Rolf’s Smith Special
Guitarist, Rolf Hartogs, from the Netherlands made the long journey to the Mojave desert this week to pick up his custom ordered Smith Special. It was an honor making #002 for Rolf. As soon as he found out we were working on our own model, he jumped in whole heartedly. Its a pleasure meeting a customer in person and having a chance to show, talk about and play the guitar together. Here are a few photos and the specs. We’ll post a video soon.
Monthly Motivation: Arv Garrison
I first heard the name Arv Garrison 20+ years ago when I got copy of Earle Spencer’s ‘’Five Guitars in Flight’’ on 78. He’s also one of the guitarists on the live recording here, featured on Monthly Motivation a few months back.
Recently a friend sent a YouTube link of two recordings, ‘’Tonsillectomy’’ below, and ‘’These Foolish Things’’. Both tracks are recorded in Hollywood during the mid forties with bassist and wife, Vivian Garry. Arv’s another one of those players I never get tired of listening to.
Instrumental in Minute No. 1
First in a series of 15 second guitar instrumentals. (not sure if I’ll do another one) Using a C.A.R. pickup, neck position plugged into a Gibson EH-185 amp.
When I sit down with my guitar, most of the time I choose a chord structure and try to figure out something interesting to play over it. The chord structure is usually different and most of the time I forget the riff or chop I’ve worked out a day or two later. I figure this is a good way to save them. The 15second time limit is nice because I usually can make it through in one or two takes without playing that many clams and it doesn’t waste too much of my or the viewers time.
The chords progression on this one is a 2, 5 intro then /A/E aug/A/E aug/A/F #7/B E/A/ then noodling in A, the ending chord is an A9b5.
CCII Installation for JD McPherson
JD McPherson’s New #1
Broken Arrow’s own JD McPherson has been tearing up the road with some great vintage tones for a while now. We recently had the privilege of installing some custom parts from TK Smith for JD on a brand new tele including an inlaid pickguard and a Charlie Christian pickup. TK did a great job with the parts and JD came to us to have them installed. After the new parts were installed, we did a full setup to deal with some playability issues. JD took it out on the road and after talking with him this morning he says this Tele is his new number 1! Thanks JD.
Check out TKSmith.net for some really cool custom parts and guitars.
Catch JD this Friday, May 9th in OKC at the Performance Lab JDMcPherson.com
The original pickup and guard.
Original routing.
A big cavity for a big pickup!
Looking good!
In The Shop With: Pat Capocci
We just had the pleasure of hosting Australian guitarist Pat Capocci and his girl Chloe for a few days of fun and picking in the desert. Pat came over to make his first U.S. appearance at the Viva Las Vegas #17 festival in April. He recently signed with Wild Records in LA so the gig in Vegas gave him the opportunity to record his next project while in the U.S., and come out to our place for a little R&R as well.
TK has known Pat for a number of years from playing on the same bill at festivals in Europe and when he played in Australia a few years ago with Big Sandy. If you follow our blog, you’ve seen that TK has modified Pats guitars, made custom pickups for him and he’s been using our guitar accessories for a long time. We’re proud that such a talented young player wants to be Smith equipped. As we always try to do when anyone comes for a visit, they sat down and did a little iPhone recording on a Sunday afternoon. Part of the series: “In The Shop With”
We had a great time hanging out with Pat and Chloe in Pioneertown, Joshua Tree National Park and Read The Rest
