When I first put together this pine bodied Tele, I told myself that I wasn’t going to modify it. That lasted about three years. I stuck a Bigsby B-16 on it a few months ago. Last week I went all out and cut down the B-16 and stuck two of my new pickups on it. I couldn’t be happier with the results. (for now) I just can’t seem to leave well enough alone! It almost makes me feel like playing some gigs.
I was recently talking to a friend about guitar playing and motivation to practice (it seemed like he had a hard time staying motivated). I’ve always liked to practice, and have been easily motivated to play my guitar for hours. I told him that when I heard a solo that really moved me, I had a hard time not picking up my guitar. He asked which solos ‘’moved me’’? Then I started thinking about all the solos that I’ve found over the years that I have been really influenced by, that really got into my head and then can’t stop thinking about for days.
So once a month I’m going to post a song with a solo that makes me want to run for my guitar and practice for hours. Hopefully they’ll have the same effect on you.
The first one that comes to mind for me is Chester B. Atkins 1953 solo on Sweet Georgia Brown. I usually prefer solos that sound ‘’spur of the moment’’, as if they could possibly fall apart at any time, but don’t. Chet’s solo on this song sounds composed, but it’s composed perfectly from beginning to end. I can’t remember who turned me on to the ‘’Jazz from the Hills’’ by the Country All Stars, but even after years of listening to this, I still have to fight the urge to run for my guitar.
After many months of testing, I finally have a limited quantity, small batch of Pickups available for sale. The Blade Pickup is $340. USD plus shipping, and the adjustable Pole Piece Pickup is $325. USD plus shipping. I’m really happy with the way they sound. The Blade Pickup sounds very similar to a Charlie Christian and is excellent for jazz chords and single note playing. The Adjustable Pole Piece Pickup also sounds like a Charlie Christian but has a slightly brighter sound.
I’m positive that if you play swing, bop or country jazz, you’ll be happy with either one of these pickups. We guarantee it!
If interested, Contact us.
I recently picked up a copy of Ashley Kingman‘s new EP, Guitar Blasters Vol. 1. It had a great photo of a well used amp cabinet that I built 20+ years ago. I originally made two cabinets, one for myself and the other for Lee Jeffriess. Lee didn’t end up using it so it landed in Ashley’s hands. He put a Vox AC30 in it and it’s been his main amp ever since. I like the way his looks now, after being on the road for twenty years!
In mine I used a modified Showman head. For detail, I used my late grandfathers belt. He had a carburetor business called “Summertimes” which was hand tooled on his belt. We have a great story about my grandfather Denny and his “53″ Buick that we’ll share soon.
Its nice to see that both cabinets have withstood the test of time!
Electronic Guitar pickups coming soon
The Winder
I decided to turn my custom shop nocaster into the guitar that I use to test my pickups. I routed out the backside and made a bakelite cover for it, similar to Merle Travis’s Bigsby. When I started, the body weighed 4lb. 4 3/4oz. After routing it out, it weighs 2lb. 11oz. I should have done this a long time ago. It feels and sounds great! I can now swap the neck pickup out from the back without taking the strings off. While I was at it, I striped the chipped up old paint, sprayed it with a few coats of white lacquer and added a new pickguard.
On a side note, we just added a few items to our new Store that we continue to get requests for. Will be adding additional guitar related items soon, as well as some things for the home.
Last weekend we headed down to Anaheim, CA to attend Deke Dickerson’s 9th annual Guitar Geek Festival. As usual, he did not disappoint. Besides a top notch group of pickers over two evenings, Deke’s insane collection of rare, valuable and wacky guitars grows more interesting every year. My favorite this year was definitely his Bigsby from 1956 pictured below.
Deke also showed a beautiful collection of relatively unknown “Harvey” guitars made by an incredible craftsman, Jim Harvey. The Harvey mandolin pictured below, made in 1952 for Scotty Broyles, features a five pole piece Bigsby pickup. Scotty himself, along with Jim Harvey’s son Howard, were there to play in the “All Harvey Band” where seven guys each played a Harvey made instrument.
Having just made a pick guard for Deke’s tele, we set up a small display to show the guitar geeks in attendance a sampling of what we can do for them as well.
Below are a few various shots of the event and the guitar museum, including an amazing steel guitar collection.
Welcome to the New Year! Through the holiday’s and into the new year, T.K.’s been doing overtime in the shop working on his new guitar pickup. He wants it to sound like a cross between a Stratosphere and a Charlie Christian, his two favorite pickups, and it’s constructed like a Bigsby. He has talked about this for years! T.K. still has a ways to go until he’ll be happy with the final product, but we’re hopeing to have some production units for sale by summer. Stay tuned!
Someone from France put this recording of Big Sandy and The Fly Rite Trio up on YouTube awhile back. It’s one of the few recordings I’ve played on that I can listen to without thinking that I should of played something other than what I actually played. This is probably because I worked out the entire solo note for note the night before and played the same thing on each take. (can’t remember how many takes it took).
Everything the Fly-Rite Trio recorded was done live with a couple of mikes. If one person screws up, or is unhappy with their performance, you have to start over. It can be challenging to say the least, but it’s my favorite way to record. I think live recording is the only way to get an accurate representation of what a band truly sounds like. If you’re a musician and haven’t recorded live, try it. You’ll have greater respect for the way the musicians of the 40’s and 50’s recorded. Think about the recordings with multiple ‘Hot’ improvised solos and how hard that would be to do live.
Recorded around 1989. We had 500 copies pressed to 78RPM record. I think we sold most of them in the UK. If I could do it over, I’d like to have another crack at the solo on the flip side, I’m Gonna Leave.
