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CaptainMaximus
- FB Fan -
126 Posts |
 Posted - 05/08/2004 : 11:04:39
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Came across this article and had never seen it posted here, so I thought I'd share. Pretty good stuff. You'll find a lot of the questions that are usually answered around here answered.
http://www.jackthemag.com/rec/rec_guitars.php
Guitars
Frank Black, former Pixie, frontman of The Catholics and cult rock hero recommends...
Pre-CBS Fender Telecaster
Any Telecaster manufactured before CBS purchased Fender guitars – 1965 or ’66, something like that. They are more interesting artifacts, but it’s the hardware in particular for me. You’re talking about guitars more than 35 years old, which are always better. There are lots of things you can do to guitars to recreate the resonance of an old guitar, but it is never quite the same.
I never used them when I was with the Pixies, but I have used them when I’ve been recording. I had a ’68 Telecaster stolen from me; it was real beat up, a so-called player’s guitar. It had been beat on by 500 different people, it was great, the best ever. I still have a Fifties Telecaster, but I don’t play it much because it doesn’t feel as good in my hands as my ’63 Telecaster. The neck of the ’63 is too thick but it sounds really good. You definitely have to find a guitar that feels comfortable to you, though; the first thing you should do before you buy a guitar is to see how it feels in your hands.
Martin acoustic
I recommend any Martin acoustic guitar, especially one pre-1960, because they are all beautiful guitars. There are lots of different kinds of Martin acoustics and I’ve got a couple. My 1956 Martin T18 is the main acoustic guitar I use on the new album. I have this mediocre Martin acoustic bass which I bought from Nikki Sixx out of Mötley Crüe. I always wanted to have one but it’s not really that good. What you really need is a big double bass-size instrument to make it resonate enough to get the best sound. But when you scale it down to the size of a normal guitar it just doesn’t sound as good.
Takamine acoustic
The ones with the little EQ thing are good workhorses. They all sound pretty good. I recently started to play them a lot again, they have been sitting in my locker for years and I haven’t touched them because I was putting them down, just because they were Takamines. They aren’t really expensive. I don’t use them to record, because then you use only vintage guitars.
Yamaha Nylon String Classical
I always really like old Yamaha nylon string classical guitars. It can be new or old, but old is always better – they are just fantastic. They’re just good to have around. I used to have this little tenor guitar, not very expensive, made in the Thirties or Forties, and basically designed for banjo players who wanted that crazy guitar sound. They’re little things called guitanjoes. They’re fun to have around.
Interview by James Doorne
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Frank Black's Personal Guitar Recommendations
