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Why You Shouldn’t Base Your Purchase Off A Video

by Dan Carrano | Sep 2, 2020 | Blog

First off, when watching a video, that is not what the guitar sounds like. If someone sends you an iPhone recording, that’s what the guitar sounds like when recorded with an iPhone. If someone is playing a Gibson Custom Shop ’59 Les Paul through a Carr Rambler amplifier and using an SM57 microphone, unless you have that set up, the ’59 Les Paul will not sound like that. People demoing guitars can (and do) modify the sound in recording software, so those “comparison videos” are all horse shit.

During the pandemic, our shop is getting a lot more people asking for demo videos. These videos aren’t completely worthless. You can gauge the playability. You can listen for buzzes. But, mainly, people want to hear how the guitar sounds. Unfortunately, they aren’t. In most cases, the video makes them feel better about the purchase. Even though it’s not what the guitar will sound like when it’s in their hands, it still helps them make a decision. And, even though it doesn’t sound like the video when they get the guitar, in most cases it sounds better than the video. But this is really only the case with acoustic guitars.

It’s much more difficult to base your decision off a video when purchasing an electric guitar. You can’t demo an electric guitar acoustically. You have to use an amp. And all amps sound different. To record the amp, you have to use a microphone. And all microphones sound different. I believe 100% of the time you purchase an electric guitar based off a video, you will be disappointed with your purchase. Eventually, you will get used to the sound of your set up and it will be fine, but, at first, you will be underwhelmed with your purchase.

Comparison videos are stupid. With recording software, someone can make a pawn shop guitar sound better than a Collings. For example: If someone recorded a Collings guitar and EQed the bottom end completely out, they can make the guitar sound thin. Then they could record the pawnshop guitar and add compression, EQ, and reverb to make it sound better. Anyone who doesn’t know about recording software tricks will assume that Collings is a waste of money. AGAIN, comparison videos are phony baloney non-sense. In almost all cases, the more expensive guitar is a better guitar and worth the money.

Nothing beats trying out a guitar for yourself. But, in the age of internet shopping, what is your alternative?

– Message boards with reviews from real people is a good option. You can find out which stores people trust. Pros and cons with certain brands.

– Buy from Reverb sellers with 5 stars.

– Buy equipment used by your favorite musicians.

Frank Zappa’s Martin D-18S 12-Fret

by Dan Carrano | Aug 4, 2020 | Blog

When we think of Frank Zappa’s guitars, we think about the Gibson SG (most likely the Roxy SG with the white headstock and crazy electronics). Or we think about the refurbished burnt Jimi Stratocaster, which Hendrix gave Zappa. We rarely think about Zappa with an acoustic guitar, because less than 1% of his discography features Zappa’s Martin D-18S 12-Fret. In fact, we can only be sure that Zappa played this guitar on one recording.

In the early 70s, Zappa became interested in Mark Volman’s (The Turtles, Flo and Eddie) Martin D-18S 12-Fret (with a slotted headstock). Mark wanted Zappa’s Telecaster in return. This must have been an easy trade for Zappa, since this was the Tele he was playing when he was pushed off the stage at the Rainbow Theater in London, 1971. For those who don’t know the story, a loony boyfriend thought Zappa was making eyes at his girlfriend, even though, when on stage, it’s impossible to see the audience behind all the lights in your face. Zappa was severely injured and couldn’t tour. But that didn’t stop him from making records.

The earliest recording we know about with the Martin is “Blessed Relief,” the last track on The Grand Wazoo (1972). The trackl ists Zappa as lead guitarist and Tony Duran as rhythm guitarist. So, we are to believe, the first recording with the Martin was played by Duran (who was mostly known for slide guitar).

In 1975, Zappa used an acoustic guitar during a radio show with Captain Beefheart. They played Beefheart’s song “Orange Claw Hammer.” The version was later released on a Beefheart compilation album called Grow Fins. It’s likely that the Martin was used on this recording, but it was never mentioned. The poor recording quality makes the acoustic guitar sound like an unplugged electric, so we don’t get any help in determining if it’s the Martin.

In 1979, we finally hear Zappa wailing on this guitar. The song is “Sleep Dirt” off the Sleep Dirt album. James Youman accompanies Zappa for an interesting acoustic duo. Unlike anything Zappa has produced. The only aspect that we are used to is the manically fast guitar solo that you would normally hear from a Gibson SG. The Martin doesn’t slow Zappa down at all and it is a surprisingly clean solo, which makes me think there were several takes involved.

Having only played this guitar on one recording, it’s a fair assumption that this was Frank’s home guitar. Possibly a guitar that laid around for him to pick up whenever he had an idea or just wanted to noodle around. It’s uncertain where this guitar ended up. Gail could have sold it. Dweezil or one of the kids could have inherited it. All that is certain is that Zappa plays the crap out of this thing and it sounds amazing.

Seeing Jimi Hendrix Live

by Brian Wolfe | Jul 8, 2020 | Blog

I saw Jimi Hendrix play Woolsey Hall on the Yale campus in New Haven, Connecticut, on November 17th, 1968. It was an early show.

I was there with a blonde girl whose name has been lost to time. It was cold and she wore an itchy wool sweater. Our seats were close to the stage, maybe the third row. We wondered if Jimi would smash or burn his guitar (he did neither).

There were two support bands, Cat Mother & The All Night Newsboys and Terry Reid. I became a true believer in Terry Reid from the first note. I left the show thinking more about Terry than Jimi. To this day I’m not sure who had a bigger influence on me as a musician.

It was a very long time before Jimi came out. The story was he didn’t know there was an early show. I kept wishing they would let Terry do another set. Jimi eventually took the stage and claimed he would make it up to us. He promised to play “Foxy Lady” like never before. He played the first few notes and the hall suddenly fell into complete darkness. It wasn’t for dramatic effect: the band had actually blown the main fuse. They needed a bit more time to run a power line from another building to continue the show. Jimi engaged the audience to help pass the time (as best he could) by telling jokes. The only one I remember was something like: “What’s green and hangs from the trees in Africa? Elephant snot.”

He said he was going to play the next song really loud. He turned it up and played an insane version of “Red House.” It was so loud I thought my ears would bleed.

Looking back, It was a great honor to see many of the guitarists who have influenced both my playing and my worldview. I learned from Jimi that you can never underestimate the power in your left hand, Fuzz and Wah can create magic in the right combination, and most of all, nothing in music is as important as a beautiful melody.

“I’m the one that’s going to have to die when it’s time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to, sing on brother, play on drummer….”

On The Road To Nick Drake

by Brian Wolfe | Jul 8, 2020 | Blog

It was a long time ago and therefore a bit murky. As best I remember, the first time I became aware of Nick Drake was seeing a copy of his album Bryter Layter in the import section of Rhymes Records in New Haven, Connecticut. I wondered why anyone would choose to pose with an inexpensive mahogany Guild M-20 and passed on buying the record. I had never heard Nick’s music, and import records were pretty expensive.

Not long after, the printing company I worked for printed a New Times Magazine feature on Nick, written by Arthur Lubow. To my knowledge, this was the first feature written on Nick in the USA, though a few reviews of his records had appeared in other publications. Arthur’s piece captured my attention and boosted my curiosity. I drove back to New Haven and bought the LP. I was an instant believer. To this day, the song “Fly” gives me the chills. Its haunting beauty was like no other song I had ever heard.

The next Nick Drake LP I found was Five Leaves Left. It appeared in a Greenwich Village record shop. Five Leaves Left affected me even more deeply than Bryter Layter. “Time Has Told Me” and “Riverman” held me in a trance. How could these two amazing records not be major hits? Nick’s third LP Pink Moon proved to be very hard to find. Luckily, after a few trips back to NYC, I scored a copy in another record shop in the Village. There was a bit of a cult demand and some original gatefolds of Pink Moon were actually fetching over $100, but I was determined to own it, so I didn’t flinch. Soon I was back home in Connecticut dropping the needle on the first track of the LP, Pink Moon. To say I was not ready for what I heard was an understatement of biblical proportions. It opened a door to another world. I played it start to finish more times than I can recall. It became the only LP I played for quite some time.

Many years later, I was playing a gig and someone in the audience bought one of my cassettes after my set. He said to me, “You should know that the only other cassette I own is Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. Pink Moon had become and is, to this day, deeply rooted in my DNA. Anyway, once I owned all three of Nick’s LPs, two things became apparent to me: First, Nick was not using the same alternate tunings everyone else was using and in the case of the Pink Moon, a lot of songs were in their own unique tunings. Secondly, the Lubow article quoted a line from a song that was not on any of the three LPs.

I had to know more, so I called his publisher and asked to speak to him about the story. I was told that he did not speak to people he did not know. I left a message, stating that I had read the piece, tracked down and bought all three LPs and I had a few questions and would love to talk to him. He returned my call about a half-hour later, appreciative that his article had inspired me to search out all of Nick’s music. After speaking with Arthur for some time, he decided to give me Nick’s parents’ phone number in the UK and suggested they would very much enjoy talking to me.

I mustered the courage and made the first, of what was to be many trans-Atlantic phone calls. Nick’s mother, Molly, answered the phone. She projected a beautiful spirit and an amazing amount of generosity to me. After a while, she put Rodney, Nick’s father, on the phone and he shared the same qualities. They were amazed that I had found all three LPs (By that time, I had also acquired a copy of the very rare USA compilation LP of the first two LPs). I mentioned that I had learned to play all of the songs on the Pink Moon LP and various songs from Nick’s other LPs. I said I would send them a cassette.

A short time later, I received a very long letter from Molly thanking me for the cassette of me playing Nick’s music. She also sent me a cassette of Nick’s demos and “bedroom” recordings. From then on, we shared many letters, cards, and phone conversations. Molly also shared many of her observations regarding my own music. Years later, I learned that she was also a songwriter.

During the course of one of our conversations, Molly suggested I contact TJ McGrath, another fan of Nick’s music, who also lived in Connecticut. At that time, TJ was the editor of the music fanzine Fairport Fanatics which went on to become the magazine Dirty Linen. TJ and I met for a night of playing Nick’s music and sharing information we had discovered about Nick and the music associated with his, such as John Martyn, Richard Thompson, Fairport Convention and earlier influences, Davy Graham, Jackson C Frank and Bert Jansch. Each new door that opened led to another and after some time, there was a network of people connected by their love of Nick’s music. At a certain point, it felt like we were part a secret society and that was going to pretty much be the way it would be.

Then in 1999, one Thursday at 8pm, before an episode of Friends, the haunting chord that opens Pink Moon was heard across the USA. The song “Pink Moon” was the soundtrack to a VW commercial. Within a few days, everything was different. Pink Moon became one of the top selling CDs on Amazon. After that, Nick’s music also started showing up in movie soundtracks. I’ve been continually struck by the great care exercised by Nick’s estate in determining who is suitable to be licensed to use his songs.

By this time, I was working at AcousticMusic.Org, which is a Martin guitar dealer. It has become known that Nick only posed with the Guild M-20 on the album cover. The guitar actually belonged to the photographer. While we could talk about my theories regarding what guitars Nick owned and didn’t own, we know Nick’s last steel string guitar was a Martin 000-28. We know by its serial number that it was imported into the UK after Nick had recorded all three of his LPs, so the only recordings he could have used this Martin on were the last five songs: “Rider on the Wheel,” “Black Eyed Dog,” “Hanging on a Star,” “Voice from the Mountain” and “Tow the Line” (found many years after the other four songs).

Around 2004, I contacted both CF Martin Guitar Company and Nick’s estate to propose the idea of a limited-edition Martin Custom Shop guitar, based on Nick’s 000-28. It would take until 2019 with the support of Nick Drake’s estate, Leonard Wyeth (owner of AcousticMusic.Org), and the CF Martin Custom Shop to make a limited edition run of ten guitars possible. These ten guitars will be available exclusively through AcousticMusic.Org. We arrived at a guitar that is sonically perfect for the style of music that Nick composed. We chose understated design elements that will appeal to fans of Nick’s music, as well as to other musicians, for whom this guitar may be the door that leads them to the music of Nick Drake.

My First 12-String Rickenbacker

by Brian Wolfe | May 6, 2020 | Blog, Rickenbacker

I remember the compressed guitar sound coming out of our black and white Motorola TV set like it was yesterday. That moment in time has become part of my sonic DNA. It was like nothing I had ever heard before. There on the TV was this skinny guitar player with strange rectangular sunglasses and a blonde guitar that sounded like it was sending messages from another dimension.

I recognized the guitar instantly as a Rickenbacker because John and George of The Beatles both played Rickenbacker guitars. This one sounded completely different than either of theirs. I discovered pretty fast that the guitar had 12 strings, with the bass strings tuned an octave apart and the treble strings tuned in unison. George’s Rickenbacker was also a 12-string, but this new sound was a sonic game changer. The song was “Mister Tambourine Man,” and the band was The Byrds.

The guitarist Jim McGuinn (later to change his name to Roger) had created a new sound by compressing the signal and boosting the treble. He was also a banjo player and fingerpicked the guitar with metal fingerpicks. This sound became known as “Jangle” Rock and pretty soon almost every band had a 12- string Rickenbacker on both sides of the Atlantic.

There were three basic models; the solid body 450-12, the semi-hollow 330-12, and the deluxe semi-hollow 360-12. The two most popular finishes were the natural, which was referred to as Mapleglow, and the sunburst, which was named Fireglow.

I had to get my hands on one of these. The problem was they were very expensive. Even the least expensive one, the 450-12, was around $250, which was a lot of money in 1965 for a 13-year-old kid to lay his hands on. It was decided that I would have to get an after school and weekend job if I was ever to afford one.

At this point, a little back story is in order. My first guitar was a robin egg blue Kapa Continental. It was an okay guitar, but not what it was sold to me as, which was “better than a Fender,” I got it in around 1963 at Goldies in New Haven. A year later, I was at Caruso’s in New London trading it in. I had a bunch of money saved and hoped that with my trade-in I could get a 450-12. I asked what could he do. He opened up the case of a Rickenbacker 450-12, thought for a bit, and offered me a red Fender Mustang. I don’t know why I took the Mustang. I suspect I was sick of the Kapa.

I then went back to work at my job at the local Hammond Organ shop. My job was to polish the organs, help deliver them, along with cleaning and vacuuming the shop. Oh yes, and every Saturday I had to clean both sides of the very large plate glass window in the front of the shop. The owner insisted that I use only Windex and old newspapers to clean the window. It took me forever to get rid of all the streaks.

It wasn’t until 1966 that I finely had enough money to get my first Rickenbacker, a Fireglow 450-12. The guitar was my pride and joy until one night, playing at a coffeehouse in Ivoryton, the neck fell off. For a very short period of time, Rickenbacker experimented with changing the guitar’s construction to a glued-on neck, from “neck through” construction, where the neck and body are one piece of wood (the body is created by gluing “wings” to either side of the core). Sadly the amount of string pressure was too much and the glued on neck joints failed. The guitar had to be sent off to Rickenbacker for replacement.

This took over a year and by the time I got the guitar back, I had acquired a used Mapleglow 360-12 on loan. My father met a guy at a bar named the Woodlawn in Madison, Connecticut. He had the Rickenbacker and a Stratocaster that he gave up playing. He told my dad I could keep the 360-12 until I got my 450-12 back. Needless to say, I tried my hardest to keep the 360-12, but it would not be until a couple of years later that I would be able to get one from Harmony Music in Madison. By then, I got a job there and worked it off, instead of getting paid. I’ve almost always had a 450-12 and 360-12 in my “toolbox” since high school. There were very long periods of time when I would not play them and was tempted to sell one or both of them. However, there always seemed to be a song or project that only sounded right with that haunting compressed jangle of my youth.

Jr Saw It Happening

by Brian Wolfe | Apr 21, 2020 | Blog

Sometimes a picture will stay with you forever. I had already owned one of the first Les Paul Goldtops to arrive in Connecticut in 1968 and sold it due to its weight — I was a pretty skinny kid and it killed my shoulder.

I was not a stranger to Gibson Les Pauls. I had seen black Customs and Sunburst Standards in the hands of various rock stars, but this was something different. It did not take long to read an interview with Leslie West to discover the guitar in the Life Magazine Woodstock issue, that I had an instant love of, was a Les Paul Junior. Now, how to get one!

I made a few trips to W48th street in NYC, but no luck. There was a weekly newspaper in Connecticut named the “Bargain News” that I checked weekly. One ad seemed promising, but the guitar turned out to be a single cutaway Melody Maker. It was a very cool single pickup guitar that I got for $50, but it was not a Junior. I had $150 saved up from painting a neighbor’s garage so I was ready for one to show up. At this point in time the only Junior I had ever seen was Leslie’s, and to my knowledge that was what a Junior was.

After a while my chance to own one came. I found an ad for one in the Bargain News. The guitar was in Monroe, Connecticut, about an hour drive, but I was not going to miss my chance. My band mate Peter and I got into my VW and drove to Monroe.

When I walked into the room the first thing I noticed was it’s cool brown alligator case. I slowly opened the case. To my complete surprise the guitar looked nothing like Leslie West’s Junior. This one was red and a double cutaway, but it did say “Les Paul, Junior” on the headstock so it was a Junior. I dig it anyway, it had the appointments I liked, one pickup and a wraparound tailpiece so while not what I thought I was buying, I was happy.

At that point I had the Melody Maker and my first Junior. Shortly after that I picked up another red double cutaway at a pawn shop in New London. Because new Martin guitars had black pickguards and older ones had red “tortoise” guards, for some time I thought the red ones were older.

I finally got my first no issues sunburst single cutaway Junior on W 48th Street sometime in the summer of 1970. It would not be until around 1972 that I got my first TV Model, a 1959 double cutaway. I traded George Gruhn a Brazilian rosewood 00-28G for it.

Over the years I would own many Juniors, TV’s and Specials (two pickups). As time went on I learned more about the history of the model. I’ll share my understanding of the evolution of this model.

The Junior was introduced in 1954 as a single pickup, sunburst finish economy Les Paul. Some early examples have Maple bodies. I saw what appeared to be a prototype from 1953 at Gruhn’s awhile back. Gibson moved the position of the pickup in relationship to the treble side of the wraparound tailpiece stud because it had a bad habit of breaking through to the pickup route. In 1955 Gibson introduced the TV Model, which is identical to the Junior except for its straw blonde-like “Limed Oak” finish and black tone and volume knobs. There was a myth that the finish was created to show up better on TV, but I’ve never believed that.

At some point in 1958 the Junior and TV went through a major design change. In what appeared to be an effort the create a guitar with greater neck access, both models became a double cutaway guitar. The earliest examples in 1958 had a very “squared” off slab body. At some point in late 1958 or early 1959 the body edges were rounded and the neck heed was extended, to achieve a more stable neck joint. The Junior acquired a red finish and the TV model became a bit more yellow, and both guitars had red tortoise pickguards. Another detail was that the neck profile on the 1959 models were for lack of a better word, huge. In 1960 the neck profile became more of a thin, flat oval.

The Junior was originally introduced as an economy student grade guitar. I doubt Gibson would have ever dreamed that it would become the guitar of choice for so many and varied rock guitarists. From Leslie West, Keith Richards, John Lennon, Neil Young, Mick Jones, Johnny Thunders, Billie Joe Armstrong and many others. I venture to say almost every serious rock and roll guitarist has one in their toolbox.