Dave On Rock

This is the most sought after Washburn Steve Stevens signature guitar ever made. The SS100′s have glow in the dark paint, were only produced with at the most 40 or 50 models ever built. The first run were painted by airbrush by Steve Driscoll. This guitar has been in the Washburn museum since birth..These are incredible guitars and highly sought after. $10K is the asking price with COA.

For years people have told me they were looking for one of these, well there is no rarer one than this…contact me through Metro amp forum  yngwie308.

1993 Washburn SS100 #1

Dave

Some may know me as yngwie308, blowing my own horn (how does that feel..   ) I have become an international source of resource regarding Yngwie Malmsteen, ever since I purchased a computer.

Back in 2005 I first heard from Yngwie in an interview about the Fender Custom shop coming to the Castle Malmsteen in Miami and measuring the old Duck and taking photos for a possible tribute guitar. I was all excited about this happening and kept inquiring through my local Guitar Center, well not exactly local, it’s in Scottsdale and I live aways from there.! But the salesman there used to work in LA at the Hollywood GC and he has solid connections with the Fender marketing in Scottsdale, right down the road. So I ended up buying my 2004 YJM special order from FMIC and the whole Marshall Handwired debacle, I ordered the 1959 Super Lead stack, which ended up costing almost $6K,…I know, trust me, the problems I had, returned the first amp, but that would be another whole story .

So the Duck 1972 Stratocaster which Yngwie bought through his drummer in Sweden as a teenager, travelled with him to LA after Yngwie’s demo tape contribution to Mike Varney’s column in Guitar Player magazine, led him to an offer to come to the States. Yngwie arrived with said Strat and two pairs of jeans, joining Steeler with Ron Keel. Then he joined Alcatrazz and the rest is history. This guitar which started life with the bullet truss rod, 3-bolt micro-tilt neck, was converted by Yngwie to the conventional 4-bolt mounting, plus the addition of 6100 Dunlop frets and a brass nut and the most unique feature of all , a scalloped fingerboard.

There always has been some controversy over where Yngwie got the idea for this. He has always stated that he was working in a guitar shop in Stockholm and a 16th century lute came in for some repairs. It had a scalloped neck with the high points of the wood acting as frets, for the gut strings. Cynics say that he copied Ritchie Blackmore’s scalloping on his Strats. Yngwie does say he didn’t even know that Ritchie had had that done, as he only saw pictures from the albums of Deep Purple and they didn’t really show this feature. Yes Yngwie was influenced by Ritchie in the regard that Yngwie learned every solo on Made In Japan note for note, even down to the small inflections on the live versions. He had already mastered Fireball, ect. Genesis and classical music were also big influences on the young Swede.

So this guitar which is famously featured on the cover of Rising Force album , the arm holding it out of the flames. I first saw the guitar pictured on the cover of Marching Out, a cool looking large headstock CBS era Vintage White Strat, with besides Hendrix, the largest wall of Marshall maps I had ever seen!

I remember skipping through the tracks and never listening to it after the first time, as the playing was radically different, sort of ‘widdly, widdly’ as we said in England, it being too busy, for my pentatonic, blues based ear to get around!!

Fast forward to the early 2000′s, around 2002 to be exact, and I came across a VHS copy of Yngwie’s called the Videos or something, I had bought it in a record exchange store as a cut-out basically back in the mid nineties, but not really  watching it either. So basically for decades I have for whatever reasons, chosen to ignore Yngwie, but totally went ga-ga in 2002 ,for the Triab By Fire:Live in Leningrad video. I couldn’t stop watching that show. over and over. And then it began… !!

This 1972 Stratocaster was featured in large parts of this concert and by then Yngwie had developed his penchant for Vintage White/maple boarded Strats.

So since 2005, I have been following the print media and checking with Fender, through my GC guy. Maybe the next NAMM, ect., ect.

Finally I found out within 6 months or so when it would come out. I put a deposit down and hoped it wouldn’t be that expensive. Around May or so, I learned some info, that wasn’t released yet, ie; how many would be made and the approximate price.

I first thought of how could I raise that kind of money, ect.. Eventually I was having mixed emotions, one of the major ones being anger. I was told unless I could pay the full price, no matter how much deposit I put down, I wouldn’t be guaranteed a guitar. So then I ‘leaked’ the privileged info I had on as many forums as I post on..many and said I am done with this guitar..nobody really cared , but I felt as a hard core fan, I should be able to get one.blah,blah.

So the time for release was November 28th.

I will list some links and posts I wrote about the guitar.

Sure, the guitar was called the “Duck”, due to the Donald Duck decal on the headstock. It became apparent that Fender didn’t wish to pay royalties to Disney (expensivo) and Ferrari North America, as Yngwie’s guitar has a large Scuderia (team) Ferrari prancing horse decal on the back.

So the Duck became the PLAY LOUD, as this is sort of a trademark saying for Yngwie and what a small label on the upper part of the guitar said.

He also signs guitars with that phrase and the star, which is from his song Black Star.

So right away the guitar would have some small superficial compromises from the original.

I will let the threads discuss the other differences, but since the closer detail pictures have surfaced, I am amazed by the caliber of the relicing, which is most realistic!

So my friend Masa from Japan, a huge Gary Moore and Yngwie fan like me, emailed me with the news he had bought a John Cruz built replica!

I hope to, first be able to find one to play, which would be unlikely, but you never know!

Dave

I am telling the story of one of my favorite guitars, which started life as a 1952 Les Paul Gold top when she left the Kalamazoo factory.

Back when I lived in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, I came to know Jack Romano, who already had quite a reputation as a master luthier in the Philadelphia, Tri-state area. Jack at the time had his shop based in his fathers paint store, next door to a beer distributor in Conshohocken, just south of Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill river. Jack lives not far from the shop and with the pizza/sub shop on the corner, it always was enjoyable to visit the little town and it’s quaint small streets, only the parking meters spoiled the ambiance of a visit!

Jack had done various work on my guitars over the years when I lived in Pennsylvania and I had met him through Paul Hammond, another friend of mine, who is quite well known in his own right as a master electronics tech and he was always wiring studios and involved with the busy Philly area music scene.

Jack always had an interesting guitar or various acoustic instruments in the shop and it was always an enjoyable experience hanging in his shop, talking guitars and watching the customers come and go.

I had heard through Paul Hammond, that Jack had in his possession a 1952 Les Paul Goldtop, that he was restoring. Upon further inquiry Jack told me that it had an extreme neck/headstock break, that was unrepairable. Also it had been ‘converted’ to 1956 specifications, by the addition of an ABR-1 bridge and a stop tailpiece. It also had the original gold finish removed and was painted as a sunburst.

The previous owner also had recessed the bridge into the body somewhat to compensate for the shallower neck angle that had been standard with the original tailpiece. Also one of the pickups was not working, the controls weren’t the originals, but the pickups, the pickup selector and all associated wiring was original. Also the pick guard, switch tip, were the originals.

I remember telling Jack I wanted the snot green tuners eventually and he used the Gibson Deluxe double line with the washer and nut up top.

We briefly discussed making it an ‘all gold’ Goldtop, but decided against that and making it a conventional Goldtop finish.

Jack discovered in the pickup cavities the original gold paint .We decided to make the paint match the original color, unfaded, as it would have been new, fitting as the guitar was being born again anyway.

Jack sent the non-working pickup to Lindy Fralin, along with the other one, to be repaired and to match the two.

Jack removed the binding, Brazilian fingerboard, along with the inlays, from the damaged original neck, after removing the whole neck from the guitar.

Also the Gibson hollyhead veneer logo he carefully removed from the original headstock. Eric Schulte, a renowned local guitar builder, known for his 1959 Burst replicas and Flying V’s, supplied Jack with a mahogany neck blank of some older wood. The story of the neck profile and 14 degree headstock pitch, is related to the blank being cut in two to make two necks and there was not enough wood available to make a full 17 degree headstock angle.

The nut is the original one and Jack, with great craftsmanship and attention to detail, mounted the original board to the newer neck, managing to preserve the beautifully aged inlays and attaching the original binding.

The correct neck set angle was obtained with the correct tenon. Replacement Gibson hardware, the ABR-1, tailpiece and studs were fitted.

Jack took great care to accurately match the gold color and although the finish is very thin nitrocellulose lacquer, he had to hide the maple block he used to repair the bridge mounting area with.

The back is finished in a natural mahogany finish with the correct pore filler, I chose not to have an olive colored back as I prefer the more reddened look of the mahogany.

The backside of the body has a great looking grain pattern and complements the rest of the guitars finish. I believe the input jack plate to be a replacement, but again the wiring was mostly original. All the correct routes in the control cavity were present, the addition of a hole for the stoptail ground wire had already been added, as originally of course, there had been no need for it with the original tailpiece.

As soon as I first laid eyes on the guitar, I loved it. During the course of the restoration Jack had been offered big cash, from the recording studio owner from across the street from his shop. Being a loyal friend Jack asked me if  I needed the money if he sold it to this gentleman. This is without me even having paid Jack for the guitar yet!

I of course declined the offer, which was substantial at the time. This goes to show the loyalty of my friend, which didn’t surprise me, but has always been refreshing to have a close friend who loves guitars and playing as much as I do and makes his living from it. The sentimentality I have for this instrument is directly related to all the above kindness and the superb handcrafted work used to make this guitar come back to life.

I felt it had been created for me and later when I had traveled to Arizona as a travel nurse, to escape the aftermath of a painful engagement breakup, I had to face the dilemma of selling one of my guitars to repair the transmission in my Honda Civic.

I chose to sell my 100% original 1954 Les Paul Junior, which I had bought from Jim’s Guitars in Baltimore, to celebrate my graduation from RN Diploma nursing school. This was at the time of the O.J. trial, which sticks in my mind, to this day.

This guitar which Jack brokered to one of his customers for me, to help me out, was an incredible instrument; the acoustic tone was so loud and had a great P90 which was downright nasty sounding. I have posted pictures on the forum of both my 1954 Juniors, still my favorite year. The most early P90’s I discovered back then, are to my ears, the best sounding of all the years following.

I knew there was really no choice, I kept the Goldtop, mostly because of the handcrafted nature of it’s rebuild and I loved having a neck pickup and better intonation, with the ABR-1. I knew the Junior was an overall monster, but would be able to grow old with my Goldtop.

So quite a few years passed and I knew there were certain electronic issues with the guitar. Jack doesn’t do the electronic wiring and he has subbed it out to a colleague. Mainly in the volume and tone control area. It was always my plan to further upgrade that area of the guitar.

After getting married and finally settling down and with the purchase of my first house at 50 years old, I was able to contemplate finishing the guitar to my ultimate specifications.

KThesheep I believe pointed out to me that replacing the double row tuners, with the more correct single line Kluson’s would restore more of the original look to the guitar. This, plus my recently joining the Les Paul Forum, enabled me to advance my knowledge base of what would be period correct and more importantly, what would improve the electrical and mechanical tone transfer of this already incredible sounding, extremely lightweight guitar.

If all this is appearing long winded and some of you are asleep already, I apologize, but telling a story is what I am attempting to do here and the guitar deserves the background and history to be related.

Fast forward to 2008, when I discovered Rick Norman, aka Dr. Vintage, lived extremely close to me across town in Phoenix.

I arranged with the good Dr. to visit the clinic and have him evaluate the guitar and recommend what it would take to bring her to optimum playing performance.

Rick and I discussed several key issues that would really take the guitar, tonally to the next level. These were the addition of a lightweight aluminum tailpiece, steel studs and a closer tolerance ABR-1.

Rick was very helpful and spent quite a long time going over the guitar and making so excellent suggestions. Although to the purist, the guitar could be considered a mongrel of sorts, I feel that as an organic sum total of all it’s parts, this guitar was almost all the way to being a very unique instrument, that was most importantly incredible to play and equally sonically fantastic!

That I have a love for early P90’s is no secret and this guitar now, serves the pickups to the best of its ability.

I purchased through BCR Music and Sound from Greg, my Pigtail hardware. I waited a few months and Greg faithfully contacted me when the ship came in, so to speak! I had originally planned on Steve’s lightweight tailpiece and steel studs, but when I was speaking with Greg on the phone concerning my order, he mentioned to me he had aluminum Pigtail ABR-1 bridges.

This intrigued me and I chose to jump in and choose that as well.

Asking Rick about this, he took the time to write me a detailed explanation of his experiences of the aluminum bridge and how with the slightly thicker finish on my Goldtop, that the ally bridge would ‘wake up’ the guitar, even more.

Also integral to the vibration transfer was the addition of the aged RS Kluson single line tuners, which the posts, having a lower height than the Gibson Deluxe doubles, would increase the angle of the strings over the nut to the headstock, inching closer to the magic number of 17 degrees, headstock pitch.

The neck profile, although substantial, is more a seventies style profile, which is unique and makes for a very playable neck. Those here can discern the slight differences in the headstock shape, denoting it not a true vintage ‘52/’56 shape. That’s all right though, as again the total package of this guitar is so pleasing and natural feeling, that all the necessary components that give a fifties guitar it’s feel, are present.

The Brazilian board has a great feel and Jack did a great job of refretting, the neck, with some vintage correct wire.

So I brought her to the Doctors office and it became apparent that more than an afternoons work would be required as being basically custom built, thing wouldn’t just bolt in directly in some non critical areas. Jack did step cut the tuner holes, so no bushings were required to place the Klusons, although some small filling was necessary to fit each tuner. Then the Pigtail studs, required the addition of a small amount of additional threads to be added, to mount the tailpiece all the way down. Also with my existing bushings, a small amount of the ends of the studs, needed to be removed. This is by no means meant to be any reflection of Steve’s incredibly accurate and superbly crafted parts. They are indeed works of art and so light as a feather.

I have become a lifetime Pigtail endorser and any future Gibson’s, new or old, will have these magnificent pieces fitted as a matter of course!

I also planned on having Rick’s Dr. Vintage control set fitted, which he did and the feel and practicality of the tapers is just superb. Rick mentioned that I had the option of having the controls sit higher up with out spacers, which it originally had when I got it. This would be vintage correct and I have endeavored to do this whenever possible within reason on the guitar. The pointers I had were drilled to the incorrect diameter for the pots, so Rick told me he would obtain some correct pointers for me later, thus some pictures show the controls without the pointers fitted.

Rick then cleaned and oiled the fret board for me and polished the frets, causing the beauty of the Brazilian to really pop and making the frets smooth and silky, causing the player to glide up and down the neck.

Rick was very interested in my P90 pickups as he is building his own versions and he loves these ones, the neck pickup being his favorite. Rick took measurements and snapped some photos of the pickups out of the guitar and the backs ect. He opined that the covers showed some evidence of being exposed to a heat source at one time, as there was some shrinkage of the plastic, besides the normal aging, which sinks in the top of the covers over time.

Rick shimmed both pickups, several times, adjusting the pole pieces where necessary, the bridge pole pieces were rusted solidly in place though!

The neck responded well to adjustment and he was able, through his Blueprinting service, which I highly recommend, to lower the action more than it had been previously.

When I picked up the guitar, Rick met me at the door with his physicians coat and the Dr. Vintage head mounted exam light. I asked if the doctor was in and being a nurse, felt confident that the operation had been successful!

The Vintage controls worked really well and were so smooth in operation and for the first time, I was able to roll off my volumes effectively, without robbing the pickups of tone.

Through Rick’s Vox AC 30 and his various Marshall amps, the guitar was just enough to take your breath away!

I will need to have some of my frets slightly leveled in the future and a Plek, closest is in LA I believe, will be on the horizon.

In closing, I would like to wholeheartedly endorse the services of Rick Norman, as his considerable experience inspired confidence, in an owner who isn’t averse to changing things for the better, but can be a concerned patient.

Thanks to Jack Romano again for making the whole thing affordable and possible. Dr. Vintage for taking the guitar to a completely different level.

BCR Greg for his great service and advice. This has been a real team effort and I am indeed a lucky fellow, to have such a beautiful Goldtop.

http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/1952%20Goldtop/

Here were my two ’54 Juniors their story at another time:

http://s57.photobucket.com/albums/g219/davida54/album%20name/1954%20Les%20Paul%20Juniors/

Dave

Rory and Phil were beyond mere musicians, they were/are giants amongst Irishmen and continue to provide inspiration for countless others who follow.
Although their personal lives were not very happy, to say the least, their enormous contributions and sacrifice for their art, makes them modern day legends.
Truly we are blessed to have lived through these times with them and I was so fortunate to see Rory in his prime, just out of Taste and with his new band.
Every song was so good and I actually enjoyed the acoustic/harp driven numbers, being such an electric purist at the time, it was a revelation for me to experience such pure blues and music delivered from the soul, with no dilution. And his playing on that battered (even then!!) Strat, was legendary to me, I enjoyed the pinch harmonics (the first I had heard, before even ZZ Top) and the power of his compositions. They were deceptively simple, yet strangely complex.
Rory was a triple threat as a blues man, powerful singing and guitar playing and songwriting. He had no weaknesses in any area!
I still remember a handful of powerful concerts/gigs and Rory’s London show that night will last me a lifetime of memories.I vaguely remember the pub, it was triangulated on the corner of two streets, I will have to research it, but I think Islington on the off chance.
He had the AC30 on a chair and no Bassman for that gig.
The first album was out and he was touring around that. I remember Laundromat, as one of the tunes I really liked at that time.
Phil Lynott,, was truly a man out of his time. The darkest son of Ireland, as Gary Moore referred to him in the song Blood of Emeralds, was a walking enigma, powerful as a bandleader and at one with his vision of Lizzy, yet weak as we all are, human with faults, yet able to transcend them, time after time. Just to do one more show, to finish that song, ect.
The more I have read about Phil, it does little to tarnish my image of him, the same with Rory. These were men with musical visions and they lived their lives in the reality of these visions, different yet eerily similar.
Phil’s Thin Lizzy was such a powerful band and I remember being in London and Lizzy fans were just that wee bit different than other fans.
They had a harder edge, a rougher exterior, that was almost a reflection of their bands tunes. The denim jackets, with all the patches, I remember and the hard drinking and often fighting, which the drinking I participated in, not the fighting, as that isn’t really in my nature.
I never saw Lizzy in the times I was in London, they hadn’t broken as wide as later and I was back on the Island.
I just downloaded a Hammersmith Odeon show from 1977, that is just as great as the Live and Dangerous set. This was a band to be reckoned with, and my personal opinion is that with Gary Moore, the band wasn’t at its zenith. He is to strong a personality and the clashing with Phil, at that time, led to him replacing Brian and then baling when he had his own issues and couldn’t handle the stress of the band and their wild partying.
Those were the days when bands really lived their music and Guns and Roses aside, the result was often mercurial and produced brilliant music that was short lived and burned out quickly, the candle lit at both ends.
Phil was like Bob Dylan in his poetry, yet he tried to live out the narratives of his wild tunes and often tore his flesh on the sharp barbs of the events of these incredible songs. Nobody gets out of here alive, I believe the song goes and it was true for Phil.
That Gary Moore really cared for Phil and offered him the opportunity to share in his success, I have no doubt. When he asked Phil to join him for the Out In The Fields, Military Man sessions, Phil seemed to do all he could to self-destruct the events and even took cash from Ten Records, Gary’s label at the time, in a pitiful amount, probably just for drug money, more than likely. Chris O’Donnell, his manager at times, cringed with the memory of the way Phil had sold himself short. Then he partied through the recording sessions with Gary and was too wasted most of the time, so Gary toured without him. The Emerald Isles tour. If you watch the video from that tour, you can see the whole dynamics of his relationship with Gary. Then only one year later, as he lay dying, the whole thing was too painful for Gary to deal with and Gary’s absence from Phil’s funeral, I totally understand.
The brilliant album Wild Frontier produced as basically a tribute to Gary and Phil’s tempestuous musical relationship and strained friendship, stands as Gary’s most powerful work to this date, with the great input of Neil Carter.
That Rory, who was the most vehement anti-drug person out there, would succumb to complications from prescription drug issues, which weakened his immune system post organ transplant, is unfortunately very ironic.
That Phil would lose his life in a lost battle with drug addiction, always seemed to be on the cards and was no great surprise when it did happen, but still was shocking for one so young to be taken.
You can’t convince me that drugs are artistically enhancing for the creative
artist and that the artist falls easy prey to them, is the tragedy of all this.
Phil said in regards to substance abuse, his name was “Phil Why Not.”
It only makes me hate drugs all the more and I am angry that they cause so much misery, mostly to the loved ones left behind as well.
I have mixed emotions listening to the works of both these Irish brothers, but mostly joy from experiencing the real soul and emotion that they so accurately portray in their music and share with us unselfishly.
I often think of those great rock formations, the great giant steps out into the Irish sea, and think that these are paths for these great sons of Ireland to walk out and remain in our hearts and souls, forever.
We will miss them terribly, yet they are always among us in their music

Dave

Having written a considered passionate reply to this thread, only for it to be lost as the log in times out, why is that the case here…??

I will attempt to retrieve what I have written from my mind, so this is take 2, if you will.

If you have ever felt great sadness, lost something/someone, struggled with great depression and questioned your achievements and success, then you “get” Peter Green’s music. Of course Albatross, isn’t fairly representative of Peter’s work and although well know, he has produced much more significant instrumentals.

That Peter in a sense, “sacrificed” his life in a way for his art, is true.

That LSD was the solvent that unglued his mind or led him farther down the road of disillusionment may be true. People that have mental illness and are dual diagnosed often need to self-medicate to alter their already altered reality. Peter certainly contributed originality to the blues and his statement is one heard and treasured by many.

That an East Ender from London would be connected to the bluesmen of Chicago and the Delta, is an incredible journey. This journey was undertaken with no artistic compromise by Peter and with Fleetwood Mac, they made some of the most dynamic music of the late sixties.

Other burst players such as Eric, Mick Taylor and Jimmy Page, each contributed much to to rocks pantheon, with Page masterfully crafting some of classic rocks most dynamic work.

But I don’t “get” from them, what I get from Peter Green..It is an emotional light switch, that once switched on, the light burns with the intensity of the sun..for me.

Peter’s phrasing and touch on the guitar, influenced by the greats no doubt, but he took it miles further than anyone else around him.

I remember buying the single for Man of The World in a small bookshop in Wales and listening to it , I was initially perplexed, but once the initial shock of it’s originality had sunk in, I was in awe of the magnificence of this statement.

That Peter really lived the sorrows and joys of a bluesman and didn’t study or try to be like the blues artists he listened to, as in the case of Eric Clapton, separates him from the herd.

In Peter’s case he was the most successful of all the Mayall guitarists, because he was the most original of them all.

When #9-2308 was sold and shown at the Dallas Guitar Show, one the one hand I was glad that many could see and hear this magnificent instrument up close, but on the other hand, for me personally, it was almost as if watching a loved one being molested..

Gary Moore’s response was “The next thing it’s down the Dallas Guitar Show, here, there, and everywhere, being paraded around like the bearded lady.”

And whatever your opinion of Gary Moore is and they may vary, he was a worthy keeper of this magnificent guitar and being the stepchild of the greats, he contributed mightily in his own way, being inspired by this guitar.

Both Peter and Gary have remarked about how difficult this guitar was to play, Peter preferring the slimmer neck profile of the 1960 Les Paul and Gary stating on moore than one occasion, about that bloody great neck on Greeny!

That the Les Paul Standard is an iconic instrument, there is no question, a forum like this wouldn’t exist if it were not true, but arguably for me, Peter Green was the most powerful contributor using this brilliant instrument.

I have often remarked that although I would love to hold this instrument in my hands, part of me would be reluctant to do so, given the history and mojo of this guitar.

With respect to TW and others here, who truly pay tribute to and are keepers of the flame with these bursts, sadly for me now, this guitar is again wood and metal.

Never to be played by the masters again, it brings the point that although undoubtedly great instruments on their own accord, a tool is only as good as the craftsman using it.

I realized long ago, that replica, ‘relic’ guitars are unable to ‘recreate’ the magic of the original. That they inspire in us, the feeling and emotion attached to the original is the main attraction and a bloody great price tag, which also inspires reverence!

Peter Green for me, was the greatest exponent of the 1959 Les Paul Standard that lived and that’s why I get it..

Here is my review of my first Yngwie show in Tucson 2005:

City Limits – Tucson, Arizona 11/7/2005

(Concert Review and Photos from Dave Talkin)

I saw Yngwie for the first time in Tucson at the City Limits Nov 7th show of the Unleash The Fury tour. I had thought of bringing my 2005 Malmsteen Strat to get autographed, but did not want to risk damaging it at this ‘general admission’ show. My work buddy and I traveled from Phoenix to Tucson for the show. I was so excited for weeks prior to the event. We traveled to Tucson early in the morning, went to a local record store and scored a free event poster which the clerk gave me. He didn’t know who he was.

We arrived at the gig around 2pm. I drove behind this small bar type venue to hope to see a tour bus, etc. And there was Yngwie’s tour bus with a luggage trailer behind. April was walking around talking on her cell phone. Antonio was there with his mom and out a back door strolls the great maestro himself dressed in all black. I walked right up and introduced myself, shook hands with him and told him we drove down to Tucson from Phoenix and could I have an autograph. “Sure” he replied. Meanwhile some sort of effect pedal had arrived from FedEx and Yngwie was talking in Swedish to Thomas Nordegg his guitar tech who used to work with Steve Vai. More about him later. Anyway, bottom line is I could not find a pen anywhere. No one had a pen; I was freaking out! I am a critical care nurse and don’t usually get nervous, but I had had a double shot cappuccino prior to arriving and I was embarrassed to meet my hero and looking like an idiot. Yngwie is so totally cool though. He was very gracious and waited around while I ran into the venue through the stage back door and asked to borrow a pen that was on the soundboard. I brought the poster to Yngwie and he signed it. My friend Virgil snapped a shot with his camera phone.

Yngwie went back inside and we listened to the sound check which was amazing. He played Cherokee Warrior, which they did not do later that evening. We walked around the front of the bar and could see through the glass the band playing from the right side. As we sat on the front steps, Yngwie and road crew came walking around the corner and through the front door. He said “Hello guys” to us recognizing me from before. I could not believe it. I had no camera yet! So I took my place in line the first at the door around 3pm. I waited there until the doors opened at approximately 7:15pm. It seemed like forever. We met lots of fans and it was an ordeal but well worth it. By now, I had secured a camera from the Circle K “western convenience store” across the street.

As soon as the the door opened, I ran to stage left in front of the guitar vocal mike so I would be virtually 2 feet away from Yngwie during the show. As people piled in Orange Sky played an okay set. I could see their set list on the stage and was counting down the songs until the end! Yngwie did not come out for at least an hour post the support group. Meanwhile, I was being trampled by these college kids who did not know who Yngwie really was. I was being crushed up against the steel barriers, but held my ground. There appeared to be “technical difficulties” holding up the start of the show. I could see Thomas tuning up various guitars like Yngwie’s number 1 and number 2. Also, there must have been an early 1970′s maple fingerboard Strat.

The band started with Rising Force, and the crowd went wild. Now, there was smoking allowed and being a non-smoker I was choking as well as screaming out with everyone else. I could not really hear the whole band mix as I was so close to the stage sort of in front of the PA. I could hear Doogie White and Yngwie, along with some stage drum sounds and no bass! It didn’t matter as I had pretty much the best location in the house, which I had earned! I had this lunatic behind me who wanted to climb on stage. I kept shoving him back, also this stupid girl on my left kept trying to get a pick and kept shoving herself and her arm in my face as I tried to watch the show. She was causing such a nuisance and tried to grab Yngwie’s dream catcher on the mike stand. He had to announce “don’t touch that little girl”, but he was very gracious and handed her a pick later. She still carried on in this frenzy through the whole show. When a ‘pick attack’ as I call it happened, a sea of arms would appear and you would be bludgeoned on the head and body as people violently grabbed for the flying white Jim Dunlop’s. I eventually got one as the show ended by crawling under the stage barrier and reaching my arm a long way to carefully grab it!

Yngwie would have various guitar problems and would shout at Thomas every so often. He would start a solo and his signal would go dead, etc. Then prior to Black Star’s Ovation Viper intro, the MXR Dynacomp was clearly unplugged. We were yelling at Thomas that it’s unplugged. Then during the Black Star solo we all looked at our watches when Yngwie holds that long sustained note – hilarious!

Dave

Doing some research some (pickup makers) say :

Essentially, the neck pickup was rewound many years ago. people think that the magnet was flipped. This is not the case. I do know what happened with it and have replicated it many times now. I really would love to tell all but when you’re a pickup maker, that doesn’t make sense.

Both of those versions assume that the neck pickup on Peter Greens LP is a rewind. That should be easy enough to confirm to some extent by taking a look at the solder joints on the guitar pickup covers. Also it is a simple matter to see if the magnet is flipped without taking the cover off. You can check it with a gauss meter with the cover on. But I have a hard time believing that in the absence of a push pull pot that there is any reason to think that anything other than a flipped neck magnet is going on there. 50′s wiring with a flipped magnet is unmistakably close to the PG sound that any tonal difference can be chalked up to the guitar and pickup impedance. Also the claim from Nugget that the proof that his version is correct because the neck and bridge position sounds too thin is a strange claim. With live Peter Green recordings he goes from very thin out of phase sound to more subtle fatter out of phase sound by using different combinations of volume and tone control adjustment.

Are there any photos of the Peter Green Les Paul PAF solder joints out there? Has anyone else heard that the neck pickup was a rewind? Also Peter Green has that out of phase tone before Fleetwood Mac with Brunning Sunflower and Mayall so any rewind would have been done before a studio recording of Green.

It is clearly a magnet flip. As soon as I flipped the magnet in my neck pickup. INSTANT peter green. IMO it can’t be anything else and ever time you hear him or gary moore with the nasal tone on video its always in the middle position.

Case closed.

Check out some of the videos in my sig where I show the out of phase tone. IMO its pretty much nailed.

EDIT: I actually read the articles on it. Part of his argument was that with a magnet flip the out of phase tone is thin and nasally and lower in volume to the other pickups. Isn’t that exactly what you want? Every time peter had the out of phase thing going on it was for clean songs where you want a bit of lower output. IMO the fatter tones he got with the pickups still out of phase were just lowering the bridge pickup volume, then you get a FAT nasal sound. If you want it super thin, decrease the neck volume. Sounds exactly like what peter/moore had going on.

I agree with you on this. And after checking some previous posts the neck pickup magnet apparently was recently checked by a forum member and it is in fact magnetically out of phase. With 50′s wiring and a flipped magnet you can get an amazing variety of tones with volume and tone control adjustments. There may be something to the idea that at some point the neck pickup was rewound because it now does not have a braided shielded wire coming out of the neck pickup. Does this mean it was rewound and does it mean that Green or Moore had the braided wire replaced? Or did Moore have a 4 conductor wire added for an out of phase switch? And when? It seems like the only solid facts are the neck magnet is out of phase and that Green from the very beginning had that out of phase sound that Peter Green fans love.

The real pickup has had a new lead soldered to it and from looking at it, if I remember right it could have very easily been rewired too. I’m not saying it was, I have no idea. One thing that was interesting in the spiel from the maker is that his pickups do the tone with no volume drop in the middle setting. It would be interesting for one of the guys that played the real deal to jump in and tell us if the real guitar did the volume drop in the middle thing they all seem to do with a magnet flip.

Well, Gary Moore is now using Bare Knuckles in his guitars, so I guess he thinks they’re pretty close as he could have any pickups he wants. The trouble with that guitar is that it’s had way more work done to it than anyone realizes as it’s spent many years as a working tool. Just look at it and tell me you expect to find original solder joints and could tell if the neck pickup has been repaired by the solder joint! Who knows how many times the pots have been changed? I remember seeing photo’s of Peter Green playing that guitar with the neck pickup missing, and have heard reports of it being intermittent too, so it could be that it was missing from the guitar whilst being repaired. It’s certainly more likely than the usual myth of Peter Green accidentally flipping the magent whilst cleaning the guitar. Everyone has their own take and there’s nothing wrong with that. You can look at the guitar now, after much alteration to it and talk to some of the guys who worked on it in the past, and it’s not surprising to find some variation in conclusions.

Charlie Chandler, (when he used to work on the ex- PG/Gazza LP) told me the neck pickup was just ‘opp polarity’.

My Tom Holmes neck pickup was ordered that way and obviously can get the ‘green’ sound. I might get a set of these new Bare Knuckle pickups to compare though.

I plugged the PG Burst into an amp twice. It worked like every other flipped magnet set up I’ve used. It sounded thinner with both pu’s on, volume knobs full up. One thing about that guitar thats harder to replicate. With just the bridge pickup on alone, that guitar has a unique midrange voice. A sound that is instantly recognizable to whats heard on those FM records.

Here is some more info on the Bare Knuckle PG Blues set straight from Tim Mills:

“It’s a common misconception that the Peter Green neck p/up is reverse polarity.Having spoken with the man who repaired it I can confirm it was rewound in reverse with heavy formvar and not simply a flipped magnet.We don’t wire our neck out of phase we actually reverse wind the coils and that’s where the tone lies. Either flipping the magnet OR reverse winding will not effect the neck tone on it’s own however it does effect the middle position which becomes out of phase with the bridge. This is the way Peter Greens LP was configured-by accident due to the neck p/up repair- and so we make our set the same way.Many ‘gurus’ claim to know the secret of the Peter Green tone but none of them have actually found out. Having gone into considerable depth with not only Sam Lee who did the repair but also Charlie Chandler who repaired the LP after a car accident that Peter had I’m confident I’ve gotten to the bottom of it.The final proof is the people that play them, not only Gary Moore who’s owned the original LP longest and plays the PG Blues set now but also guys like Bernie Marsden, Geoff Whitehorn etc all who know the tone inside out say we’ve nailed it. kind regards Tim”

I spoke via email with my main pickup builder, Peter Florance who is going to wind a set like this with the reverse wound neck coils, heavy formvar wire for the neck and 42 plain wire for the bridge. I told him I wanna try them too.

Here is some additonal info and corrections from Tim at BKP:

Hi again Todd, further to my reply yesterday re: Peter Greens pickups I mistakenly said Charlie Chandler repaired the guitar after it was in a car accident with Peter Green. The guitar was damaged in a car accident involving Gary Moore not Peter and Charlie Chandler then handled quite extensive repairs-cracks through the body and neck joint along with two breaks in the neck.Charlie obviously had to remove the pickups during the repair and had the covers off to check them over noting that the neck had clearly been rewound with heavy formvar and had grey coax hook up which we later found out was carried out by Sam Lee. It should also be noted that the guitar has been heavily modded during it’s lifetime with virtually all the electrics and wiring being replaced at some time or other.Charlie even said it’d had push pull pots at one point.I appreciate that everyone has their own take on this guitar and the story behind the pickups but I’ve based our PG Blues humbucker set on the best factual knowledge I’ve been able to obtain and this is from the period the guitar was in the ownership of Gary Moore.Most importantly I’ve used my ears and those of players with experience of the original LP such as Gary Moore, Bernie Marsden and Geoff Whitehorn to make sure I’ve voiced the PG Blues humbuckers accurately. kind regards Tim

I did send a reply back to this asking about the magnet flip and the confirmation of this based upon inspection of the guitar since it has been in the U.S. with Phil at Maverick. Hope to get a reply later today.

There has been some controversy over the neck pickup being altered on the Peter Green/Gary Moore owned 1959 Les Paul, either it’s magnet orientation, wiring, obviously the physical placement of the pickup has been reversed, but as with everything about this guitar, there is some sort of mystery..

Dave

There are some continued questions regarding the neck pickup in Greeny and various sources have conflicting accounts of what actually exists at the present time in Greeny’s neck pickup cavity. Some say only the lead has been replaced and the magnet flipped, others say there were moore considerable mods to the ‘original’ PG pickup. This guitar has had more hands on it than a prostitute in a sea port brothel..LOL

I am continuing the research and hope to provide more answers shortly, thanks to those who have brought up further questions..

Dave 08/26/09

Hello Internet world. My name is Dave. Many know me by other various Internet forum handles, but from now on I am, and he is me and we are all together! Since this new project is still in a state of infancy, please bear with me as I grow and develop with it myself.

I am 54 years old and soon to be approaching 55. In those amount of years, for the most part, with some side diversions, I have been involved in the world of music. Ever since my dad had me watch the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, I developed a love for popular music, as it was called at the time, ‘pop’ music. This soon developed into a love of specifically guitar orientated music.

My first influences were shaped by reel to reel tapes that my late father had at our home in Connecticut, where I was born and lived until the age of 11, when my father a US Naval officer was transferred to London, England and he brought his family with him. I was listening to guitarists such as Tony Mattola, not the Sony records producer, the famed guitarist. Andreas Segovia, The Ventures, The Beach Boys, in particular I loved the vocal harmonies they provided and with a rock and roll sensibility I enjoyed. My father aspired to do many things and classical guitar playing and flamenco styling, were particular favorites of his. Being impressionable at this young age, I also was able to listen through these reel to reel tapes, on a Tandberg tape deck, if I recall correctly, to the Beatles first two albums. George Harrison was my favorite Beatle . I loved his economical, yet highly melodic guitar parts. They always fit the song and added to the overall dynamics of the tune, rather than taking the focus away from the main structure of the tune.

My father had two guitars, one I never saw, which I later found to be a Martin D 45 Dreadnought, the year was probably fairly new at the time, probably around the early sixties. This was a prohibitively expensive guitar even in those days and I believe some conflict between my parents, caused this guitar to be sold, oh, if that was the guitar I would have been allowed to play or receive as an heirloom…but not to be.

The one guitar that he did keep was a 1955 Martin 00-28G classical student style nylon string model, the G suffix standing for gut string. I wasn’t allowed to touch this guitar by my father, but vividly remember sneaking into his bedroom and taking out he guitar like some forbidden fruit and using a plectrum I had found, attempting to try and play it. Eventually I made some small scratches at the lip of  the soundhole, where a pick guard would be, from my concerted efforts. A project I did do was, amongst my Beatle memorabilia collection, I had large rolls of the Beatles bubblegum cards on rolls, before they were cut. I don’t remember how i got these, but in conjunction with the small photos on the LP sleeves, I was able to take a large piece of cardboard, used the Martin to trace around, to get a rough outline of a guitar shape. I modified this to be as close of a replica of George’s black Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, I believe it was, as I could. I drew the overall shape, colored in the overall color, added all the details, the bridge, pickups, tone and volume controls, the frets and markers, plus headstock appointments. I cut out the guitar shape and this was my guitar. I played it along to my records and I felt as if I had George’s very guitar.

I’m not sure if this was the first air guitar work, I know that Jimi Hendrix had his broomstick, which he strummed and his father would find all the bristles on the floor after a night of jamming! I am grateful to my father who was almost always at sea and away for letting me hear this great guitar music at an early age, I realize he didn’t want me to damage his Martin, it has been a regret of mine that I wasn’t allowed to get some sort of cheap guitar myself, but life has it’s twists and turns for us all. I have been very fortunate in other respects, so it all balances out.

So travelling to Southhampton on the now long gone ocean liner the United States, we had a weeks voyage, and another strong influence on me as well as guitar, was the drums and percussion instruments. Every day at tea time a quartet would play while tea was served and they always played Tea For Two, I remembered. I watched the drummer closely every day and was fascinated by this instrument as well as the guitar.

So arriving in London, leaving the relative wild countryside of Connecticut, and all of a sudden there was the hustle and bustle of a major city, with buses going by, ect., was quite a change. Later I would coin the term for myself, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”, as that is how I felt.  The explosion of the music scene at that time and that is the only term I can use to describe it was incredible. Here I was in the swinging London of the sixties, the culture, fashion, art, music, it all was such an overwhelming experience at first for a young lad like myself.

My experiences in central London, I will remember forever. London had it’s own music row of shops and specialty music stores. I remember going into Selmer’s, at Charring Cross Rd., for example, one of the famous English guitarists worked at a shop assistant there, who I cannot remember. That’s where Peter Green bought Greeny, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck would look at the guitars in the windows, they being the Gibson importers.

We first moved to a bed and breakfast in Kilburn, which was comprised of many immigrant populations at the time and also had a large Irish component. The two gents who ran our bed and breakfast were Irish and, I first learned the English traditions of tea pot cosies and the toast rack, where the toasted bread would grow cold and you buttered and added jam, to the cold toast!

I always attended US military dependents schools, elementary, junior high and high school. On the way to the bus stop, they used English coaches for our school buses. I remember wearing my Cuban heel ‘Beatle” boots with the elastic sides by the ankles, to school and having a Man From Uncle tv show badge and gun set, with silencer! Anyway, anyhow..I would past this small attached house and in the lower basement type room, would be a band rehearsing. In later times I had thought this to be the Who, for various reasons, it wasn’t the High Numbers by 1966. I have to do my Who research, but there was some Track records connection to the Kilburn area, that in past years triggered this memory. Plus this band was playing bloody loud and the drummer was all over the place, I hadn’t heard drumming like that ever, not even Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich!

We eventually moved to Wembley Park and a proper house, with tiny garage and a driveway with a gate. The house was many years old and had in the kitchen a board with lights fpr the servants, to see if they were required in various rooms in the house!. The house wasn’t that large by US standards and had an attic, which was a new experience to me.

At this time I had heard the Who, heard the Jimi Hendrix Experience for the first time, I remember liking the Nice with Keith Emerson on keyboards and the Jeff Beck Group, Truth , was my first JB album and it was very influential to me. Also Fresh Cream , by the newly formed Cream, I was a little too late for the whole Yardbirds, John Mayall years, though key players from these bands I certainly was aware of.

In a separate section I would like to go over all my vinyl form those days, which I managed to preserve and eventually had custom made flight cases assembled in New Jersey, shipped them to London and then travelled there to remove them from a friends attic, where I had stored them in plastic wrap, packed them in the cases and had them delivered to the States, thus preserving all my early sixties and early seventies influences in incredible condition, awaiting my obtaining a turntable to get back into these classic recordings!

This is a quick overview of my early influences, to tell those who don’t know me, about my experiences and how I hope to keep the music and artists I still love very much alive through these pages.

The seminal experience of my early London days, was the influence of Jimi Hendrix and particularly his equipment, which had the largest influence on me. The Marshall amplification I felt was the key to my emulating the sounds my favorite guitarists were obtaining and Marshall was the go too amp. Plus nothing looked cooler to a young boy than Marshall stacks, Fender amps in comparison looked like..well, just amps. Marshall’s appeared as monolithic appearing devices of the apocalypse. You know the slab of stone, the monolith featured in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which I was able to see at it’s London premiere on a school field trip, and which I have the original programme, if someone wants to buy it! The Marshall stacks, particularly multiples of these, were terrifying and attractive at the same time. I was convinced that these were the only amps in the world that mattered and I had to save up to get one. I had managed through my cousins in Long Island, who had their own band, with two of my three female cousins singing and playing guitars, to obtain a 1965 Transition logo Fender Stratocaster in Sunburst from them, which they shipped to me in London. Then through the Marshall amps catalogue, I tracked down the Marshall retail shop, located on Ealing Broadway, in NW London.

This was like heaven on earth to me, and I still vividly remember the multiple times I traveled there, taking the Underground and two busses, but it was worth it. I have the whole story in another segment, but this is where I bonded with Marshall amps, none of these things I had then, the Strat, my eventual Marshall stack, were vintage back then, as they are now. So lot’s more to tell about those days.

Also a large part of my development in England was a love of auto racing, which had started back in the States and developed in England, particularly Formula One racing and World’s Sportscar, which were particular interests of mine.

The point of my website is or me to share all the details that I have posted on multiple music/amp/guitar forums, since I hit the Internet in 2006. That I am passionate about the music I love and the  equipment that creates it, there is no doubt. I would like to centalize all these writings, which are scattered all over the net, into one place, also where I am free of the constraints of forums, moderators, administrators, ect.

Not that I have not enjoyed harmonious relationships with these necessary people in the past, I just feel like it is my time to do my own thing. I had approached several famous guitarists to perhaps work on autobiographies or biographies with approval, but part of the frustrating developments of the modern rock music scene is the isolation of these artists  from their fans, ect.

I do not want to attempt any violation of artists privacy, ala paparazzi style journalism, ect.

One famous guitarist in particular has responded to me, through a rather unique way of introduction, but this has encouraged me to pursue my explorations of the great music I and many others share a love for and the techniques and recording methods used to produce these classic records.

So as I said these are baby steps for me in this format, but I am proud to have started my own site and hope many will find it of interest and I know from my interactions so far that many, many people all over the world share my enthusiasm and passion for music/guitars/amps. So I look forward to sharing all this with you and for coming along for the ride.

Thanks,

Dave