George Lynch is one of the premier axe men to emerge in the ’80s. His melodic hard-rock riffs were the driving force behind Dokken and he later launched Lynch Mob while releasing several solo discs and collaborations. He recently joined with former Dokken bassist Jeff Pilson and drummer Mick Brown under the moniker Tooth & Nail (abbreviated to T&N after a dispute with a record label using the name) and transforming material he and Pilson created for Lynch Mob. While the tunes didn’t work out for Lynch Mob, they became a perfect means for the trio to work together, and resulted in a killer debut, Slave To The Empire.
Why were the new songs “wrong” for Lynch Mob?
The band thought it wasn’t the right material – Lynch Mob was more organic and blues-based rock. So Jeff and I put it on the backburner, then the idea for another band with Mick came up.
How the idea for T&N come about?
We didn’t have a clear vision except for generally tying into our Dokken legacy by making half the record Dokken remakes. We used different singers on the Dokken songs to create a little more appeal and variety, rather than trying to “outdo” Dokken. Jeff sang the new songs; he and I have always had great writing chemistry, and we really love playing together. About 10 years ago, we did a record called LP, for Lynch/Pilson, and this is just an extension.
How did you select guest vocalists and the songs?
We made a list and whittled our way down, then matched singers to songs.
Did you encounter any obstacles?
We felt the original material and re-makes didn’t match up, so there’s no continuity between them on the record. That’s a challenge we hope to overcome while we write new music. In other words, we want to bridge the gap between the ’80s and the new material. It’s tricky, because I just can’t write the way I did back then. Some people think I’m still George Lynch from 1987 and they want me to write another Under Lock and Key. But I don’t play or write that way anymore. That’s always a challenge for any musician who’s had some recognition or notoriety – it’s hard to break the mold and be accepted. You’re kind of stuck, because on one hand, it’s your livelihood and people mark their personal history with these songs that are meaningful to them, and then you go on a different path and evolve. You want to try different things, but some people don’t want to hear it. So it’s tough to balance the two.
It was difficult to sequence because it felt like two different records. Since we’re older guys, we kept thinking in terms of vinyl, where the Dokken songs were all going to be on one side and the original songs would be on the other. Then we tried one from each, and that didn’t work, either. It took weeks to figure it out, and that’s why we have this issue with writing new material while keeping the old material in mind so, hopefully, the next record will sequence more smoothly.
What was used to track your parts?
I had my old ESP, which is like a Tele, and I used that on a majority of the tracks. To me, a Tele through a big rock amp or a combo is really interesting. That’s what Led Zeppelin I was recorded with, and it was good enough for Zeppelin, so it’s good enough for me! I usually do two rhythm tracks and often used it for one side of the rhythm. Many solos were recorded with it, as well. I played my ESP tiger guitar for the other side and a lot of solos, too. In addition, I used a Les Paul replica ESP built for me in the ’80s. It sounds and plays great. I play that when I need something a little beefier and chunkier. I also used my ESP Super V, which is all-mahogany. It has a very warm low-mid tone that fills up a lot of space. For acoustic parts, I used a vintage Gibson J-200 that belongs to Mick Jones from Foreigner, and a vintage Fender 12-string.
For amps, I used my Randall Lynch Boxes, which are 100 watts, my ’68 100-watt Marshall plexi, and a few different combos, like a ’65 Fender Super Reverb and a wonderful little ’30s Gibson combo that’s the same model Billy Gibbons used on his first records. We had a nice selection of stuff, and we wanted to use it all!
I’ve got hundreds of pedals, but I didn’t get too crazy on this record. I used an old Clyde wah and a Cusack Screamer, which is like a Tube Screamer. When I got into coloring and overdubs, I busted out my Echoplexes. I’ve got an EP-2 and EP-3 that I used for delay. I used an early-’70s Mu-Tron Octave Divider for an overdub on one song, and used my script-logo MXR Phase 90 quite a bit for solos to that Eddie “Eruption” thing. I used the ZVex Seek Wah and Seek Trem sparingly. For slide, since I’m not really a slide player, I faked it and used a 9-volt battery because I didn’t have a slide!
And you’re now building guitars…
Yes. I’m not a luthier, but I enjoy dabbling. They’re unique and built in the spirit of the early-’80s Charvels – a one-trick pony with a wide-flat neck. I don’t do lathing or frets because I don’t have the equipment or expertise, but I do the carving and everything else, including winding pickups. I make them in my backyard when it’s not raining – about 10 a year. I’m just trying to be a Renaissance man, like that other guy – Michelangelo! It’s a lot of fun!
This article originally appeared in VG June 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Bauer playing the Epiphone Emperor DeLuxe in 1946.
Billy Bauer’s career was so steeped in tradition that he is often thought of as one of the first jazz guitarists. And while that’s true, his pioneering, progressive attitude and contribution to the artform endured for decades. His big-band time with Woody Herman’s First Herd was a precursor to his association with jazz visionary Lennie Tristano. He was in-demand for recording with the greatest jazz artists of his era, including Benny Goodman, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker. And he held a prestigious and coveted staff guitarist gig at NBC in New York.
Though he emerged during the bebop era, Bauer quickly became prominent in the “cool” movement of the ’50s. Later, as one of the architects of modern jazz and the avant-garde, he helped liberate jazz from the servitude of its prosaic ii-v-i chord structure. Many jazz aficionados place his importance within the evolutionary lineage of Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Tal Farlow, Jim Hall, Larry Coryell, and Wes Montgomery. In 1992, on his weekly radio show, “Jazz Profiles,” Grammy-winning producer and jazz archivist Phil Schapp said, “Billy Bauer was both a participant and earwitness to the history of jazz.”
Bauer was born in 1915 in the Bronx. “My father was a song-and-dance man,” he said in a 2004 interview [with VG contributor Jim Carlton] for classicjazzguitar.com. “He used to bill himself as ‘Harry Nelson: He Says He Sings’ and he’d play amateur nights.”
And while his father’s profession may have played a role in Bauer’s means of making a living, fate and pop culture were greater factors.
“When I was nine years old, I broke my leg, so all summer I was in a cast up to my knee,” he said. “My dad got me a ukulele and I learned to play. The comic strip and movie character Harold Teen was big then, and Ukulele Ike (real name, Cliff Edwards), the guy who became the voice of Jiminy Cricket, was really big back then, too. So I learned ‘Five Foot Two’ and all those songs.
“The banjo player Harry Reeser was also a big star at the time. So Dad got me a tenor banjo when I was 12. He was always pushing me, and by the time I was 14, he got me a 15-minute radio show for several weeks. Many years later, in the ’50s, ‘The Jackie Gleason Show’ asked me to come on and play banjo for some production number with 15 other banjo players. I stood right next to Harry Reeser! Later, I found out he recommended me for a Paul Newman film, The Hustler, in which I was onscreen all of eight seconds!”
At 15, Bauer quit school and started gigging in the Borsht Belt of upper New York state before being hired to play the banjo in Far Rockaway (Queens), at the Palm Inn. “I worked in a speakeasy owned by the mobster Waxy Gordon. Sometimes we’d just drink and yap it up, but then they’d pull a job and we’d play for three days straight. They paid me $16 a week, which was great money! But I didn’t even think about that. But I had a girlfriend, and that’s where the money went.”
While Bauer held the gig at Far Rockaway, prohibition was repealed. So, he was sent to play in Broad Channel, still playing only banjo. It was the first in a series of gigs that served as catalysts for the creation of the musicians union.
“Anyway, the girl followed me to Broad Channel. I was just 15 and she was 21, but she used to go with a detective who she was going to marry. One night, we were playing and there was a big ruckus at the bar – the detective came in with his gun and was going to shoot me. But they pinned him down and took it.”
After that incident, Bauer moved to another gig at the Pelham Heath Inn, in the Bronx, where he began to make the transition to guitar. “It had a floor show with a seven-piece band, and you couldn’t hear a guitar. We had no mics or amplifiers, so I got a Dobro with a metal resonator and I learned a couple of chords and kept it next to me – pick it up and strum. But most of the job was banjo.
“When that job finished, I went to the Nash Tavern. We had piano, drums, saxophone, banjo and guitar. By this time, I’d gotten an electric guitar – [Rickenbacker] with a plastic neck, or Bakelite maybe. It looked like a frying pan with a little round thing on the end that looked like a banjo. I think it had a solid body. There was a little amp with it.”
Bauer kept the gig at Nash Tavern for a couple of years, and for a time he worked with Harry Raab, who was breaking in an act called Harry the Hipster – a charismatic, entertaining barrelhouse piano player many consider an antecedent of R&B and rock and roll.
“Harry and I moved to the Naughty Naught Cafe on East 55th in New York and became The Domino Twins, [billed as] ‘White Boys With Black Rhythm.’” Soon, Bauer’s reputation as a player secured him gigs at the Essex House and, later, Goldies on 52nd Street, where he scored his first review in Downbeat magazine. “Most of the guys in the dance field I knew who were playing swing went toward Django,” he recalled. “But I took the Charlie Christian route. I had heard him with Benny Goodman, and Benny was tops.”
Bauer (right) in the mid ’90s with Bucky Pizzarelli, Howard Alden, and Herb Ellis at a birthday party for jazz sax/clarinet player Flip Phillips.
In 1939-’40, he joined clarinetist Jerry Wald’s big band, where his role was to play rhythm guitar. For the gig, he purchased an Epiphone DeLuxe, but it wasn’t around for long. “It got crushed by the band bus,” he said. “It didn’t break, but it had a crack in the top. I took it to Eddie Bell, who had a music store on 6th Avenue. He got it fixed and asked if I’d like to sell it for $200.’ At that time, Guild wanted me to advertise for them, and Gretsch gave me a cherry-colored guitar, too. So I sold the Epiphone and used a Guild for a little while before I went to John D’Angelico’s shop to order a guitar. A couple of months later, he called and said, ‘Come down about six o’clock.’ When I got there, he locked the door, opened a bottle of wine, and said, ‘Play my guitar for me.’ I played some and he said, ‘Okay, you can have the guitar….” Not for nothing, but he meant he’d sell me the guitar!
“Years later, I was doing a gig with Barry Galbraith, helping him on a session, and the guitar fell over. The neck broke; I felt like I’d broken my arm. So I took it back and asked John for a zero fret. Boy, I had to argue for that! Another thing I had to argue for was for him to take a little off the headstock, because the guitar wouldn’t fit in my gig bag.”
Woody’s First Herd
In 1944, Bauer joined Woody Herman’s First Herd, billed as “The Band That Plays The Blues.” Herman was signed with Columbia Records and was making the transition from swing to what was called progressive jazz.
In 1945, the band had a major hit with “Caledonia” and recorded Igor Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto,” conducted by Stravinsky himself. A year later, the Herd walked away with the Metronome, Downbeat and Esquire awards for the best band. In addition to Bauer, many of the First Herd’s alumni went on to become major figures in jazz. Dizzy Gillespie, who often wrote arrangements, was succeeded by Ralph Burns and Neal Hefti. And drummer Davy Tough, saxophonist Flip Phillips, and trumpeter Pete Candoli all became major jazz stars. When Bauer left, he was replaced by the great Chuck Wayne.
The Lennie Tristano Years
In the fall of 1946, Bauer joined Lennie Tristano’s small group. Phil Schapp pointed out the key transition in Billy’s career – leaving Woody Herman, who had the most popular band in the world, and going with a relatively unknown trio. Tristano, a piano player, was an innovator and pioneer of the “cool” jazz movement, and the avant-garde. Schapp called Tristano, “One of the more striking individuals that music has ever presented.” Bauer was an integral and influential part of Tristano’s creations, which were noted for their complex grasp of harmony. “Even though it was complicated, I just felt at ease with it,” said Billy. “For the first couple of weeks I didn’t know what I was doing, but it didn’t matter.”
This session at Carnegie Hall in 1957 was recorded and released as Cootie and Rex, The Big Challenge. The band included Bauer on guitar, Rex Stewart, Cootie Williams, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Gus Johnson.
Schapp calls Bauer’s association with Tristano “a very important dimension of music,” and says Tristano obviously saw something special in Bauer and his musical vision. “His ability to create improvised passages on solo guitar show him to be one of the pioneers of the instrument, and its uses in jazz. He was part of a breakthrough in jazz and Tristano, who had devastating technique, a keen ear and a great mind, would rely on him in so many different ways. That automatically shows you that there’s something major within Billy Bauer.”
Tristano’s awareness was endorsed by having written an arrangement for the Woody Herman band that showcased Bauer. “It actually had ‘Billy’ written on the piece. I was looking though my old music and there it was with my name on it. There are a couple of lines that say, ‘read as written,’ then ‘ad lib on these changes,’ and back to ‘read as written.’”
In a 1972 interview in Guitar Player, Bauer said, “We’d put six men together and [Tristano would] say, ‘Here’s the start,’ and we’d keep playing. He called it ‘collision-type’ playing. No tempo, no key, no nothing.”
It was from this experimental playing that Bauer is often credited with developing the concept of comping on guitar. Strict 4/4 time was obviously not hip under such circumstances, so Bauer learned to fit in with chords and riffs when it felt right. “When I got with Lennie, there wasn’t much choice,” he said. “I figured if there was a hole I’d throw in something. So I guess I just listened. Lennie’s instructions were ‘Don’t play the melody. You can indicate it and that’s it. And don’t play rhythm,’ so that’s what became comping. Tristano’s avant garde and complex harmonies were so progressive that his record company didn’t release the group’s 1949 recording of “Intuition” for 10 years.
“Lennie had so much music education and I had none formally,” Bauer once told Schapp. “So, he kept asking me to study with him. And I did go over there two, maybe three times. He’d say, ‘Next week, know all your scales.’ I’d say, ‘I know my scales. I may not know them the way you mean, but c’mon.’ I’d been playing with him for a year and I know how fast he was and how he’d play one scale against another. Some nights, I’d play something and he’d play it in another key with me in harmony. But he kept after me saying, ‘You’ve got a great record inside you.’ Some people thought he played in too intellectual a way, but he really knew what he was doing.”
Jazz pianist and composer Dick Hyman was immersed in the era’s 52nd Street jazz scene and was a music director/conductor at NBC when Bauer joined him. Perhaps most famous for scoring the Woody Allen films Sweet and Lowdown, Stardust Memories, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Hannah and Her Sisters, among others, Hyman avoided Tristano’s tutelage at the time. “While it was a free type of jazz, Tristano still imposed a number of rules,” he said. However, in retrospect, as recent as last year, Hyman revisited Tristano’s compositions and methodology and found it “quite valid, legitimate, and fascinating.”
Bauer peeks out from behind bandleader Charlie Ventura in the late ’40s.
“A few years later, Ornette Coleman would edge toward an emancipation from much of the music’s rule book, but pianist Lennie Tristano and his small circle dove deeper into the rule book, working obsessively with a small group of standard tunes until they could take them in any direction,” added jazz critic Paul Wells.
“Bauer found a way to divert from Christian’s methodology, and leaving a very new tradition in order to do it,” added jazz guitarist and musicologist Skip Heller. “He becomes this hidden giant. And it’s very easy to forget how profound the influence of those Lennie Tristano records were.”
By 1949, Bauer’s visibility and prominence was rewarded. During this era, he was always among the usual suspects chosen for the yearly all-star selections from Metronome and Downbeat magazines. He won the Metronome Best Jazz Guitarist honors five consecutive years from (’49-’53) and the same award for Downbeat in ’49 and ’50.
His recordings from that time with saxophonist Lee Konitz, another Tristano disciple, showed off Bauer’s ability to complement virtually any other musician.
Critics were uniform in their praise for Bauer’s playing being integral in that small-group sound. Norman Mongan, in his book, The History of the Guitar in Jazz, wrote, “Bauer developed a highly original guitar style with solos moving across, rather than with, the chord sequences. He brought the guitar into the world of the ‘cool’ with its glacial ambience, where it remained for most of the 1950s.”
Perhaps the most famous jazz club ever, Birdland, opened December 15, 1949, and Bauer was there along with a stellar lineup of jazz all-stars. “I opened Birdland, which was named after Charlie Parker. They’d have five bands including Charlie’s group, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Lennie Tristano. So I was hearing all these great players every night. And we’d all get together as Charlie would come up and jam with us.” Among those jazz luminaries were Dick Hyman, Lester Young, Stan Getz, Roy Haynes, and curiously billed as “the great young vocalist,” Harry Belafonte. “Harry was a very hip jazz singer long before he became a big folk music star,” said Dick Hyman.
Billy and Bird
Issuing “all-star” recordings with so many great artists of the day was lucrative for record labels and certainly of historic importance. Once, when Bauer was riding home from one of those dates with baritone saxophonist Serge Chaloff, Chaloff said, “Billy, do you realize we were just playing with the best musicians in the whole country? You don’t seem too happy about it.” Bauer said, “You know what would make me happy? If Charlie Parker called and said, ‘Billy, do you want to do a record date with me?’
“One day, I picked up the phone and heard, ‘B.B.?’; that’s what he called me. He asked, ‘Are you working Thursday? I got a record date.’ (The Charlie Parker Quintet, on Verve, 1954). I got there early; all the lights were dim and there were no engineers. I took out my guitar and was going over the tune – I think it was ‘Love For Sale,’ because I wanted to get familiar with what I was gonna do. So I’m playing, and in walks Charlie. I said, ‘How does it sound?’ He says, ‘B.B., It sounds like music.’ We had no charts, but he’d say, ‘Okay, you guys do this, and he’d sing a riff – no rehearsal, no nothing. That’s how a lot of dates were in those days.”
The Studio Years
While Bauer was at Birdland, Johnny Smith, who was on staff at NBC, came in with pianist Sanford Gold, “Probably to see Lennie,” said Bauer. But Smith, who is now 90 years old, is emphatic about Bauer’s playing. “Billy was one of my very favorite players,” he said. “He was a superb jazz guitarist and I always loved hearing him. I did what I could to help Billy get a job at NBC.”
After the Birdland gig folded, Bauer ran into Gold at the local musician hangout, Jim and Andy’s, on 49th St. There, Gold mentioned that Johnny had just given NBC his notice. Tired of life on the road and with a wife and two kids to support, a “studio job” had appeal.
“Sanford told me to see this guy, Dr. Shields, who ran the music department at NBC,” said Bauer. “Well, I introduced myself to the secretary and found out that Johnny had told this Dr. Shields all about me. Shields said, ‘Come around and play next week.’ So I did the routine wherever they needed a guitar player. We backed Connie Francis and even (comedians) Bob and Ray. Then, on Friday, I rehearsed with the big band on ‘The Big Show,’ which starred Talulah Bankhead. Then I saw Shields, and he told me I had the job. He said, ‘You know who did it? Meredith Wilson. He came down after the show and told me you were the best rhythm guitarist he’d ever heard.’”
Bauer stayed at NBC for eight years and also worked staff gigs for CBS, in the incipient days of television broadcasting. He was a regular on “The Today Show,” “The Tonight Show,” and what, in retrospect, staff players facetiously refer to as “the days of silent television.” During that time, he honed his reading skills and, like so many staff players, worked hundreds of record dates.
“I was busy all the time with a lot of recordings then,” he recalled. “You’d get called to a date and you were in the band with whoever was there. Sometimes, I’d have five dates a week, often with big names.”
Appearing on TV frequently meant Bauer had to wear a toupee, which humored Johnny Smith and Bucky Pizzarelli. “When Billy got a toupee, his personality just lit up. Sometimes, he’d hang his rug on the hat rack at Jim and Andy’s,” said Smith.
“Once, after not seeing Billy for a while, I hugged him so hard that it came right off his head,” added Pizzarelli. “We just laughed. He had such a great attitude about it.”
A 14-year-old Bauer (center) in 1929 playing banjo with Johnny Lane and the Rainbow Club Orchestra. Other members of the band included (from left) Johnny Lane, Henry Rush, and Ed Meyer.
Later in his career, while gigging with Benny Goodman, Bauer experienced a common event among Goodman’s musicians; Goodman was notorious for being a moody and often-difficult leader, and for giving his sidemen “the ray” – a glowering look at anyone with whom he was displeased. Asked if he’d ever gotten on Goodman’s bad side, he said, “One time, he came up and put his hand on my shoulder kind of heavy, not hitting me, but I could really feel his weight. I told him, ‘Watch out, or I’ll flip my wig (laughs)!’ After that, he never bothered me.”
In 1950, Bauer began a stint teaching at the prestigious New York Conservatory. It lasted nearly four years, and though the conservatory and studio gigs were steady and lucrative, he still needed a jazz fix, so he continued recording with Tristano alumni tenor sax man Warne Marsh and alto player Lee Konitz. His 1951 recordings (with Konitz) of “Indian Summer” and “Duet for Saxophone and Guitar” were landmark records. In The Jazz Book, Joachim Berendt writes, “Konitz’s playing was a perfect match for Bauer’s guitar. The two musicians’ dialogue crossed styles from bop and cool to the avant-garde. The pairing redefined the role of jazz guitar.” And that’s true; Bauer’s comping complemented Konitz’s inventive improvising with rhythmic, melodic, and engaging counterpoint chord lines. “Konitz finally got what he needed from Tristano and had found his own voice,” Bauer said. “He really became himself.”
The Plectrist
In 1956, Bauer finally recorded his own album as a leader, The Plectrist. With it, he expressed himself in a new role. Critic David Adler’s review of its re-release explains that: “Billy, too, had moved away from Tristano’s influence and was playing more in the mode of such peers as Jimmy Raney.” Now a leader, Bauer could solo, express himself, and manifest what had lain too dormant. All About Jazz’s Andrew Hovan writes that “[The Plectrist] demands the attention of anyone even remotely interested in jazz guitar.”
Heller, who also writes for All About Jazz, posits, “Of course, Charlie Christian was as profound as any player, ever, and would have been profound during any given era. But certain players challenged the notion that jazz had to swing in the traditional quarter-note sense the way Basie did. The language had to be an immediately traceable by-product of the American Songbook. And one of the first places we hear a departure, not entirely, but a viable pass at it was with those Tristano recordings. And interestingly enough, there are two chord instruments in the group – guitar and piano.”
Perhaps the only two trios of the era with that instrumentation were the very popular King Cole Trio with Oscar Moore on guitar and Art Tatum’s group with Tiny Grimes on guitar.
“Lennie told me that he studied Tatum extensively and could play everything Tatum did,” Bauer said. “You didn’t hear it much in his playing because he’d take every phrase and interpret it a different way, so he wouldn’t be copying. ” Heller added. “Bauer’s tone was a bit leaner than Christian’s and we hear that spidery tone again with Jim Hall and then Larry Coryell. He was a precursor to such players as Coryell (with his breakthrough work on Duster with Gary Burton), Bill Frisell, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and even John Scofield. You can really trace the roots of all of them back to Bauer.”
Bauer, primarily known as a rhythm player, wasn’t held to the straight-ahead 4/4 structure as much as Freddie Green, who was in essence the engine for Basie’s band. But he was nevertheless happy with sideman was a role – he even titled his autobiography Sideman, an overview of a career that has too long been overlooked. But anyone who was lucky enough to study with Bauer, such as Joe Satriani, knew his prevailing philosophy was, “I teach you to be you.”
“A lot of people copy, and they copy exact,” he said. “Another guy listens, to say, Lester or Charlie Parker, but he doesn’t play like them. Charlie listened to Lester, but he didn’t play like him. What’s the use of copying a lick? You can hear that. Some guys just seem to flow. I heard Gene Bertoncini and Mundell Lowe; everything they play you don’t think you’ve heard before. It isn’t just a run. There’s a phrase to it.”
Bauer died in June of 2005, and Schapp’s 1992 tribute radio show provides a fitting epitaph. Schapp said to him, “When Neal Hefti put his arms around you and said, ‘You’re the guy,’ he had it right.”
This article originally appeared in VG June 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Sunday, February 9, 1964, was the day that forever changed music and pop culture. “The Ed Sullivan Show” was one of the most popular television programs in the United States and at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, The Beatles made their live debut on American national television before an estimated 73 million people. This single television appearance mesmerized an entire generation. How many future musicians’ dreams began that day? How many kids were inspired to form bands and be like The Beatles?
Virtually every famous American rock musician would say later, “When I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, it changed my life.”
It was on that Sunday night that the Beatles conquered America and Beatlemania had taken hold of the nation. Their music, mop-top hairstyles, matching suits, and “Beatle” boots all helped create an indelible image, but their instruments also made a huge impression on everyone watching.
Paul McCartney’s Höfner 500/1 bass, John Lennon’s Rickenbacker 325, George Harrison’s Gretsch Country Gentleman, and Ringo’s Ludwig drum set all became extensions of their individual personalities.
This instrumental lineup contributed significantly to America’s first impression of The Beatles – an image permanently etched on the minds of U.S. youth. The instruments used that night instantly became known as “Beatles instruments” and provided a shopping list for every aspiring group, thousands of which sprang up in the days and weeks following the Sullivan broadcast. Gretsch, Höfner, Rickenbacker, and Ludwig could not have asked for a better advertising campaign, nor could they have imagined what the future held. Music stores throughout the U.S. were soon clamoring for these instruments and demand far exceeded supply. It was every manufacturers’ dream.
Prior to the group’s arrival in the U.S., Capitol Records had orchestrated a large press campaign and media blitz to prime America for their coming. One shrewd businessman who saw an opportunity in the Beatles invasion was Francis Hall, then owner and president of the Rickenbacker guitar company. During the Beatles’ stay in New York, Hall arranged a meeting with the group and presented a 12-string guitar to Harrison. While it is widely believed Lennon also received a guitar at the meeting, company archives show that Lennon’s new 325, intended to replace his original, was not yet present.
After the TV success in New York, the group traveled by train to Washington, D.C. for its first U.S. concert, February 11 at the Washington Coliseum, where they played in the round. It seems laughable now, but at several points between songs, Starr and some stage hands would spin the pedestal on which his drums were set in order to give everyone in the audience an equal view of The Beatles.
(LEFT TO RIGHT) Paul McCartney’s ’63 Höfner 500/1. John Lennon played this ’58 Rickenbacker 325 during The Beatles’ first “The Ed Sullivan Show” appearance. In the ’70s, Lennon had the black finish stripped and the gold pickguard was replaced with a white one. John Lennon’s ’64 Rickenbacker 325 was shipped directly to him in Miami while the band prepared for its second appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” George Harrison’s ’63 Rickenbacker 360/12.
The concert also provided the nation’s introduction to Vox amplifiers; to fans, the group was a phenomenon – and they brought these never-before-seen amps, made in Britain. At the time, Gibson and Fender dominated the American markets for professional guitars and amps. But here were The Beatles, presenting an excitingly different range of equipment, and because of them, America’s hopeful teen musicians would want Rickenbacker, Gretsch, and Höfner guitars, Ludwig drums, and Vox amps. All would become as much a part of Beatles identity as the group’s hair.
The following day, the group returned to New York City for two shows at the prestigious Carnegie Hall. Tickets were oversold and some of the audience sat onstage, behind the group. The equipment was the same as in Washington, though photographs from this performance reveal that McCartney’s original bass, the ’61 Höfner, was present as a spare.
After the two Carnegie Hall shows, they flew to Miami Beach, where they stayed at the Deauville Hotel. It was from this location they would make their second live appearance on Sullivan.
On February 14 and 15, the group spent time relaxing, enjoying the weather in Miami, and rehearsing for their upcoming TV show. Photographs taken during the first day of the rehearsals in a meeting hall at the hotel reveal Harrison using his new Rickenbacker 360/12, McCartney his ’63 Höfner, and Starr the Ludwig set. Lennon plays the original ’58 Rick 325, though he took delivery of the new Rick. According to the original receipt (in the Rickenbacker archive), the new 325 was shipped on February 13, directly to Lennon at the hotel from the Rickenbacker factory in California. The following day’s rehearsals on the show’s set marked the first time Lennon played the new 325 with the group.
So it was that on February 16 the group made its second live appearance on American TV. Across the nation, an estimated 70 million viewers tuned in. The Beatles performed “She Loves You,” “This Boy,” “All My Loving,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” “From Me To You,” and their hit “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” Starr performed on his now famous black-pearl Ludwig drum set and the guitars used were the ’63 Hofner 500/1, the new ’64 Rickenbacker 325, and the second Gretsch Country Gentleman (Harrison had two Gents, the first with screw-down mutes, the second with flip-up mutes; he later gave one away and the other fell off the back of a car and was run over by a truck!). The Vox amplifiers were again set to the sides of the stage.
Many a music retailer and manufacturer had Ed and the boys from Liverpool to thank for a very good season as crowds of teenagers rushed to buy Gretsch and Rickenbacker guitars, Höfner “Beatle” basses and Ludwig drum sets. Gretsch, Ludwig, and Rickenbacker greatly expanded operations, trying to increase production to meet an overnight surge in demand, while in Germany, Höfner worked to establish U.S. distribution. In England, calls and telegrams started to pour in to Jennings Musical Industries, requesting Vox “Beatles” amplifiers. It was the dawn of a golden age for garage bands.
Andy Babiuk is the author of the books Beatles Gear, The Story of Paul Bigsby, and the freshly published Rolling Stones Gear. He is a staff consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame and owner of the boutique guitar shop Andy Babiuk’s Fab Gear. He can be reached at andy@andybabiuksfabgear.com.
This article originally appeared in VG March 2014 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Stratocasters from ’65 in Burgundy Mist, ’57 in Blond (Mary Kaye), and ’65 in Inca Silver.
The Stratocaster was born in 1954. A solidbody with three pickups, contoured back and top, vibrato, and bolt-on neck, it was different. And it changed the way people looked at, thought of, heard, and played guitar. With the exception of opera and classical music, it has played a considerable role in modern music.
Over the years, the instrument has evolved. Early on, Fender changed materials for the pickguard, pickups, and control knobs, and wood for the body – from ash to alder. In 1959, the company moved from a single-piece maple neck to a capped fingerboard of rosewood. Today, Fender produces more historically-accurate reissues than it does new models, and an interesting feature of the reissues is the array of available finishes. The original Strat was available only in a two-tone sunburst and a transparent blond. From its introduction, customers expressed a desire for something different. “The only custom color would have been special order, it would have been done for a customer. There wasn’t any stock custom color before the late ’50s,” explained George Fullerton, ex-Fender production foreman and the “G” in G&L Music Sales.
This ’63 Strat (left) was long referenced as being “Olive Drab Metallic,” but a close look at the treble cutaways reveals that it’s actually an aged example of Sherwood Green, while this ’66 in Ice Blue Metallic is merely rare.
Some early custom-color customers included Howard Reed (of Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps), who played a black Strat, Eldon Shamblin (with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys) and his gold Strat, and Bill Carson’s Cimmaron Red Strat.
For the average Joe, the wait was over in 1958, when the Fender catalog allowed ordering color as an option. “I kept trying to push this color thing and I couldn’t get anybody interested,” added Fullerton. “I had an idea about a color I thought would be neat, and I went to a paint store and had [it] mixed. I worked with the man in the paint store, we added different things to it until I got the color I wanted. I had this guitar sprayed with it and I thought it turned out really neat. All the people at the sales office laughed at it and said, “Who would want a red guitar?” We did make a few of them and put them out into the field and, boy, they caught on like wildfire. Matter of fact, the people in England liked them so well, that’s about the only thing they would order for a long time. Around the factory, they dubbed it ‘Fullerton Red’ for quite a while, because there wasn’t any name for it. When they finally manufactured the color, they called it Fiesta Red, but, if I had known how popular it was going to be, they could have used my name.”
(LEFT TO RIGHT) A 1965 Strat Olympic White with tortoiseshell pickguard, a ’63 in Lake Placid Blue, and a ’64 in Dakota Red.
The paint of choice became DuPont Duco automotive paints – the standard in automotive paint, which meant anyone, with a stop at a local auto-body shop, could touch up or even refinish an instrument if necessary.
An interesting example of a custom-color ’57 Strat with a blue base that appears to be a Duco color, not an undercoat.
Custom colors were available in the late ‘50s but they really didn’t catch on until the ‘60s, all listed in Fender catalogs. Some, including Olive Drab Metallic (or Metallic Olive Drab) and Coral Pink, did not appear in catalogs and have spurred debate over the authenticity of certain colors.
So, while Leo Fender apparently adapted the Henry Ford axiom to read “Any color as long as it’s sunburst,” many would rather have a Strat in Olympic White, Ice Blue Metallic, Candy Apple Red, or Inca Silver. – Robert W. Watkins
1960s Strats in (from left) Candy Apple Red, Dakota Red, and Candy Apple Red.
You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.
This article originally appeared in VG Classics No. 1. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
While some players look for nontraditional body types in a solidbody, such designs can often breach the realm of the weird or ungainly. Maryland luthier Peter Malinoski understands this, and uses that knowledge to create bold, visually engaging, and good-sounding guitars sans the outlandish shapes. His New Moon model is a case in point – an aesthetically pleasing single-cutaway with an array of tone woods.
The New Moon’s body is an interesting sandwich of woods. The top and rear center stripe are walnut, while the back is ambrosia maple. The holes for the three-bolt neck are also filled with walnut (technically, the neck is both bolted and glued, effectively making it a set neck). The maple is highly figured with thick brown streaks of grain caused by the Ambrosia beetle, and the bugs also leave visible holes that create a decorative effect. There’s also a dramatic contour on the rear cutaway, adding to the ergonomic feel of the guitar, and a pickup plate of ambrosia and Douglas fir is affixed to the front with five screws. Not many folks use this type of plate, but it looks good, and definitely works.
Malinoski employs recessed cavities in various locations; Tone and Volume knobs are dropped into the face, the screws affixing the pickup plate to the body are recessed, and even the Sperzel open-gear tuners are sunk into the face of the headstock.
Speaking of the headstock and neck, the New Moon’s 24-fret neck is made of figured cherry with a separate headstock of ambrosia maple glued on with a scarf joint (sometimes called “luthier’s joint”) around the third fret. The fingerboard and truss rod cover are wenge, the former with maple fret dots – two each on the first and twelfth frets, as well as very large ones on the side of the fingerboard. The entire guitar is finished in a type of Danish oil, giving it a natural, luxurious feel.
The New Moon has a chrome Hipshot hardtail SS bridge and two Lollar Imperial low-wind humbuckers. There’s also a five-way pickup selector (bridge; neck/bridge parallel, phase reverse; neck/bridge parallel; neck/bridge series; and neck) and push/pull knobs. The Volume knob triggers a coil tap when pulled, and the tone knob brings in a piezo transducer. The input jack is on the butt end of the guitar body, just south of the strap buttons. Clearly, there’s a lot going on under the hood of the New Moon.
Plugged in, the guitar has real spirit. The neck has a big C shape, while the smallish body hangs comfortably around the neck. The New Moon’s neck, which does dive a bit, is pretty fast and features a 12″ radius and 24 large frets. No question, this is a California-influenced mélange of exotic woods that brings to mind Jerry Garcia and other heroes of the jam-band movement, but with its otherworldly design, the New Moon seems predestined for more varied sonic trips. Thanks to the nonstandard hardwoods, the New Moon has a brash, bright sound overall, at times not far removed from a Telecaster. The pickup selector can also be used on the piezo pickup to invoke different sounds and tones. For players who want at least 20 tones at their fingertips at all times the New Moon is a real tone puppy.
The Malinoski New Moon is a beautifully designed custom axe, especially with its sculpted cutaway, sensual body contours, and wicked pickup plate. A large part of the pleasure here is the craftsmanship of a master wood carver, but the guitar is not just a set piece. It’s a hip, versatile guitar, and sure to provide decades of enjoyment and fine tones.
This article originally appeared in VG June 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.‘
If Ron Asheton had recorded just one album in his musical career – the Stooges’ 1969 debut – he still would be regarded as a legend. The Stooges’ proto-punk opus laid the blueprint for a thousand punk, alt-rock, and grunge bands that followed and featured the cult classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog.” Asheton passed away in 2009, but the folks at Reverend Guitars have honored him with their Ron Asheton model, available in both white and a rather badass deep orange.
The Ron Asheton solidbody merges several ideas into one compelling instrument. Obviously, there’s the Flying V-styled body (made of white limba Korina, no less), but Asheton and Reverend builder Joe Naylor also added the big block inlays that recall a Les Paul Custom. The triple P-90 pickup configuration speaks to a number of vintage guitars, like the early-version Gibson Switchmasters and the non-reverse Gibson Firebird III. A raised body elevation down the guitar’s face also brings to mind the venerable Firebird.
In addition to the historical touches, Naylor and his team added some cool tweaks, like a rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets, a dual-action truss rod, a black swept-wing pickguard, a five-way pickup selector, and chrome control knobs. Other design perks include three lightning bolts on the upper wing of the V and a laser graphic of Asheton’s signature, located on the back of the headstock.
Like the three-piece body, the Gibson-scaled neck (24.75″) is also Korina and features a 1.65625″ graphite nut. The Reverend-design triple CP90 pickups include a bridge unit that is hotter than a traditional P-90, while the middle and neck versions are slightly cleaner and reputedly less noisy than vintage P-90s. The neck has a pretty flat 12″ radius with a medium-oval profile, while the three-and-three headstock features Reverend pin-lock tuners. Hardware also includes a tune-o-matic-style bridge and stop tailpiece. For controls, there are Volume and Tone knobs along with a bass contour, basically a passive bass roll-off that adds more single-coil twang to the CP90s and puts some variable pickup voicing in easy reach – cool idea. Better still, the Volume knob is smooth and perfectly sited for volume swells on the go.
Plugged in, the Ron Asheton quickly impresses. It’s a nicely balanced guitar and the neck feels great. Its weight is right on the money and the body’s resonance is obvious before the cable is even inserted into the nicely recessed input jack. Tonally, the Asheton offers a big sonic dimension, even when played through smaller combo amps. Asheton may have been proto-punk in his day, but this guitar is killer for both flat-out rock and electric blues. The pickups offer a wide range of tones, including easy and meaty Clapton- and Peter Green-style sounds from the neck CP90. A swing through the clean to dirty ranges finds all sorts of warm, puckery tones. And don’t be fooled by the Flying V shape – you may even be surprised at the cool country twangin’ the Ron Asheton delivers. Want to crank up the gain and go to Metalville, but are afraid of the P-90 noise? Positions 2 and 4 on the selector switch are completely hum-canceling and deliver all the crunch with a little out-of-phase tone for good grace. More importantly, these pickups are super-clean, giving incredible note definition with the crunch on, in some cases better than that from a typical humbucker. Clearly, Asheton and Naylor knew what they were doing when they designed this solidbody.
Made in Korea, Reverend guitars are set up in the United States by in-house technician Zack Green (whose initials are on the back of every headstock). And the build itself is fairly superlative – the guitar is solid and its controls and switches seem tough enough for regular gigging. The neck is fast playing, allowing relatively easy bends on the high E, and the tone is versatile and pleasing. Onstage, the V shape, three CP90s, and hot finish will more than grab fans’ attention. Ron Asheton’s spirit clearly lives on in this fine guitar sure to unleash any guitarist’s raw power.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
In lean times, who can afford to introduce anything but a winner? Wisely, Seymour Duncan has learned how to stack the deck in their favor, using its Custom Shop to test-market designs before moving to factory production. The result is boutique sound at pocket-friendly factory prices. Their latest roll-outs are the Whole Lotta Humbucker and the 59/Custom Hybrid humbucker.
Originally a U.K. Custom Shop exclusive, the Whole Lotta Humbucker (8.78k) is based on a pickup Duncan re-wound years ago for a certain famous player from England with the initials J and P. Apparently, Duncan re-wound the ailing pickup using enamel-insulated wire and replaced its weak magnet with a stronger rough-cast Alnico V version. The 59/Custom Hybrid (11.5k), meanwhile, is a mélange of vintage and modern, pairing one coil that has vintage attributes with one that has higher output and is much thicker-sounding.
Thanks to easy instructions and included hardware, installation was a snap with both of these bridge-position humbuckers. The Lotta immediately pleased with its vintage-styled tone, pleasant compression, and focused sound. It offers slightly more midrange and low-end than vintage units, yet was clear and defined, with a bit more forcefulness and an almost in-your-face feel.
The 59/Custom is a different beast. Tone-wise, it has much more low-end response than most ’buckers, yet still had crisp highs thanks to mismatched coils that temper what could be a very dark/undefined overwound tone. Given its high output, backing off on the guitar’s Volume produces a clean signal. The 59/Hybrid produced the thick tones and high output associated with an overwound pickup, but with the greater fidelity of a lower-output design.
The Whole Lotta Humbucker is a great choice for those who want to live on the border between vintage PAF-style tones and high output. The pickup’s slight compression and pushed midrange tone make it an excellent classic rock pickup that will pair well with any amp. The 59/Custom Hybrid, though partially vintage in its implementation, is a modern bruiser that offers clarity. Its low-end punch is formidable and will push just about any amp’s front end into very pleasant overdriven bliss.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Rodrigo Sanchez is one half of the fiery acoustic duo known as Rodrigo Y Gabriela. They have evolved from a stripped-down dual-acoustic-guitar sound to catapult their music in new directions. On their latest release, Area 52, Sanchez and partner Gabriela Quintero enlisted the help of producer Peter Asher and a 13-piece Cuban orchestra. The result is a sprawling, epic blend of Latin rhythms and melodies, with a soulful rock underpinning. Recorded in Havana, the disc re-imagines compositions from their back-catalog and takes them to new and exciting places. To find out all about it, VG recently caught up Sanchez while he was on a brief respite from touring.
How did you come upon the idea of recording in Havana?
It seemed to be the right time, based on the fact that we wanted to come up with something different and see how much we could experiment and go away from our comfort zone.
It was also very much an excuse to go there and learn from them, as well as come up with a project that allows us to get some time to do whatever we were going to do next.
Why re-work older material instead of writing new compositions?
When we decided to do this, we were still touring on the 11:11 album. We didn’t really have time to stop touring and write new material. It was kind of appropriate for us to experiment with something that wasn’t going to do any harm. We didn’t really care too much about the fact they were old songs, because it was the nature of the idea.
Did you pick up any techniques that influenced your guitar playing?
Not techniques, but ideas. I was looking to find different sounds and now that we already did the first tour with the band in Europe, it’s a lot of fun. It’s different for me to play electric guitar onstage now, after many years. I’m playing electric-guitar solos and getting used to playing the lap steel onstage, as well. Those are the kinds of ideas I thought about doing on this album, just to experiment. I think they’re giving us a whole different perception of what we can do as a duo for making our next album.
You and Gabriela have Yamaha signature guitars. Are you happy with the final result?
Absolutely. They worked so hard getting those prototypes going. They were following us around to different countries. They took the prototypes we were working on and saw how we were feeling them. The piezo system is very complex – quite an amazing system. Even our guitar techs on the road can’t do anything if the system is broken. We have 14 guitars on the road and sometimes they break because of the nature of the way we play. It’s a very delicate instrument, but we have enough guitars that they provided to cover us. We’re very happy.
There probably aren’t many guitarists using a wah pedal with a nylon-string guitar. What kind of wah do you use?
I use the Dunlop Crybaby and sometimes I use the Vox. I have three stations on different parts of the stage. The one I use very rarely is the Vox, which is on the right side of the stage, but it has a different tone. The one I really like is the Crybaby.
Any problems playing a nylon-string through a wah and other effects?
When we started adding effects onstage, there were. When I started adding distortion, I wanted it to be going to a Marshall. My guitar tech and the sound engineer worked things out. My system is special because it divides in stereo. It’s quite complex. I have a few things running onstage, and backstage I have my Marshall. When I see the routing, I don’t even understand it (laughs)!
We had to go to that level because we were playing festivals. The normal pickups wouldn’t work on a nylon-string because of feedback. To get to that level with all the volume, our stage show had to be modified.
What else do you use?
D’Addario strings and Dunlop Jazz 3 picks. I’m also going to be using a Jackson Soloist for the electric parts of the tour. It sounds awesome! It’s funny, when you finally make enough money to pay for your own gear, they give it to you for free (laughs)!
You and Gabriela came from metal and moved into your own thing. What do you say to people who are seeking their own style?
I suppose you have to detach from the idea of thinking that you have to follow certain patterns to make it happen. Gabriela and I never thought about doing a project with two guitars playing a little bit of Latin music and a little bit of metal. We were traveling Europe and playing on the streets, and that’s what came out.
The only thing that we did commit to was to not to do anything else but play music. We didn’t go to Europe to work as a waiter. That’s the only thing we did commit completely to. “No matter what, the only thing we’re going to do is play our guitars. If we have to play guitar for nine hours on the street to make a living, that’s what we’re going to do.”
A project has to be natural. If you plan it too much, I think you’re fooling yourself. That’s my own experience. You have to follow your influences and feel it. I think there are many ways to succeed. I also feel you have to find something within yourself.
This article originally appeared in VG July 2012 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
Many a Vintage Guitar reader has a stash of tubes lying about their music room/workshop or in a box in a closet. The problem is knowing which are trash and which are treasure. Orange Amps’ VT1000 valve tester promises to answer that question.
The VT1000 is designed to run an array of tests that tell whether a tube should be used or tossed. It has tube sockets for eight-pin octal power tubes, nine-pin EL84-style tubes, and standard nine-pin 12AX7 preamp style sockets. The unit has three buttons and an included power supply.
The VT1000 was tested on a variety of brand-new, NOS, and crusty old ’60s-era tubes found in a Heathkit amp dug up from a coworker’s closet. The unit proved easy to use – just plug in the tube, set the selector to the correct tube type, and the VT1000 is off and running. It tests for everything from open circuits to short circuits, leakage to amplification power, arc detection to gas ionization. Then its algorithms spit out a rating of “Good,” “Worn,” or “Fail.” Good or Worn tubes receive an additional/numerical rating between 1 and 15 (1 being the lowest); 12AX7 types even get separate rating for the two sides of the tubes – the first side is shown as a solid LED, the second as a flashing one. If the twin sides are perfectly matched on a preamp tube, it will get a single lit LED. Matched sides to a preamp tube are not necessary, but it can certainly be advantageous, especially when deciding which tube to use as a phase inverter.
A pair of Groove Tube 6L6s with marked ratings of 5 each were given Good ratings and a matching ranking of 7. Plugging in the crusty tubes from the non-working museum pieces quickly produced a Fail report on one EL84 and Worn on a second, and Good with an 8 rating for two old big-bottle GE 6L6 tubes. Note that the tubes do get warm in the tester, so use a rag or glove when handling them.
The Orange VT1000 is an excellent tool for repair shops, music stores, or tube amp users to have on hand. The ability to quickly give tubes pass or fail marks, not to mention the additional rankings, are great helps when troubleshooting an ailing tube amp, deciding which tubes to put in that gigging vintage treasure, or just filtering through a stash of old glass.
This article originally appeared in VG November 2013 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was Epiphone’s second-from-the-top electric guitar produced from the late 1940s through the mid ’50s. The instrument went through several name changes, from Zephyr De Luxe Cutaway, in 1948, to Zephyr De Luxe Regent, in 1950, to the DeLuxe Electric, by 1954. In Epiphone nomenclature, the word “Zephyr” indicated “electric” and the word “Regent” indicated “cutaway.” For the sake of clarity the term Zephyr De Luxe Regent will be used in this article to refer to all incarnations of the instrument.
The Zephyr De Luxe Regent had cosmetic appointments generally similar to the Epiphone De Luxe Regent, which was its acoustic cousin. However, the Zephyr De Luxe Regent did not share the same construction techniques with the carved top acoustic De Luxe Regent; the electric variation had a laminated (plywood) body. Epiphone utilized laminates in an effort to reduce troublesome feedback. The outer ply on the rims and the back of the 17 1/8” body often featured flamed or birdseye maple and the top was faced with spruce.
The curly maple neck of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent was fitted with a rosewood figerboard inlaid with a pearl and abalone “split V-block” design. Prior to 1951, truss rod adjustment was at the body end of the neck and subsequently on the headstock, with a white plastic truss rod cover. The headstock was inlaid with the Epiphone name and a vine pattern often referred to as the “tree of life” and was equipped with Epiphone’s exclusive “16 to 1 ratio enclosed tuners.” These tuning machines had plastic pearloid buttons and the enclosed backs were stamped with the Epiphone “E” logo. Other features included multi-ply binding on the body and headstock. The neck was bound with single-ply binding and featured parallel white stripes inlaid approximately 1/8” from either edge of the fingerboard. The f-shaped sound holes were not bound. The tortoise shell celluloid pickguard with multiple bindings was secured to the body with a bent metal support and a small metal cleat which was attached to the side of the neck. The Frequensator tailpiece secured the strings which then passed over a rosewood bridge. All metal parts were plated with gold. The instrument was available either in a natural blond finish or in a golden brown sunburst.
Like the name of the instrument, there were minor cosmetic changes over the years, but they were not always consistent. The period between 1953 and ’56 (approximately) saw the Zephyr De Luxe Regent sometimes featuring a maple-faced to and sometimes spruce. Likewise, the fingerboard inlay was sometimes the split V-block and sometimes pearl “clouds” (which was the inlay pattern on the acoustic version), and the headstock sometimes had the tree of life and sometimes had a large flower (used on the ’50s Broadway acoustic and some ’50s De Luxe acoustics). These variations have been seen in all combinations and there seems to be no logical pattern to them.
The Zephyr De Luxe Regent was equipped with two pickups, though there were some single-pickup cutaway instruments produced. The 1948 literature introduced the new “Tone Spectrum” pickup, which was a single-coil model with adjustable polepieces, approximately 1 ½” by 3 ¼”, encased in cream-colored plastic. The pickups were controlled by a single Volume and “Mastervoicer” Tone controls mounted on round aluminum plates perpendicular to the strings in the lower treble bout. Pickup select was accomplished with a three-way slider switch mounted on a gold-plated metal base. In 1949, the Tone Spectrum pickup was enclosed in a metal case with a cream-colored plastic surround. This pickup was approximately the size of a humbucker.
In 1950, the Mastervoicer mounting plates were discontinued and the contols were installed in a line parallel to the strings. Control knobs were the familiar octagonal pointer knobs in white plastic. The other important change of this year was the redesign of the Tone Spectrum pickup, which then measured 1 1/8”, by 3 ½”. This is commonly referred to as the “New York” pickup, though that term was never used in company literature. By 1951, the Volume and Tone controls were angled away from the strings. Some Epiphones were equipped with DeArmond pickups between 1954 and ’56, though the Tone Spectrum pickup was specified for the Zephyr De Luxe Regent in all company literature.
This is a very collectible guitar – a full-body cutaway electric with aesthetically pleasing ornamentation. However, as a “performance guitar,” certain features leave a bit to be desired. The most commonly Zephyr De Luxe Regents are from the ’50s, and equipped with the smaller Tone Spectrum (New York) pickups. These pickups can vary in tonal quality; many produce a rather thin sound and are subject to feedback when amplified much beyond that comfortable in a small room. It often takes a great deal of experimentation with the controls on an amplifier to get an acceptable sound. The pre-1950 models with the larger pickups tend to have a fuller range of response, with plenty of bass and a much more pleasing sound, though feedback can still be a problem. The most noted modern player of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent, Duke Robillard, had Gibson mini-humbucking pickups installed in his, with wonderful results, though such a modification cannot be recommended due to the negative result in vintage value of the instrument.
Circa 1953, the neck coutour of the Zephyr De Luxe Regent, as on most Epiphone instruments, changed somewhat to a fuller, rounder shape. Prior, the shape was a slight V and not as full.
The Zephyr De Luxe Regent is a wonderful example of the meticulous craftsmanship and beauty produced by the Epiphone employees. Given an understanding of the shortcomings of its pickups, this can be a fabulous addition to any vintage instrument collection.
The matching Zephyr amplifier was housed in a maple-faced plywood cabinet. A single-channel amp, it had three inputs, optional vibrato, a 12” speaker, and produced 20 watts of output.
You can receive more great articles like this in our twice-monthly e-mail newsletter, Vintage Guitar Overdrive, FREE from your friends at Vintage Guitar magazine. VG Overdrive also keeps you up-to-date on VG’s exclusive product giveaways! CLICK HERE to receive the FREE Vintage Guitar Overdrive.
This article originally appeared in VG Classics #02 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
