as well as different types and eventually replaced the original 12ax7 with a Mullard ECC82, which seems to have crunched things up nicely, the drive setting needs to be higher but the tone has definitely improved, (that’s why I use valve gear folks!).

I recently acquired a Fender Custom Shop Blues Junior amp, which I’m using when Mark and I do Duo gigs, it’s a great amp and has now replaced the Gallien-Kreuger as my backup, ( At 18 watts it’s as loud as my tremolux!).

And Finally, Mark and I have discovered K&K pickups and are now dedicated fans, I’ve got the Pure Western in my D18 now and the Trinity Western in my Martin 00016, which I use for solo gigs (I’ve just ordered a Trinity microphone to fit into the D18 too).  These pickups sound great, really natural and the design is so sympathetic the guitars themselves seem to sound better even when they’re not plugged in!

BEE

27/08/08

East coast Music sold me a De-Armond M75, after letting me play all 15 they had in stock, the one I chose was black with a Bigsby style trem and De-Armond pickups, I couldn’t believe the value for money at £175.

The first modifications were purely cosmetic,I made a brass pickguard and control plates,then fitted them with a Les Paul Rhythm Treble switch plate. This guitar was then simply plugged into my existing setup, a Galien Kreuger 250ML amp (providing distortion and feedback only) into a Fender ’63 re-issue Reverb and finally my regular amp, a 1959 Teed Fender Tremolux.

As the shows got bigger, I added an ancient Dod Octave pedal,which is noisy and unreliable, it doesn’t bypass properly and often gets the notes it’s supposed to be octaving wrong! I’m sure “Neil” would love it like I do, I’ve re wired it a couple of times when it’s fallen apart ! Next I added a Boss Flanger, which I always use when I’m playing rhythm on “Like a Hurricane”.

Sometimes my little amp has trouble keeping up with Mark’s Boogie, so I have an A/B/Y box, which splits the signal into a second amp, usually a 1969 Marshall combo, or occasionally my 1972 Hiwatt 100.

After roadtesting the guitar, I decided it sounded a little thin,so I changed the single coil pickups, first the rear one, for a Brandoni Firebird, (incredible quality for £40!). This so impressed me, that I later changed the front pickup for a Brandoni Filtertron. They’ve been in there ever since as they sound great. I later changed the bridge (the original,I thought was too high-tech, with roller saddles, not at all “Neil”), the replacement is a solid cast Bigsby, which seems to add tone, I also changed the trem for an original US Bigsby which, although no better, looks more the part! All the changes cost around £150.

My amp, I later found out, is pretty close to Neils, his being a 1959 Tweed Delux. Some friends and I built copies of it to try and preserve the original; they’re called “Half Breades”!  They sound pretty close but even louder,I often use my old amp for smaller venues though. The main output valves are Westinghouse 6V6 and the pre-amp valves, good old Mullards.

Brian's Reverb and Tremolux clones

I’m constantly fiddling with the setup, I’ve recently built a valve reverb unit, (Mark now has the Fender re-issue).  The output valve is an Adzam 6K6, which I’ve discovered makes a BIG difference. The GK 250ML has now been replaced with a home made pedal board, containing, in this order, the Dod Octaver (for “Hey Hey, My My”), a home made valve pre-amp (on all the time!), a Marshall Guv’nor II, Boss NS2 (needed with all these valves!), Boss Flanger and an Ernie Ball Volume pedal. The reverb is always first in the chain, before the pedals, to get that authentic,”Live Rust” sound. The GK 250ML is always still around as backup, however.

If you ever catch me playing with my other band, Colour Radio, I’ll be playing one of two Telecasters, a Fender ’52 re-issue, or a home made one with a rosewood fingerboard, my first guitar was a Tele, so I keep going back to them.

That’s it so far, the other stuff never changes, a 1972 Matin D18 acoustic, 1917 Savana Banjo mandolin (£5 from a car boot sale, in bits, so I re-built it!), Marine Band harmonicas and Herco Flex50 picks.

BEE.