Joel Paterson Demo #2
Here’s another great demo where Joel fires off ”Walking the Strings” backstage at Deke’s Guitar Geek Festival using my tele equipped with…
Neck Pickup; TK Smith C.C.esque
Bridge Pickup; built by my friend (and neighbor) Curtis Novak to my specs.
Pots; 250K
Strings; Thomastik JS113 Flat Wounds
Amp; Stock ’54 Gibson GA-30
Joel Paterson-More Motivation
We just returned from the 10th and final Deke’s Guitar Geek Festival where as usual, there were an outstanding number of pickers on the bill. Here’s a clip of the amazing Joel Paterson, one of my favorite players of today, in the green room on Jan. 26 2013. Joel’s using a telecaster equipped with my blade pickup at the neck position going through a stock ’54 Gibson GA-30. The strings are Thomastik-Infeld JS113 flat wounds. If you ever get the chance to see Joel play live don’t miss it. Warning: You might feel like burning your guitar after watching. I know I do.
Monthly Motivation-Joe Puma
Joe Puma is another guitar player that I have a hard time not picking up my guitar after listening to one of his recordings. A friend gave me a copy of “The Jazz Guitar of Joe Puma” about 10 years ago and it’s been one of my favorites since. This song in particular is great motivation to practice.
Smokey Smith
If you read The Strange B16 post a few weeks back you’ll know we were wondering who the picker was with the neat modified Telecaster. Thanks to Jeff Baker of Des Moines, Iowa the mystery is solved. Turns out his name was John Fields. Unfortunately, he has passed and the guitar is long gone. Jeff printed out the picture and took it to Smokey himself (also known as Iowa’s “Mr. Country Music”) who identified all the players. Smokey is still going strong at 95! Awesome.
There’s also a book by Terry Manley about the bands Smokey booked at the KRNT Theatre in De Moines over the years. I’m ordering mine now, and you can get a copy here.
The Replica Blade Pickup
I finished up this pickup over the weekend and am pleased with the way it turned out. To avoid any hassle I’m going to say it’s a replica but I won’t say of what.
I will say it features a cast aluminum housing, 40AWG wire, alnico magnets with the same great sound as my blade pickup.
I’m thinking of making a batch of these to sell if there is enough interest. The price will probably be close to my blade pickup (sans walnut spacer). So if you or anyone you know may be interested in one or a pair, shoot me an email.
