It has been a pleasure of mine for the last couple of years to pop in to see Seamus Brady at vintageguitar.co.uk, based in Norwich (you might remember him from the old days when The Acoustic Centre first set up in Wapping?). I was in there one day chatting chatting, when on the wall I spied a Martin HD28. It’s only 12 years old, but it’s seen some use! And it had some Johnny Magic about it. I could hear Bob, and I could hear Neil, and to be perfectly honest I could hear myself.

I took it home to see how I got on with it (Seamus is a nice bloke), and rocked my kitchen, and Bad Fogged my music room. I played it to Brian and he said ‘If you don’t buy it, I will’. I really try not to be competitive, especially with my best mate Brian, but that was the point I had to buy it!!! I haven’t played my Lowden since. I love the head room of the Martin, and I love the fact it just works.

Mark's Guitar

So the worm was turning.

I have always fancied an Old Black replica, I mean who reading this hasn’t? One morning I popped into town and there hanging on the wall (damn those walls) was a Les Paul Classic reissue 1960 in Ebony. Okay I know this isn’t the real deal, but it is black. The chambered body makes it light and the tone really vibrant. And I liked the neck straight away. Actually it’s not much like other Les Pauls I’ve played at all. More like a tele, if you’ll believe me. So after a little business it became mine to vandalise.

Truth be known, it was too shiny and new to vandalise!!! I couldn’t do it. It will become Old with use. The changes I did make where:

1. Replace neck pickup with Bareknuckles Mississippi Queen P90
2. Replace bridge pickup with Seymour Duncan antiquities II firebird
3. Replace pick guard and trussrod cover with custom made chrome versions
4. Fit Bigsby (well I watched Brian do this for me!!!)
5. Replace machine heads with Grover Locking rotomatics
6. Fit the Wilkinson roller bridge – ouch, I know purists, I just want it stay in tune as much as possible!
7. Fit mini switch to facilitate the ‘firebird straight to the jack’ mod. Ice pick.

Mark's Amp

So then there was the amp issue. I had started messing with a Fender reissue tube reverb unit, a Fender Super Champ and a Rodenberg Overdrive Pedal (in fact this is what I used on the Harbour Room live recordings, check out Like A Hurricane particularly), and I reckon I was starting to get a good sound, but by comparison with Brian’s vintage and home made amps the Super Champ sounds so small. I was just thinking this when Brian tipped me off about an original 1959 Tweed Deluxe for sale in London. so I had no choice This amp is amazing. It is simply the best and most musical sounding amp I’ve ever used. And it certainly looks 50 years old.

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.