Guitars     (current)

Newest project:

USACG semi hollow alder 
3 LB body and USACG maple neck (7.25-9.5 radius) Pleked
I finished it using Mozer's cherry red dye stain
This so far is the best Strat I have ever owned!

Alder/Lacewood Warmoth Strat 
Warmoth vintage/modern boatneck, straight 9" radius,6105 frets
Just superbly pleked by Phil Jacoby at Philtone 
Dimarzio, Area '58 neck and '58 middle. and currently DP 420 bridge

Many thanks to my bud, Guitarist/Electronics guru, Carlos Lorenzo for his ability to not totally crack up when I tell him what crazy pickup combo's I want. Take a look at this wiring diagram... you'll see what I mean
As always, thanks to my pal, Steve Blucher from Dimarzio for the most excellent pickups! They absolutely KILL... take a listen for yourself.

Wiring Diagram      Schematic     Switching Map

Here is a J.B. clip 

Slow Singin' Blues Clip

Swamp ash/curly maple top "Strat", USACG neck (Pleked)
Dimarzio True Velvet singles

Gibson Melody Maker (1963)

Audio clip 
This clip is the Dimarzio Tone Zone S bridge pickup into clean Marshall pushed by the Sans Amp and Toadworks Meat tone boost
The Tune is Ray's Avenue by the incredible John Findlay   http://www.johnfindlaymusic.com/index.cfm

Peavey Firenza
The best kept secret (shhh) these guitars are truly wonderful. Feather weight basswood body, string through body hard tail bridge, 25" PRS scale maple neck. One of the most resonant guitars I have. 
Dimarzio Fast Track-1 neck, Fender strat middle and Dimarzio 'Mo Joe bridge

(Before)     

I reshaped the guitar by hand, creating an arch top, and sleeker rounded shape. The guitar was formerly totally flat sans contour or style. 
I also reshaped the neck contour
The new finish is a catalyzed lacquer with a duo-tone mica powder that changes from blue into purple based on the viewing angle... too cool 'fer words 

Audio

Brian Moore i 2000 1.13 

Very nice mahogany/maple body with neck through construction. 13 pin access
Can't say I like the JB pickup much, a bit too harsh in the upper mids for my taste. I suspect I may be replacing them with Dimarzio's at some point

Here is a tune using this to play a trombone/trumpet patch

Clip

USA Custom Guitars Tele

Superb mahogany semi-hollow body with AAA figured maple top, figured maple neck with Brazilian rosewood 9" radius fingerboard. Dimarzio Virtual PAF in the neck, Blue Velvet in middle, and Virtual Hot PAF in the bridge.
In keeping with many of my guitars, this one has endless pickup combo variations.
Once again I want to thank my buddy and wiring guru Carlos Lorenzo for making the impossible a possibility. and not thinking I'm totally crazy when I suggest a truly certifiably crazy wiring scheme. 

Wiring Diagram     Schematic     Switching Map

Audio Clips   

Heritage H535
Natural Maple "335" from the original Kalamazoo Gibson folks who chose to not move to Nashville with Gibson.
I swapped the Schaller roller bridge and tail piece for a more solid Gibson type tuneomatic, and the tailpiece for an aluminum Gotoh.  I swapped the rather lifeless stock Schaller pickups for Dimarzio PAF Classics. I found these upgrades to drastically improve the tone

Audio Clip

Swamp Ash Strat
Warmoth, birdseye neck, 5105 steel frets (no they are not too bright), Gotoh 1088 trem with callaham steel block (Thanks John Suhr for your help), Warmoth chambered swamp ash body 2.6 LBS and still balanced! All pickups are Dimarzio Virtual Vintage. (originally had Kinman's, much preferred the V V's more "strat" like tone.

Pic's fail to capture the color correctly. We used a yellow dye stain, then sprayed the edges with a dark blue. The over spray created the coolest gradient greens! All nitro cellulose lacquer. A good friend is a pro finisher... how convenient :-)

                                
                                                                                                                                                                                             Before I replaced the Kinman's with Virtual Vintages

Audio Clips 

Many thanks to Carlos Lorenzo for his ability to make one of my crazy pickup switching ideas a reality!  Take a look at this wiring diagram... you'll see what I mean

Also thanks to Steve Blucher for the most excellent pickups! They absolutely KILL... take a listen for yourself.

Wiring Diagram      Schematic     Switching Map

Samick, Greg Bennett, JZ2 ,LaSalle

VERY nice archtop for the money. Spruce top, Figured Maple back and sides 
After a pickup upgrade, and a pro fret crown, this plays like butter with super low action and sounds superb!

Audio Clip 1
Audio clip 2

Godin Flat Five
A solid carved AAA curly maple top, solid maple center and hollow poplar sides, mahogany neck, rosewood board. Dimarzio Air Classic in the neck and Air Norton in the bridge
Removed the thick globs of Godin polyurethane and refinnished with much thinner layers of nitro lacquer. The thinner finish greatly improved the tone

Pickup combo list
  Schematic 
Diagram

Thanks to my friend, Carlos Lorenzo from Germany!  It is superb

New Audio Clip using the Bassman

Audio Clips Here

Godin Artisan TC (Handmade)
Quilted thick carved maple tobacco sunburst top on a limewood (basswood) body, maple binding
With Killer Dimarzio Pickups (see Audio Clips Page for Details)

New wiring: By Carlos Lorenzo

Switch Diagram    Wiring Diagram    Schematic

New Clips soon

Audio Clips

Peavey Generation 3 Tele (USA) (chambered)
A very light weight chambered alder body with flame maple top.
This guitar is superb! One of my most tone-full, and  resonant guitars
Dimarzio Virtual hot tele bridge, DP401 middle, protrack  neck (one of my favorite Dimarzio pup's)

    
Audio Clip (Virtual Tele bridge, Protrack neck)

Audio Clip 2 (with Dimarzio Area Pickups

Godin SD XT
A flame maple top, maple center and poplar wings (snap of maple and warmth of poplar) Love this guitar
Dimarzio Virtual PAF's

Audio Clips

1980 Japanese Ibanez AS-50
This guitar is absolutely superb! 
Tone beyond belief
Beautiful birds eye maple body

Clips coming soon

Blueburst ash strat with hollowed chambers, Birds eye neck (reshaped), rosewood fingerboard. Dimarzio Pro Track (neck pickup) Fender middle, Dimarzio Pro Track (Bridge) 
After 4 years of experimenting with designs... I got it where I want it! Totally awesome tone and sustain! This body was a VERY heavy, and somewhat bright sounding northern ash body,. I painstakingly created chambers using a good ol' dremel in the horns, sides and behind the bridge, as well as reshaped the body a bit. This both added warmth and resonance to the tone, as well as lowering the weight

    
Gibson '61 Melody Maker, 

This was my main guitar in mid- late 70's Very resonant, light weight mahogany...Tone and, sustain for years!
I added a Dimarzio VV 401 in the middle for "Strat Quack" 
A DPDT 3 way switch allows me to choose which coil of the 'buckers are active. 
I often use this guitar for slide as well

70's Gibson L6 Deluxe, (Dark Red), Bartolini bridge pickup, Dimarzio Multibucker 4 coil neck pickup, dual  rail pickup in the middle. Maple body and neck with rosewood board
Some guy jus' gave this to me after an outdoor concert in Miami in the late 70's... Blew me away.

Audio Clip            Blues clip

Casio PG380 Midi Guitar
This guitar has a very sweet tone with a pronounced attack (ebony fingerboard)
I still use it for MIDI (when I want to travel light) as well as good ol' guitar. Was my main guitar for close to 20 years.

Fender HM Strat  

Washburn Bantam  
(Basswood Steinberger clone) picked this up at a flea market. Still experimenting with the pickups. I bought this mostly for air travel

Guitars  (Past)

Peavey Firenza AX
Swamp ash body

Yamaha Pacifica 302
Tele with VV tele set and middle VV pickups, upgraded to Gotoh bridge

Yamaha Pacifica 312
Alder Strat with Dimarzio VV's and Air Norton in bridge. Great strat tone

Fender USA Roland Ready Strat  
with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Alnico II's DP407 neck, DP 401 middle and a higher output pickup in the bridge 

Godin Artisan ST (Strat)
A solid maple guitar that is surprisingly warm sounding, tons of sustain

Washburn HB30
A sycamore top with maple back and sides. This mid '90's model is a surprisingly good guitar for 'pocito dinero'   It does have a very flat fingerboard.

• 
  Kubiki Strat  customized by John Suhr, main guitar in the 80's

          Gibson '58 335 (not reissue) dotmarker < used to be my main guitar in the late 70's..
          Gibson '52 LesPaul Special <Flat top, P90's, Main axe in early seventies>
          Gibson '61 SG / LP with  P90's
          Fender Tele <gotta have one!>
          Gibson Firebird
          Gibson '60's ES345
          Kramer aluminum neck Koa/ Maple body
          Gibson '70's Les Paul Custom
          Martin HD28 <sweet acoustic>
          Fender California Strat ,Fiesta Red (John Suhr humbucker and 2 Dimarzio

Amps  (current)

'70s Fender Vibrolux
Modded by Chandler Amps
Super sweet, 35 watts with Weber 10F150T(ceramic) and 10A125(alnico) speakers
ground switch is now a 3 way switch for negative feedback
normal channel tone caps changed to .02 like a Marshall or bassman

Channel 1 and 2 bridged clean tone      Channel 2 clean      Channel 1 (volume at 8)      Channel 2 OD

'66 Fender Bassman in custom made 1X12" Tweed combo cabinet with Celestion G12H-80

This amp started out life as a black faced amp head. 

Modded by:   Chandler Amps

• Amp converted to a hybrid of the AA864 and AB165 designs (I believe this is referred to as the Allen mod)

• channel 1 is voiced like a tweed bassman/JTM45 marshall

• channel 2 has the sweet yet chimey tone that IS the "black face" Fender sound.

• A mid tone control was added to channel 1

• A presence switch was added to both channels.

• The cap values of the bright and deep switches were changed.
  
  
• THD Yellow Jackets adapters for EL84's
  http://www.thdamps.com/products/yellow_jacket.htm 
  Now using 6L6's with Power Scaling
  
  
• Weber Beam Blocker http://www.webervst.com/blocker.html
  

• London Power, Power Scaling module added to control wattage
  http://www.londonpower.com/kits/psbox.htm
  

The cabinet was made by Ken Freeman  I very highly recommend both his excellent craftsmanship and professional service.
Update: Seems to no longer be building cabinets

Purists go nuts when they see all these mods, but each one made this amp sweeter in one way or another IMHO

                   

Audio Clip : JTM 45 voiced channel 1,with mid boost, EL84's Godin semi hollow Flat 5

Audio Clip : Black face voiced channel 2, EL84's with Lacewood Strat

SonicCord Toad
18W Class A, or 35W Class A/B, 1X12", 2 6L6's, Based on the '49 Fender Slant Super. Volume, passive tone, and mood knobs (Mood seems to compress the sound) Not the sexiest lookin' amp, but man it sings 'fer sure!

Audio Clips:

chambered strat with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups, recorded straight into the cranked Toad in 35 watt mode
In this order:  Bridge with guitar volume on 6 followed by volume on 10,  bridge/middle,  bridge, neck,  middle/neck, neck (all combos parallel)

strat sonic wet.mp3                  strat sonic dry.mp3 

USACG semi hollow mahogany/Maple "tele"  With Dimarzio Virtual PAF in neck, Virtual Hot PAF in bridge, and DP170 in middle,  also straight into the toad in 35 watt mode
Bridge, Neck, both (parallel), Neck (single coil closest to neck) , Bridge (single coil closest to bridge), Bridge series, Bridge single coil closest to the neck), Bridge series
 
tele sonic wet.mp3                  tele sonic dry.mp3

Blues

A nice slow blues with the toad and my '70's Gibson L6-Deluxe

Marshall
 mid 70's 2 12" <Main recording amp> Was modified to use EL34's 
Input 1 was revoiced to plexi, the other to a fuller warmer Fender tone.

1958 Fender Super Amp 2 10"
              

Short audio clip
straight into M audio Audiophile Firewire with a touch of delay added

Fender Princeton '74

Modded by my friend and amp guru, Bruce Marcolina with a 12" Weber 12F150. Rectifier changed to GZ34, tremolo removed from the circuit to allow an extra gain stage. Paul C, and Stokes mods.

Audio Clip coming

MusicMan 50 watt  110RD <Main gigging amp in the '90's>

Silvertone 1957 Model 1331 
 Man what a sweet amp Class A single ended 6V6, 6 watts

Audio Clip 1

Audio Clip 2

Peavey Special 130 (Scott Henderson's old setup)

Reverend Hellhound 60/40
One of my current gigging amp Great tone!

Amps   (Past)

Silver tone <Airliner> Man did that thing sing <first amp>
Kustom 100 watt ( you know... the naga hide special)
Marshall 50 8 10" <main amp in the early 70's...no master volume> LOUD! Sorry Mom!!
Marshall 100 stack (even more sorry Mom)
Fender Twin <Main amp late 70's> (pulled 2 output tubes to lower wattage)
Traynor Twin
Sundown ( hated it)
Musicman 100/50 or somethin' like that (hated it)

Pedal Boards

Here is a link to my Compressor Shootout review

• Pedal Board (main)
  Large flight case containing: (changes often)
  Barber Tone Press compressor
  Boss SE-70 multi processor
  Zen Drive by Alf Hermida

• Analogman KOT
  I use a buffer/preamp to convert 
  signal to line level
  George L cable is used
  I much prefer Lava cables for guitar to board
  and board to amp

• Pedal Board  (laptop computer case) For smaller gigs
  Tim Boost pedal by Paul Cochrane
  Maxon compressor (will be changing)
  Boss DD2
  Digitech reverb

MIDI GEAR (performance)

• Midi Guitar

          Axon AX-100 midi guitar converter (for bigger gigs)
          Roland GR-30 (for med gigs)
          Casio PG-380 (when I travel light)
          Roland JV-1010, Yamaha VL-70, Alesis S4+
          Roland VG-8 (modeling processor)

Recording (current)

• For guitar recording, my standard is a 
  Beyer dynamic mic in front of my old Marshall. 
  I set the volume to low and clean, usually use the 
  Tech 21 Sans Amp (original) for overdriven tones. 
  Then into a M-Audio Firewire and Cool Edit Pro 
  set to 32 bit resolution. running on a 3 gig Pentium

Midi Gear (recording)

• I have used an Atari ST computer for MIDI 
  sequencing for close to 2 decades  < I love all 8 Mhz>
  Creator 64 track sequencing software
  Midi tracks are then ported to my Pentium using Cool Edit Pro
  

• Roland
  U220 <mostly piano, horns>
  D110 <pads and organ>
  
• Korg
  M3R <bass and saxes>
  EX-8000 < fat analog warmth>
  
• Yamaha
  TX81Z <Clavinets>
  TQ5 <More way cool FM stuff>
  TG-33 <pads>
  
• Casio
  VZ-10M <Sparkle>
  
• Kawai
  K1-r < more warm pads>
  
• Recording Gear
  Tascam 644 Midi Studio
  BBE Sonic Maximizer
  Ibanez stereo EQ
  Fostex Line Mixer
  

Gear used for the Really and
Truly CD

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