theMountainview Publishing, LLC

TMReportThe Player’s Guide to Ultimate Tone

Serious Guitars

INSIDE

$15.00 US, April 2013/Vol.14 NO.6

www.tonequest.com

“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.” – Zappa

He’s baaaaaaack! Yes, we have returned to the fine and funky streets of Los Angeles and Echo Park following a brief hiatus (nine months and 3 million babies if you’re counting) to give you an inside peek at one of Gabriel Currie’s latest creations – ‘La Carne,’ or what we have come to affectionately call the Meat Guitar. But wait, there’s more… We are also featuring RS Guitarworks Slab Electro – call it a Dano done right. Very cool. “OK, but when are you going to review the Ribbecke Halfling, a DeTemple, Gustavsson, or a Trussart? And why the Frank Zappa reference again? You’re running out of ideas, dude.”

Well, not quite… We’ll freely admit to missing Zappa, his music, and oh, how we miss his humor, so frankly, we won’t be apologizing for Frank. We could all use a good laugh in these serious times, and plenty more of ‘em down the road. Hey, how about you stop for a minute, grab a libation and let’s raise a toast to laughter? That’s better, in’t it? OK, let’s get serious. Of course we are generally aware of what’s happening in the world of booteek

custom guitars – serious builders building serious guitars for serious players with serious cash. We get it. But in some important respects the booteek guitar world can sometimes seem a little too serious for comfort, which is another way of saying that there are certain aspects that make us instinctively squirm, beginning with the stories that are spun to justify the money involved. And we’re not just talking about small, independent entrepreneurs… The Big Boys have also become very dependent on issuing limited editions with seriously bloated price tags. That’s OK, except for the fact that when ‘the very best we can build’ is priced so far above what it may have cost to build it, you’re no longer simply buying a guitar – you’re paying a very large fantasy tax for your

Shouldn’t the process of

buying a ‘serious’ guitar

be fun?

Introducing Uncle Meat

&the EchoparkLa Carne…

The story behind how Gabriel Currie

builds ‘serious’guitars

6Our interview with

Arcane pickups founder

Rob Timmons

A Dano doneright…

9RS Guitarworks

Slab Electro

Our interviews with Roy Bowen

&pickup winder Curtis Novak

13The enduring

appeal of Fender amps…

Shane Nicholason the EC Twinolux,

Super-Sonic&

pawn shopExcelsior amps

–Review–The EC Twinolux

18Cable Tone?

Conquest Soundcustom shop

cables

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20132

‘dream guitar.’ Oh, the descrip-tive prose and spec sheets used to capture your imagina-tion are impres-

sive and effective. As a result, limited editions almost always sell out, often before they are ever shipped (Japanese dealers go ape shit for this stuff.) Invariably there are also buyers whose sole interest is in flipping the guitar at an even more inflated price after the limited editions have all been sold.

Now consider this, as described in our July/August 2010 cover story… In 2010 Jeff Beck’s actual #1 Strat was a cracked, patched up and refinned J Black/Jeff Beck signature beater that wouldn’t fetch $3,000 on eBay if it belonged to an unknown guitar humper from St. Louis. Used Klon overdrives that originally cost $300 now sell for $1,000 or more because it became known that Beck was using a Klon. And then the fantasy ensues… “Hey, I wanna sound like Jeff Beck…”

Oh, good. Now the Unknown Missouri Humper is using a pedal that cost three times as much as the Fender Pro Junior he’ll need to buy be-cause Beck was using one of those, too. Dis-

carding the twisted logic of such fantasies, Unknown Humper didn’t really need a Klon nearly as much as he needed to blow a grand on it simply to feel better about himself. This is noth-ing new… The pursuit of material objects is often intrinsically linked to heightened feelings of well-being and self-esteem over more basic needs. As bad as you might need them, you don’t get quite the same thrill from running down to the store for toilet paper and dental floss.

We have already vowed not to review any bolt-on neck guitars that cost over $5K. We did that once with the ‘Jeff Beck’ Custom Shop Esquire, although instead of seriously

reviewing it, we played it long enough to seriously wonder who on earth could possibly be stupid enough to shell out ten large ($15K list) for such a raggedy piece of collec-tor bait. We don’t care if a team of master builders pawed and measured every inch of Beck’s original Esquire with a Defelsko Positector 6000 and solid gold, pearl-handled calipers, the quest for tone has nothing to do with the quest to blow a stack of cash on a guitar that will never see the back seat of the Mercedes. Hey, is there some serious class envy at work here? Nope. Have we become sourly jaded and rabidly resentful of the high dollar custom guitar biz? Not at all. Anyone brave and talented enough to build guitars for a living deserves as much as they can get. We also believe in supporting American guitar manufacturers, as well as custom builders overseas like Juha Ruokangas and Nik Huber. But as Roy Blankenship of Blankenship Amplification once wryly observed in these pages, “There is a lot of dick measuring in this business.” In the Quest for tone, this we do not abide…

Unlike custom booteek trophy guitars purchased with funds carefully hidden from whining boo-teek trophy wives, the Echopark Meat guitar is transcendant in the way it seems to have been conceived during the golden era of American guitar building – a classic one-off that nimbly es-caped becoming stereotyped. Currie’s La Carne is in all respects a serious guitar for serious rockers, but you won’t necessarily need a trust fund to pay for it. Currie’s Meat Axe also exudes mystery and a certain promise of uninhibited fun on the scale of a spontaneous midnight skinny

dip, and we like that. The look, feel and sound of La Carne is potent and heavy, but way, way short of appearing fussy or self-conscious, and we like that, too. La Carne impresses us as a pure classic with the style and nostal-gia of faded Seafarer dungarees lovingly patched by a beautiful hippie chick, a ‘65 Chevy Impala 327 Super Sport, Tommy Singer turquoise and coral chip inlay sil-ver Navajo bracelets, slobbering black labs, ice cold Rolling Rock, and Apalachicola Bay oysters on the half shell at Eddie Teach’s raw bar on Saint George Island. When

a guitar can make you feel as fortunate and satisfied as a dozen Apalachicolas dredged from the bottom of the bay that very morning, you have found something worth keeping.

We also make no bones about liking the builder… Yes, Currie works long hours for which he can never be fully compen-sated as a solo builder, and while he ain’t working for free, he

cover story

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 3

isn’t building guitars strictly for the money, either. He stopped building guitars for awhile and worked high-end construction for the money, but returned to guitar build-ing for the love of it. Listen-ing to him talk, you can tell it’s in his blood. Gabriel Currie is an artist, but he is also a very humorous and self-effacing human being who knows that the music world can often be a strange and bizarre scene populated

with strange and bizarre characters, of which he is one. Guilty by association, Currie is having fun building serious guitars, sometimes even for rock stars whose albums he scratched up as a kid. Craftsman, yes, tone freak, too, and now, with the creation of La Carne and in recognition of his solid Angelino roots, we feel inspired to award Currie with an appropriate alias that befits his accomplishments. That, and as you are about to be reminded, he just makes a damn good story worth reading. And so it is with great pleasure and anticipation that we again introduce to you Gabriel Currie, otherwise known, at least for the moment, as Uncle Meat. Enjoy… TQR: Let’s start with the name... In any language we

read ‘meat.’ Is this the Echopark meat guitar?

Yes, actually it translates to ‘The Meat,’ and its inspiration should be very obvious to most vintage enthusiasts. It’s a straightforward slab! ‘La Carne’ is a simple way to describe what that guitar is all about. Having been raised in a predominantly Mexican neigh-borhood, I thought it would be a great way to add a little culture to it, ya know? This model and the ‘El Cabillo’ (the horse) are new to the line and they are simply my interpretations of what

Dwight, Wilshire, Coronado and Coronet guitars should have been. I love all the old Epiphones – most had great necks, but they were too small and thin and they really didn’t have great P90’s or any other truly great pickups in them in my opinion. So I had my friend Jesse Amarosso’s ‘63 Wilshire on my bench last year doin’ a fret job, and I just thought, “Hmmm… these are so cool! Well, I’ll make one and see what happens. That Wilshire inspired me to take it to the next level and create a new model, and the reaction has been great. It has actually attracted a fairly well known artist who wants to collaborate on a signature mod-

el with the La Carne as the canvas. So I think it’s gonna make the cutting room floor in a bigger way than I expected, which is quite humbling to me.

TQR: You describe the body as ‘equatorial mahogany.’ Seems as if that could be African, South American... and we’ve heard about mahogany being used that comes from Viet Nam and the South Pacific... What do you like to use most when available and why?

Well, I never use any of the South Pacific mahogany family. They are good only for architectural purposes, plus, they are too dense and heavy to be used for instruments, but some companies do use them… A lot of manufacturers in China, Canada and India use that wood because it’s

really cheap. South American mahogany is also too dense and it’s all fairly new growth timber. It’s still moving and takes a couple of years to even start to become good for instrument building on my level, anyway.

Equatorial is a trade name. Acajou Mahogany is its na-tive name, and the region of origin is West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria). I am using three Khaya spices… Honduran 10/4 for necks, equatorial 8/4 slabs for bodies, and ribboned sapele 8/4 slabs for bodies and some necks. When I started Echopark guitars I wanted to find a reliable supply equal in tone to the old South American mahogany that was used through the ‘40s, ‘50’s and ‘60s. Due to obvious envi-ronmental issues and long term and consistent availability, I began to look at alternatives that would enable me to remain consistent from the beginning. I sourced several suppliers and

importers here in Los Ange-les and got samples of newer growth Honduran Utlie, Cuban, sapele and equatorial, and then I built guitars with all of them and compared workability, weight, acclimation, moisture content and tone. To my ears, and apparently a good majority of the industry as well, equato-rial sounds about 95% the same

cover story

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20134

as older South American mahogany as opposed to the newer growth South American, and it falls within the lower weights as well. It is very dry and stable because of the climate of origin, and its coloring and grain similarities make it very nice for the nitro finishes we do. However, the best thing is that purchasing equatorial African Khaya over “genuine” Khaya and using re-claimed timbers for necks as often as possible makes me feel good about not directly contributing to the con-tinuing destruction of vital South American rain forests and its native inhabitants. Fortunately, it just plain works for what I want to get out of my instruments in terms of tonal range, weight and appearance. TQR: We were intrigued to read that the neck is made

from quarter sawn Honduras mahogany salvaged from the old El Dorado Hotel in L.A. from the ‘20s. How did you get it, what form was it originally in and what was involved in working with it to make a guitar neck?

I’ll tell you a little story about that… I busted my ass as a historical restoration master craftsman after leaving the guitar business from 1998 - 2007. I went to work for one of the country’s leading restoration specialists, and we built modern loft conversions from all the vacant historic buildings in ‘theater row’ in downtown Los Angeles that included old hotels like the El Dorado and the original

Orphium, the Palace Theater, Los Angeles Theater, Green and Green, Frank Lloyd Wright homes built in the early 1920s by Rudolph Schindler, and a lot of the older libraries and courthouses.The last job I did in that period of my life was working on the ill-fated Ambassdor Hotel. I was lead artisan on the restoration of the Coconut Grove “Cafe” restoration where Robert Kennedy was killed. During this period I came across piles of ‘tear out’ and discarded architectural timbers, mostly beam casing, doors, door framing, trim and a few coffered ceilings. So I just started loading up the truck after work or as jobs ended – all the casings and doors from the El Dorado were old mahogany. True 2x4 styles had been used, door frames and headers. They all had to be ripped out and new fire-rated doors installed on the newly renovated floors. Many were just trashed from decades of the buildings being vacant, and a few were probably used for fires. Bums, junkies and crackheads gotta stay warm, too. But yes, those timbers were probably milled in the early to mid 1800s, then imported for the coastal building booms from the late 1800s through the ‘30s and ‘40s. This material and the old Victorian era

furniture reclaims are what I mill for neck blanks as an upgrade. The standard Hondu-ran, Sapele and equatorial is great, but all of this old stuff is incredibly stable, massively

resonant and toneful, and it’s just great to find pieces like this and use them to build instruments. If I were a tree, I would not want to be a door, a table, a mantle or anything other than a musical instrument. Several of the instruments I have made with these timbers have found their way on to some recent recordings by some fairly prolific artists. As a builder, you can hear and feel the difference immediately TQR: You mentioned Jescar fret wire in the specs. Most

builders don’t mention the brand of fret wire they use, just the size. Why Jescar?

I’m into letting people know exactly what goes into my guitars, and I love the Jescar wire. All the sizes are perfect, it’s not too hard, yet it lasts a long time and it works nicely. Dunlop is a bit softer and the Japanese wire is too hard, but it’s a preference thing, too. I just happen to like it best for my instruments. TQR: Please describe a ‘custom taper’ 500K CTS pot as

listed in the specs for the La Carne…

The volume control needs to have clarity without adding some kind of resistor or cap to correct ca-pacitance issues and in turn, lack of true clarity and chime. Look, I am a freak about sonic details, and you always want to improve whatever you can. When I was building Joe Perry’s last guitar we were having issues with the con-sistency in the taper and clarity of the volume pot at lower volume levels when you roll it off. It led me to look at all of the pots that I’ve been using, and in a batch

of 150 pots, 70 might read in the range I want. After many discussions with my friends Adam and Eric at Satellite amps, George Tripps, head designer at Dunlop, and Rob Timmons at Arcane pickups, we noted that the problem seemed to be wide spread. I contacted CTS and ordered some of the higher-end (expensive) components they offer. Pots today are just not as well made as they were 40 years ago. Everything is cheap and

cover story

4

Ghettobird

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 5

thin, and that creates a problem. Taper is important with guitarists who go straight into the amp, and even those who use huge pedal boards on big stages and multiple setups need a solid volume control with an even taper at the tip of their fingers. Right now I’m test-ing some 250K custom pots with George Tripps from Dunlop – very high quality, built like little tanks! So far it seems like a step in the right direction. Very ‘50s Cen-

tralab sounding. The 500K pots will be next. Hopefully they will be put into production at some point this year and I’ll use them exclusively as soon as there is a production run.

TQR: Where do you get bison bone for nuts? Do you buy larger pieces and cut them yourself?

I get it from genuine dead bison (laughing). OK, I get it from an archery supplier who lives on an undisclosed Native Amer-ican Reservation. The supplier has consistently great quality. It’s not porous like camel bone, which is commonly used, and it holds my lubrication cocktail very well. Its got a great ring to it and it doesn’t wear out as quickly as camel bone. Many luthier suppliers have the Chinese stuff that could be anything from dogs to pigs… I buy blank 1x3 by 3/8” pieces, then cut, shape and slot lightly. After that they go into the cocktail until I’m ready to fit on to an instrument. At that point I do all the final fitting, slotting, and then hand polish. TQR: Tell us about the pickups from Arcane and why you

chose them.

Our mutual friend Gill Chavez reminded me of Rob Timmons and Arcane pickups a couple of years ago when I was at his house showing him some new guitars. Gill was running Tobias when I worked at Tak Hosono’s place back in 1992. Rob was hired and trained by Gill at both Valley Arts guitars and Tobias just before Gibson bought them out. But Rob Timmons has been hand winding pickups

for at least 12 years – he has a long history here in the guitar industry in L.A. and has been key in the success of several brands. We finally connected at a little show a friend of mine was having at his studio. I knew of his pickup work through Trussart and a couple other builders, but Gill’s word was all I really needed. We’ve done some cool work together in a short

period of time. Rob is an artist as well, and he gets it.

The first thing I had him do was clone the P90 in my 1959 double cut Junior. That pickup is hotter than average and it’s bone stock. I think ‘ol Joe was a little hung over that day at the winding machine because this P90 measures almost 10K and it sounds like a tree – big, but not choked out, perfectly compressed, and it cleans up so beautifully and just chimes when you roll off the volume. With the tone control and Grey Tiger vintage cap it’s perfect. I wanted that exact tone, response

and character in my dream P90, so we took it apart and Rob measured it every way you can, from the base plate to the mag-net size, strength and type, wire gauge, pole pieces – everything. I got the first one, and it was potted like he normally does, and it was close, but not quite there. I had him wind a second pickup with no potting, and of course I’m gonna say it’s perfect, but so did Jonny Wikersham, David Kalish, Joe Perry and Warren

Huart… We housed it in a nickle cover that adds a bit of dimension and harmonic resonance while doing a great job of cutting the RF noise about in half. From there we’ve made a clone

of the neck pickup in my 1958 Les Paul Special, and a killer knock-off version of a DeArmond gold foil. It’s the biggest, clearest, nastiest single coil I’ve ever heard, and we call it the Gold Coil. John Grisham and David Kalish both were floored when they heard it, so we’re off to a great start. Plus, Rob is just ten minutes away and I can just go right over to his place any time and work on ideas. The real bonus aside from his experi-ence and skill is that he can make pickups to my exact specs,

and his personal touches like custom etching, numbering and brand stamping on the base plate of each pickup provide a unique appeal that no one else can offer.

TQR: The color of the fin-ish on La Carne is really unique and interesting. How did you come up with it?

I call it an ‘Aged Vanguard

amps

5

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 201366

Burst’...The custom ‘aging’ is something I accidentally started doing with the Rose Series last year. I truly adore old Kay Vanguards, Trutones, Silvertones, Supros and any well worn models from the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. I love holding an old beat up guitar and wondering where it’s been, who has played it, the songs it may have inspired, the amount of booze and dirty women it’s been witness to… The magic and energy it has… The color and finish… It was just me digging for a way to capture that feeling of finding an old beat up guitar in the back of a Chevy somewhere in Texas or Mississippi – some-thing like that. I’m not into the custom shop relic thing at all, but there is a certain appeal about capturing some of that, so

I wanted to do it my way. It’s a lot of work to get it to look and feel right. I don’t use Freon to check the nitro, and there is a specific formula to spraying the coats so that it checks correctly, wearing just so, dirtying up and then some. I approach it more like mimicking a fine oil painting and not so much like copying an old guitar. I have worn out quite a few guitars over the years, so

I know how, where and what to touch to make it feel, look and even smell right. But I do not touch the fret boards or the back of the neck. That’s up to the owner to wear out. It’s like hugging your best friend’s wife for that one second too long… You gotta watch the hands sometimes and exercise some restraint. Just because you might be tempted to do something doesn’t always mean you should (laughing).

TQR: What new models have you developed or do you have planned since we reviewed the Downtowner last year?

There are six new models. The web site will be updated by the end of March. I took all the options that were the most popular over the last year for the Downtowner and ‘59 and just made them stock models. There are two refined versions of the Downtowner – the new Custom has two aged humbuck-ers with ribboned mahogany and the 3-tone burst with upgrades for koa, korina or aged mahogany.

The new Deluxe has one PAF, P90 or mini humbucker with a burst finish standard. The two new ‘59s are a Custom and Deluxe. The Custom has two PAFs with an ebony fingerboard, and the Deluxe has a PAF, P90 or mini humbucker. The new 2013 Southsider is a big box semi hollowbody with a hand-carved old growth Sinker Redwood top, equatorial body with

a flamed red maple center block, fat, aged mahogany neck with a koa center, Madagascar ebony board, black walnut head plate, Grover open back tuners, and Arcane, Novak or Amalfitano PAF/P90.It’s the baddest guitar I’ve ever made in terms of overall top flight Jazz/Blues/Country/Rock capabili-ties, and it’s a lot of work!!

The new 2013 Clarence GC is an different thing altogether. I took the Trisonic body slab of swamp ash, rear routed like a Junior, designed a bridge T-style pickup like a 1950 10K Alnico 5 lapsteel with the new Gold coil that Rob and I built. It also has a Glendale “raw deal” bridge with Kholer saddles and a flamed red maple neck. I think these will be a really popular for a lot of guys in the coming years. It’s so classic but new, and it has a great range. There is a demo on Youtube that my good friend Darren Bennett did a month ago or

so. The plate is full of ideas, and I may do some work with a couple of other artists this year. That is what I love to do.

www.echoparkguitars.com, 626-536-3317

Impressed with the tone of the Arcane P90 and Firebird pickups (and those cool nickel silver aged covers), we spoke with Rob Timmons, founder of Arcane Pickups about his background and work…

TQR: It seems as if you have been involved with a lot of different aspects of the guitar industry prior to launching Arcane…

I’ve been involved with a lot of stuff. I went to Roberto-Venn because I wanted to be a guitar builder, and then I got a job at Valley Arts here in Los Angeles. It was a pretty cool compa-ny, but it wasn’t long before I realized that all they wanted me to do was sand guitars. I worked there for a while and then I went to Tobias and worked in the wood shop, which was very cool because I could actually build all kinds of exotic basses. Then Gibson bought Tobias, the company was shipped off and I began to realize that those were dead end jobs, so I got into actually running companies. At one time I was in charge of the U.S. division of Fernandez Guitars, but I realized that I really didn’t want to do that kind of work, either. One of the

pickups

ArcaneINTERVIEW

Arcane

TQ

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 77

things that really sparked my interest in building pickups was Tom Holmes. I had known him since the ‘90s and the guys in Japan were really fascinated by his pickups.

TQR: We have heard that they wanted to buy everything he could make.

Yeah, they were always after me to get him to sell them some pickups, but they wanted something like 2,000 sets and I think Tom was winding maybe 40 a month. They kept asking, and even-tually he became interested. At first they were going to make the tooling over there, but Tom could never approve the quality of their parts, so

he started shipping parts to them in Japan. There was a guy who was going to build Tom’s pickups over there, and about the time I was leaving Fernandez Tom decided to withdraw from the arrangement and go with someone else. Anyway, I was always very impressed and interested in all the parts Tom made and the detail and craftsmanship he had achieved. I have been making pickups for quite a few years, and although I am a smaller manufacturer, I have made and designed a lot of pickups and done a lot of OEM work. I consulted with Jim Tyler when he wanted to make his own pickups and set up his machines. I’ve also done a lot of vintage rewinds and created books full of specs over the years for hundreds of

pickups. I can’t put them all on my web site because that would be way too confusing. There are basically two lines of my pickups now. There is the

Vintage line that I call the Experience pickups that are exact replicas of different era pickups. If it’s Fender and it would have been hand-wound I hand-wind them. If it’s Gibson I have vintage mechanical winding machines, and I also have CNC machines. I actually collect winding machines… Another part of the line is OEM stuff – custom pickups that may have never existed before made for guitar builders. I was doing the Tyler thing, and then I met James Trussart and I have developed models and worked with him. I really like working with guitar builders, and I want to build pickups that will add value to the guitar. I do things like engrave the base plate with Arcane Inc. and the builder’s name, and each pickup will have an engraved sequential serial number. We usually start with something vintage and then develop pick-ups that are tuned to a builder’s guitar. I do patinas, custom

plating, metalwork and engraving, and patinas that are beyond anything vintage. Instead of looking 50 years old they look like they are 5,000 years old.

TQR: I’ve seen that, and it’s amazing. How did you learn to do that?

The engraving I had already been doing, but I developed the patinas working with Trussart. If you look at some of his early guitars they had this really crazy patina that was black or green, copper or gold, and they had these brushed pickups in them. I found out how I could make pickups with the same patina and colors as the guitars, and I learned a lot of that from him. He is a real master of working with chemicals to achieve that unique look. Instead of making a vintage copy of a pickup, how about we make one that has a unique spec for your guitar that has never existed before? All of a sudden it seems as if that look is catching on now.

TQR: You mention using ‘tuned Alnico magnets’ on your site. What is a tuned Alnico magnet?

You can do different things with Alnico magnets. You can use it fully charged or de-gaussed. I have my own magnet charger, and I want to

be very consistent. You can buy magnets fully charged, but they can still vary. You might get a block of bar magnets that are charged, but have they all been charged consistently? I charge them myself so that I know they are fully saturated if that’s what is called for. I don’t want the kind of variation that existed with vintage pickups.

TQR: Does the same consideration apply to the wire used to wind pickups today? We know the old stuff var-ied.

Wire can vary as much as 10%. And the thickness of the coating can be all over the place, too. They use dies to draw the wire through and the dies can get worn. It’s not like you can specify a 1% variance.

pickups

Tom Holmes

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 201388

I have collected a lot of wire over the years and I also measure the tension, even with hand wound pickups. I mean, 50 years ago there were great craftsmen, but they weren’t neces-sarily thinking about

all the factors that made a truly great pickup. When I have a great example of a pickup I want to know that every other one I make will be the same, and sound just as good.

TQR: There seem to be so many different variations ref-erenced in the general specifications for vintage pickups during different years… Early Telecaster pickups are described as having different specs and a different sound from the mid ‘50s, late ‘50s, early ‘60s and so on. The same variations are referenced for Stratocaster pickups, and to some extent, Gibson P90s and humbuckers, and you reference these variations by specific year within your vintage or Experience lines. How were you able to get your mind around these subtle variations to the extent that they are reflected in each pickup from each era? We’re all used to having seen this referenced, but most of us really don’t know what the differ-ence really is.

I have a lot of friends that have vintage guitars and I have done a lot of rewinds on vintage pickups. You can also find a lot of information on those spec changes from other sources. I do vintage era pickups, but I’m not try-ing to pursue the inconsis-tencies. Some of this is also theory, and your ears have to

be the ultimate test. When I work with small builders we may be hand-winding using Alnico 3 with a different stagger and we may change the number of turns to get a specific outcome.

TQR: You mention things like pole screws and base plate materials – the type of steel that is used. How important is that in the sound of the pickup?

Certain steel alloys impart a different sound, and I believe in the importance of magnetic coupling. There are very cheap, stamped out pole shoes or keeper bars you can buy that actu-ally hold the polepieces in place. Most of them are stamped out but they really should be milled and mine are. The same

thing applies with pole pieces and screws. If you look at the screws I use they are very crisp and precise – you can tell just by looking at them.

TQR: How much does the material used for covers matter to you?

Everything adds up. When Gibson changed from nickel silver covers to chrome it changed the sound, definitely. Brass covers mute the sound compared to real nickel silver. It all matters.

TQR: It seems to. There are people who are very well-educated in electronics that would tell you that a tone cap in a guitar that is merely dumping high frequencies to ground can’t possibly affect the sound of a guitar otherwise.

I have a very large stock of old paper-in-oil caps and even different types and brands of caps sound differ-ent. Why do they sound different when two caps are the same value?

I don’t know. I’m OK with people who don’t hear a differ-ence, too. You’ll be fine with a cheap ceramic disc capacitor and you can move on. I guess I just believe in processes and how things are made. I’d rather use old precision machin-ery that was made in America when I can. Does it matter in the final outcome? Not necessarily, but it’s the way I enjoy working. There are things I do myself here that I could pay to have done by suppliers, but I enjoy the process. I’m rooted in vintage sounds and tones, but I really do enjoy coming up with new and creative things, too. Like the Gold Coil pickup that Gabriel and I came up with in a humbucker housing that actually sounds better than the original gold foil pickups. We changed the magnetic structure and we both liked it better, but we didn’t know how it would turn out when we started. That’s a lot of fun.

TQR: So I’m a player considering a new set of pickups and I’m on your web site… I see five different Strat sets, seven for Teles, as many for humbuckers and five for P90s. How are you going to help me figure out what to order?

I often do have to explain that when someone calls. Some people may have a specific sound in mind from a guitar they had in the past from a specific era, but I try to break it down into different things. Like my early Tele pickups are wound

pickups

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 99

with Alnico 3, and the later ones are made with Alnico 5. If someone doesn’t want that typical shrill sound of a Tele pickup with Alnico 5, I would suggest

one made with Alnico 3. I might suggest the Experience ‘50 if a player wants a more compressed, darker tone rather than a brighter Tele sound. A lot of guys don’t want to read about all the options they can consider, but if we talk we can figure it out. I don’t think it was really known until recently that Alnico 3 was in a lot of the early Tele bridge pickups. Alnico 5 has a little more zing and clarity, so you just have to talk about what they want. P90s varied wildly because there is a lot of space for wire in a P90 bobbin. Sometimes guys might have an idea that they want a specific DC resistance like 9.5K , but that’s just one fac-tor. I like to use proven formulas and guidelines because until we listen to it, it’s all theory. I like to have a good reason to do something that’s based on prior experience.

TQR: What’s the turnaround on your pickups when ordered?

If it’s one of the stock Experience sets I may have it on the shelf. If it’s a custom order with engraving it could be several weeks depending on what’s in the works.

www.arcaneinc.com.

OK, so by now you know that we luv La Carne for its unique style, superb feel and playability, and the excellent character and tone of the P90 and Firebird pickups. We view it as the quintessential rocker, but maybe you don’t want a rough and ready beater… That’s fine. We don’t write these reviews with the idea that this is an exclusive all or nothing proposition. We’re simply trying to give you some ideas, for now or down the road. In the interest of broadening your horizons, we sug-gest you check out some of the other models on the Echopark site as well. There is a lot to see, the images are outstanding, and the benefit of working with builders like Gabriel Currie and others is that you can often dream up your very own dream guitar, while supporting independent craftsmen and ac-tually participating in the design process. Within specific solid and semi-hollow body styles you can choose different types of wood for bodies and necks, finishes, aging, neck profiles, fret size, and other optional apppointments. That’s what we mean when we say, Quest forth…

Long-time read-ers know that we are big fans of Danelectro guitars. Our first review article appeared in July 2000 featuring an interview with

James Pennebaker, who had acquired and optimized a 56-U2, DC-59 and a “couple of baritones.” The Korean reproduc-tion Danelectros have typically provided good value, decent playability and tone, and we have favorably reviewed several 6-string models and an excellent 12-string and baritone in the past. Vintage? We bought a ‘59 copper U-1 at one time with the intention of featuring it here, but the pickup was so weak that we found it unusable. In those days we were unaware of anyone capable of fixing it, and the guitar was in such great shape that we didn’t want to touch or modify the original electronics, so we returned it to the seller.

We have also published two articles on Jerry Jones’ unique and excel-lent replicas, including a detailed interview with Jerry in June, 2004 with reviews, and most recently, a January 2010 review of a Copper-burst Jerry Jones singlecut. Jerry Jones closed his shop in Nashville and retired in April 2011.

Delta Moon guitarist Mark Johnson first brought the RS Slab Electro to

our attention through the Rebel Guitars web site. Intrigued, we contacted Roy Blankenship at RS Guitarworks, who ar-ranged for us to receive a copperburst Slab Electro for review – the last remaining guitar among the first batch of proto-types built in 2012. We asked Roy to describe his inspiration for the Slab Electro, and our review follows…

TQR: It seems as if your concept for the Slab Electro was to capture all the good things about the original Danelectro while leaving some of the not-so-good things behind. It plays like a real guitar.

Yeah, that was pretty much the idea. We wanted the sound, but in a more playable guitar. There is one change being made from the original prototypes. Initially Curtis Novak put a steel plate on the bridge pickup like a Tele, and we noticed that

guitars

TQ

LagniappeLagniappe

Slab ElectroRS Guitarworks

Slab Electro

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20131010

the neck pickup had the clarity we wanted, but it was lacking a little bit in the bridge, so

with this second run he is using a fiberboard base in the bridge instead of steel. As far as construction goes, some people be-lieve that the original Danos were all made with Masonite and poplar, but I have restored some that were made with fir and even pine. I think they used whatever soft wood was available, and since we already build some guitars with pine, we decided to use that.

TQR: And just to be clear, we’re talking about the frame for the body, with the top, back and sides made from masonite and fabric strip on the sides.

Right. I always thought the original Danos looked cool, but lately it seems that we’ve become known for building hybrids between other model designs and Teles, like hybrids between

a Gretsch and Tele, Flying V or Firebird. Plus, the Tele has always been one of our favorite guitars and we’ve become known for our Tele style guitars.

TQR: Most significantly, you chose to build a classic maple neck with a substantial profile and a slab rosewood fingerboard. That’s not the kind of neck you would find on an original Dano or even a Jerry Jones replica.

We actually ex-perimented with a poplar neck and in terms of stability I didn’t think it was worth the trade off. There wasn’t anything about the

poplar neck that seemed better than maple. We also kept the 16” radius for that original feel. There is something about the tone of the Danos that encourages slide playing, plus, they were often such bad playing guitars that slide was all you could really do with them.

TQR: Did you use a standard Tele bridge plate?

Yes. We didn’t need to modify it at all, but the bridge lipstick pickup had to be built with the Tele-style mounts for the bridge plate.

TQR: Does painting masonite present any unique chal-lenges?

It’s a real pain. A good friend of mine recently gave me a ‘59 copper Dano and it had a large arm wear spot and you could see that there was a clear sealer on the masonite that we determined was shellac. When you spray masonite with lacquer it gets real furry – it’s basically card board, so what we did was shoot the masonite with one coat of polyester, and we may try shellac in the next run. For the first run we kept traditional Dano colors – solid copper, copper burst, red burst with sparkle, and black with sparkle.

TQR: What did you ask Curtis Novak to do with the pickups, specifically?

He had restored so many original pickups that I just told him we wanted a faithful recreation of the originals. On the second run he is doing now the neck pickup will be underwound by 5% to better match the bridge, and as I mentioned we changed the base plate for the bridge from steel to fiber board.

TQR: What type of metal is used for the nut?

Aluminum, like the original. We tried using Tusq and bone on one of the prototypes and the sound just wasn’t there. One of the people that bought one of the first Slab Electros was convinced that the aluminum nut wasn’t going to sound good and before even trying it he sent the guitar out to have a bone nut installed. Then he called to tell me the guitar sounded dull, and he hadn’t even played it with the aluminum nut. It works. The saddles are also aluminum. Our first idea was to use brass, and that

made it too lively. We tried steel and that made it sound too harsh. The original sound of the Dano was influenced by that rosewood bridge, and while I’m not usually a fan of alumi-num saddles, they just seemed to work on this guitar. We used 250K pots although most of the Danos had 100K pots, and we used Luxe paper-in-oil .05 tone caps. Tuners are Tone Pros Klusons, and we used 6125 fret wire – a little wider than 6105 and not quite as tall. It’s close to the original wire and a little taller.

guitars

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 1111

TQR: With the first run sold now, when do you anticipate that the second batch will be available?

Some time in April, and there will be six built, but anyone can contact us directly or contact a dealer and place an order for one at any time.

We also spoke with pickup builder Curtis Novak about the lipstick pickups he makes for the Slab Electro, and we plan to feature an expanded interview with additional reviews later this year…

TQR: You mention on your web site that building the original Danelectro lipstick pickup is a complex process…

Yes. I was very active in reverse engineering and having to re-work processes when I worked for the government at Los Alamos, so I’m always fascinated by repairing and

re-working pickups to see how things are done. Most of the modern lipsticks are made with a Firebird or mini-humbucker bobbin because they just happen to fit in the tube really well. The real original lipstick pickup magnet is much thicker than a Firebird or a mini-humbucker magnet, and the magnet wire was originally wrapped directly around that, so the coil is taller and longer, and with it riding right on the magnet the sound is is a little livelier. It’s also really hard to mass produce, which is why modern builders use a pre-made plastic bobbin. Since it’s such a smaller bobbin and magnet, they use a thinner gauge wire and overwind it, so the resistance is very high and that changes the tone a lot from an original lipstick pickup.

TQR: And you are using a historically correct Alnico magnet.

Yes, I have repaired quite a few vintage lipstick pickups and the magnets are as tall as the actual tube. They are taller and a lot thicker, and that’s where much of the beefy tone comes from. Along

with the magnet’s drastic difference in size, the vintage lip-sticks also used an Alnico 6 magnet, which most builders miss.

It also has a little bit to do with my winding process. For years I have been trying to convince people not to think of a pickup as an output device and that you shouldn’t measure it by its output. It’s really an input device and a sensor, just like a microphone. It’s passive, and as in recording, the higher you turn the input volume up and the needle moves into the red, it starts losing fidelity and saturates. It sounds louder, but you lose all your fidelity, and that’s the way pickups work. If you give the average person three pickups to listen to they will pick the hottest one because of the added punch. But they will get frustrated when they go into a recording studio or they need to get a different sound and all they have is that

one ‘Stevie Ray Vaughan’ hot sound. He used a pedal to get that, and he could get out of it when-ever he wanted Thinking of the recording process,

you want to get the clearest, cleanest, high-fidelity sound you can get and then post-process it. That’s also what you want with a pickup. With most vintage pickups, it’s not that there is a vintage tone necessarily, but they tended to wind them for fidelity and a certain sweet spot. There are certain pickups like the DeArmond gold foil that don’t come alive until they are wound really hot, but the lipstick is known for being a 3.5K-4K pickup, and it’s got that massive magnet that creates a big orb field around the coil. When the wire is laying on the magnet, it rattles it a lot more than the modern versions with a smaller, tighter wind. They also wax pot the modern lipsticks, and using that plastic bobbin with a tiny magnet, it’s so much not what it was.

TQR: So clearly you don’t pot the lipstick pickups you make.

No, I don’t. Fender was the only company that potted pickups among the big companies like Gibson and Gretsch. Leo was an electrical enigineer and that’s what you do with transform-ers. There is a lot of this on my FAQ, but if you think of a pickup as a Jew’s harp, it’s fine when it’s on your lips and you’re playing it, but once it touches your tooth it rattles really loud. The microphonics and squealing in a pickup are caused when two rigid parts come in contact with the coil and it creates a feedback loop. You could dip a Jew’s harp in Plasti-coat and it could be on your teeth and it wouldn’t rattle, but it doesn’t sound like a Jew’s harp anymore – all the brass is lost. The idea is that you isolate the musical part – the coil, from all the rigid, rattling parts. You either isolate or fuse them so when they resonate they resonate as one. Mosrite pickups are known for being really squealy, and people will say that they solved the whole thing by dipping the pickup

guitars

Curtis Novak

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20131212

completely in wax. You can save that pickup by pulling the screws out and dripping some hot wax down on each screw and fusing all those parts. They used Bondo and epoxy when they built the Mosrite pickups, and sometime they will break loose and be rigid and they will rattle. But you can stop all the rattle without touching the coil.

TQR: Roy also mentioned that you had used a copper plated steel base plate on the first batch of Slab Electros, and then switched to a bridge lipstick with a fiberboard base.

That’s true. The last batch I wound for him had the fiberboard base. The copper plated steel base used for the Telecaster pickup acts as a reflector. The thing I think a lot of people

don’t get about pickups is that the coil does all the work. You can have a pickup with just a coil and no magnet or steel. It will be kind of weak, but you don’t need any magnets or steel. All they do is create a large magnetic field around the coil, and ferrous metals will do the same thing, so that big plate un-der the magnet just changes the field and enlarges it a little bit.

TQR: Have you gotten any of the old Danelectro pickups in for repair that were just too weak to be used?

Not really. Usually it’s something else. In all my years of repair I have never really seen a magnet gracefully degrade.When they degrade it is usually because the polarity is not consistent across the magnet. There is a lot of theory about vintage magnets becoming weak over time and that some of the vintage tone comes from that, but I haven’t found that to be true. I used to work at Los Alamos National Labora-tory with some world renowned metallurgists and scientists, and they didn’t see it either. Heat can do it – there are things that can change the properties of a magnet, but any kind of extreme heat like that would destroy the plastic in the pickup.

I rewound a Firebird two or three times and it wasn’t sounding quite right but I wasn’t catch-ing what was going on. I finally took a polarity tester and went over the entire magnet, and when I got to the very last 1/8 of an inch the

polarity flipped. When I do a custom pickup I may grind 1/8 of an inch off a bar magnet, and if you aren’t careful to stop

and let it cool as you are grinding it, the same side of a mag-net can read both north and south and the pickup will sound out of phase. So the properties of a magnet can change, but I don’t think it’s from ‘aging.’

TQR: How popular are the lipstick pickups you wind compared to the other types you make?

They are becoming more and more popular. The Jerry Jones were a pretty good replica, and with him making them there wasn’t a need for anyone else to be doing anything differ-ent. Where I get most of my business is in trying to cram a Chevy engine into a Ford (laughing). I do lipsticks for Teles, Jaguars… I can fit two lipsticks in a Firebird or a Gibson humbucker cover. I can do side-by-side in the same tube, and with that you can get a good lipstick sound in a Gibson guitar and with four wires you can choose single coil or dual-coil humbucking operation.

Danelectro founder Nat Daniel was a clever and re-sourceful designer and business-man. In an effort to manufacture affordable – some might even say

‘green’ products, he used Homasote in place of wood to build his amplifier cabinets – the first recycled, post-consumer product developed in 1906 made from a slurry of recycled paper. Today the Homasote company continues to recycle 100 tons of cellulose fiber, conserving nearly 750,000 trees and eliminating 30 million pounds of solid waste that otherwise would go into landfills.

Daniel similarly chose masonite for the tops and backs of his guitars, invented in 1924 by William H. Mason in Laurel, Mississippi. Pro-duction of masonite began in 1929, and it was used for doors, roofing, walls and household siding among other products. No doubt Daniel’s resourceful approach was driven by a desire to sell his products at price points that would appeal to a larger market, but whether by ac-

cident or design, his guitars also have a very cool and unique tone all their own. Unfortunately, the output of the lipstick tube Alnico bar magnet pickups was inconsistent, and being

guitars

Slab Electro

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 13

-continued-

13

budget instruments, tuning stability and overall playability were mediocre at best by today’s standards. The Slab Electro takes the basic foundation of the Danelectro to an entirely new level with custom-wound pickups that are true to the ‘original’ Dano tone, and a neck and fretboard that allow this guitar to transcend the narrow role of a somewhat clumsy slide guitar to an every day player.

Weight freaks will swoon over the 5.6 pound featherweight feel of the Slab. The medium C-shaped maple neck profile and medium jumbo 6125 frets create a comfortable and effortless playing experience, and yeah, if you want to tune to open G, break out the slide and capo up, the 16” fretboard radius makes sliding a breeze.

If you aren’t familiar with the sound of these pickups,

perhaps it’s time… At 4.94K bridge and 5.37K neck you can expect less volume and output than a typical Telecaster, for example. Unlike most replica lipstick Dano pickups, Curtis Novak uses full-size Alnico bar magnets, and he also makes hum-canceling lipsticks and lipsticks for Stratocasters. Again, compared to Fender single coils we found the Novak lipsticks

to have more depth, detail, and chime, sounding slightly warmer overall rather than sharp and thin. The neck pickup has the clar-ity and character of a great Strat

neck – liquid, full, vocal and moody. The bridge pickup is less sharp and biting than the typical tone of a Fender-style bridge pickup, with lots of complex chime and harmonics. Overall, expect a more finessed sound that is less penetrating, linear and direct, with the percussive character of a semi-hollow

body guitar, yet the aluminum saddles seem to encourage excel-lent sustain and a very ‘stringy’ tone. The aluminum nut doesn’t influence the sound of the guitar nearly as much, because, of course, you only ‘hear’ it on open strings. Played through an overdriven amp or overdrive effects, the Slab Elec-tro retains a more acoustic charac-ter rather than being confined to a tight, compressed, driving sound.

In terms of feel, touch and aesthetics, the build quality and finish work are flawless, the Slab stays in tune with precise tuning from the TonePros Klusons, and we found the fretboard familiar and comfortable. The biggest adjustment for the un-initiated is the tone and dynamic character of the guitar. This isn’t a thrasher, so if you play with a heavy hand and thrive on the sound of an exploding guitar loaded with humbuckers or other high output pickups, the Danelectro vibe may be new to you. That’s OK… Guitarists paint with tone, but there are no rules that say you have to use every color and hue. The Slab Electro is one of those guitars that should be pulled out when you want to make a memorable statement that can’t and won’t be confused with anything else.

www.rsguitarworks.net, 1-859-737-5300www.curtisnovak.com, 760-820-4434

The landscape of guitar amplification has changed dramati-cally during the past ten years, with more amps being built at every price point than ever before, and many manufactur-ers utilizing factories in Asia to remain competitive. Even relatively small custom builders like Steve Carr are now competing in a global ‘boutique’ market, and while we still seem to receive more inquiries about obscure custom builders, we also like to stay abreast of what’s happening at Fender. We have reviewed many of the reissue Fender blackface amps, the Vibro-King, Cyber-Twin, ‘64 Vibroverb developed with

Cesar Diaz, Blues Deville, Pro Junior and Woody, the hand-wired ‘57 Twin, and most recently, the hand-wired reissues of the tweed Deluxe and tweed Champ. We contacted Shane Nicho-las, product manager for amplifiers with a request to receive three amplifiers for review that represent Fender’s diverse range of products – from the $299.00 retro Excelsior 1x15 combo, $999.99 Super-Sonic 22, to

the $2,999.00 Eric Clapton Twinolux. We also asked Shane to describe the inspiration for each. Enjoy…

TQR: Shane, before we jump into the amplifiers we’ve selected for review, could you summarize your background and give us an idea of what your job

interview

TQ

Endure and EvolveFender Amplifiers

Endure and Evolve

Shane Nicholas

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20131414

at Fender entails? We know you’re very hands-on, often demo’ing amps at NAMM in the past, and very much a ‘guitar guy’… Can you give us an insider’s view of what it’s like working at Fender?

I started working at Fender after many years in music retail. I’ve been a guitar player since childhood, and musicians tend to gravitate towards jobs in the music industry after they get tired of gigging for a living. At Fender, if you are in product marketing, you have to be a musician, because you must “speak the language.”

As the Amplifier Product Manager, I shepherd the product through its life cycle. I interface with engineers, planners, manufacturing, supply chain, legal, advertising, sales, customer service … all the people who contribute to the product itself, and how we present it to the world. All the product manag-ers and brand managers at Fender are musicians, and many of them are great musicians, so it’s a great place to work.

TQR: We selected the Excelsior, Super-Sonic and EC Twinolux for review specifically because they so nicely span a wide range of contemporary Fender amplifiers in terms of price, specific features and sound. Beginning with the Excelsior, can you describe how each model was conceived?

Excelsior and Greta, our “Pawn Shop” series amps, came about through ongoing conversations among some of the guitar players here in the office who owned wacky old “off brand” gear. One guy had some Supro and Silvertone stuff, one guy collected ‘40s lap steel amps, another was into tube radios, and so on. In this environment, wouldn’t you know it, ideas started flying around regarding what we might do along those lines.

The Super-Sonic amps are the clos-est thing we make to “my personal signature model.” I am half joking here, but when I play gigs, I usually use one. In my years on stage, I’ve played

everything from Hank Williams to Black Sabbath, and that kind of tonal variety was the impetus for the first Super-Sonic. The original idea was to make a simple to use, vintage-toned Fender tube amp that also contained a more modern high-gain lead channel. We sell lots of them, and the list of artists using them gets longer every day.

The EC amps came about at the request of Eric himself. At one of the Crossroads concerts, he explained to our Artist

Relations guys that he loved our tweed amps, old and new, but that he had ideas for some person-alized models.

We agreed to work together, and this spawned the three EC models we currently offer. They have really done well, and not just with Clapton fans.

With any of these projects, the initial concept is written down and saved until one of our engineers are available to start the project’s development. If it’s a simple design like a tweed reissue, we can get the amp into production relatively quickly. With a complex design like a G-DEC or Mustang amp, it can take years.

TQR: To what extent do you invite your peers and associates at Fender in to check out new ampli-fier designs during the R&D process? Do you call someone like Mike Lewis in to play through a new amp often?

We absolutely call on our peers to evaluate new amps. In some cases, they are the inspiration. For example, if we reissue a classic Fender tweed amp, Mike Lewis and Mike Eldred are at the top of the beta-tester list, because they

are “the customer” for that product. They are dyed-in-the-wool longtime blues players who gig with Fender tube amps, and they sit right next to me. If it’s a $99 digital amp we are developing, like the Mustang I, then maybe our kids are the customers, so we’ll talk to them first.

TQR: The EC Series represents the first Signature line of amps for Fender. We’ve seen firsthand in the past that Eric has played Custom Shop versions of his signature Stratocaster with no embellishments other than the occasional custom paint job. They are oth-erwise quite true to his standard signature model. Can you describe to what extent Eric was involved in the creation of the EC Signature amplifiers?

interview

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 1515

The EC amps were developed over a period of time. Eric’s first request was that we build him a ’57 Twin with Tremolo included. We modified one to achieve this, and Eric liked it and used it live on a bunch of shows. This one had little knobs for the tremolo filling the unused input jack holes. Next step was a version of this including a power attenuator in a box bolted inside the back panel. The final version, which we dubbed ‘The EC Twinolux,” had everything laid out neatly versus an amp with obvious modifications.

The amps that ended up be-ing the EC Tremolux and EC Vibro-Champ were devel-oped in the same way, with several rounds of prototypes. We shipped protos to Eric wherever in the world he was at that moment, where he tested them in the studio

or on stage and reported back. When he finally approved the three finished models, we had no doubt that he would really use them.

TQR: The Excelsior is a brilliant retro design produced at an unbelievable $299 price point… How can you build an amp that sounds so good at that price?

Thanks, I am glad you like it! The Excelsior wasn’t intended to be anything more than fun, and we priced it accordingly. We have a team of engineers here in R&D that are very experienced at amp design, so they know how to optimize and find cost sav-ings when the project requires it. It’s the same thing with our supply chain folks who travel

the globe managing relationships with offshore manufacturers. Finally, since we are Fender, the biggest seller of guitar amps, we can achieve savings through economy of scale.

TQR: We were a little surprised to see a big 2x12 cabinet matched with the SuperSonic, especially since so many aging guitarists seem to have become weight-abhorrent. Our impression is that the SuperSonic was deliberately designed to be a performance rig first and foremost in which sound reigned over one-handed portability…

The Super-Sonic amps are designed for stage use, to be sure. That big Super-Sonic 212 cabinet isn’t the most portable, I ad-mit, but boy, does it sound big and fat! The birch ply construc-

tion and baffle size make a huge difference. If you are a serious player, tone usually trumps conve-nience, unless you are taking a taxi to the gig.

TQR: You have been at Fender now long enough to have wit-nessed the ‘boutique’ custom amplifier mar-

ket grow, vintage amp prices soar, and tastes and preferences change in terms of power, volume and portability. Who would have thought that someone like Jeff Beck would have used a Pro Junior for his main house sound on tour in 2010? What have been some of the most surprising developments in amplification during your time at Fender, what are your favorite contemporary Fender amps and why, and what do you envision for the future of guitar amplification?

I’ve made no secret of my love for the Super-Sonic series. In addition, my fa-vorites are the ones I have played and owned since I was a teenager, particularly the ’59 Bassman, the ’65 Deluxe Reverb, and the tweed Deluxe. I like the reis-sues and the old ones. I also have a Mustang Mini on my desk that I play every day.

Without going into detail about the vintage market or the proliferation of boutique brands, I’ll say that the Internet has prompted the biggest change to the guitar amplifier landscape. Back in the ‘80s when I started in retail, there were about four brands of amplifiers that any serious electric guitarist would consider. At that time, it seemed that most players desired up-to-date product, like solid-state Peavey amps and rack-mount effects, for example. A 1950s Fender amp could be had for a few hundred dollars, and the market wasn’t very sophisticated.

Today, anybody with a laptop can go online to hear and see what all the new amps do, order the necessary parts to build an amp or start an amp company, or find the vintage col-lectible of their dreams. At Fender, we follow these trends carefully. We don’t always respond directly, but we defi-nitely keep track of what’s going on. You mentioned the Pro Junior – we’ve obviously seen a trend towards players

interview

Excelsior

Mustang Mini

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20131616

choosing lower-wattage tube amps, which is why we currently offer about ten different tube amps with 22 watts or less. Meanwhile, more players than ever rely on digital solutions to getting guitar tone, and the stellar success of our Mustang line proves it. Regarding the future, we will do what Leo did, and what we’ve always tried to do. We listen to

what musicians are saying and doing, and provide them with useful tools to make music, whether it employs 1940s technol-ogy or next year’s technology.

Fender EC TwinoluxAs guitar deities go, Eric Clapton has never seemed to be much of a gearhead. Avid guitar hound, yes, but not as keenly interested in the technical side of things to the extent that some other guitarists have obsessed over their amplifiers and effects. You are probably already very familiar with the guitars and amps associated with his brief time spent in the Bluesbreakers and Cream… Clapton unintentionally put the

‘59 Les Paul on the list of must-have guitars with the Bluesbreakers, while playing his Fool SG, ‘64 ES-335 and a Firebird I with Cream.When he switched to a Stratocaster and surfaced with Derek and the Dominoes, a lot of Cream fans were initially left stunned, disheartened and slack-jawed, but then again,

the payoff was Layla – a record that Tom Dowd described in our September 2001 interview as the “national anthem of rock records.” Despite having taken a full year for Atlantic to get Layla pushed onto the charts, Clapton succeeded in complete-ly reinventing himself with a strong new voice, an entirely new tone, and the songs he wrote remain every bit as fresh, urgent and captivating as the day they were first released. We asked former tech Lee Dickson about EC’s various amps in our September 2001 cover story…

“When I first started working for him he was using Music Man amps and open back cabinets with JBL K120’s in them.

It’s evolved from Mar-shalls, Dean Markley amps, Soldanos, Dual Showman amps, and most recently, the Twins. He re-ally doesn’t ask a lot, and he’ll decide when

he wants to change amps. The last few years he’s been using these custom-built Fender Twins. There are only three, and they were built by John Suhr while he was at Fender. It took over three years for them to round up the original transform-ers, speakers, and some other parts for the amps, but they can never be identical due to the nature of the old parts. Anyway, that’s what he’s using now, and as you can see, we have one Twin in a stand here on stage with an identical backup behind it. Eric can pick up any guitar and play through any amp and get the Eric Clapton sound from it. It’s there. “It’s in the trousers,” as he says. He’s not one of those guys who tweaks the amp and messes with it – quite the opposite. He just wants to walk in, pick up the guitar and play. I remember Eric going into a guitar store in Memphis that was across the street from his hotel, and all he was interested in were the old Harmony’s and guitars that Muddy might have played early on. That’s what he brought from the store the next day. He’s not one of those guys who likes push/pull, boost/cut, grunge/clean, treble boost/mid boost, thin/fat… that’s all bollocks. He comes from the ‘plug it in and go’ school, and that’s the way he works.”

Prior to the ap-pearance of the ‘Custom Shop’ Twins, Clapton had been using a low-power 5F8-4 Twin modified by Cesar Diaz that subsequently sold at auction in 2004 for $23,900. Cesar described his modifications in our August 2000

interview… “I took his low-power tweed Twin – the one with the two rectifiers, and changed the transformer to a Fender export transformer. In fact, I have the original transformer, because he didn’t want it. It’s the same power transformer that went into the Showman for the first two years. I also took the two rectifiers out and replaced them with a silicon diode and installed two more 6L6s, just like you’d see in a later Twin.”

amps

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 1717

In addition to the tweed Twins built by Suhr, Denis Cornell built his own version loaded with Tone Tubby speakers for Clapton, which was followed

by the hand-wired Fender reissue low power ‘57 Twin (TQR, December ‘08), and most recently, the EC Twinolux.

We know a little somethin’ about tweed Twins… the sound of them anyway. Last year David Gilmour’s long-time tech Phil Taylor went shopping for a second Twin to add to the London collection. He found a big 5F8-A on eBay in the States and had it sent directly to Jeff Bakos here in Atlanta for a lookover before shipping it to England. It didn’t need much – a few Mallory 150s and a resistor or two… All it really needed was a guitar plugged into it, and we did just that before it was crated up. At the same time, Bruce Tanous, a subscriber from Wash-ington, D.C. sent another narrow panel 5F8-A tweed Twin to Jeff for some TLC and two new speakers – ‘50s Jensen P12Ns pulled from an old Hammond rig that Tanous had acquired. The cabinet had also been shipped to Gregg Hopkins for some

deft restora-tion work due to over-sized mount-ing screws having been used to fur-ther fortify the chassis for the road.

Having both of these amps in the same room was a rare treat not likely to be repeated, and they fully earned their reputation for being counted among the holy grail of vintage amplifiers. Clean, big, deep and wide is what they are, and we were sur-prised and pleased to discover that their tone actually sounded very, very similar to our own ‘58 fixed bias 5G9 Tremolux

biased for 6L6s, if much louder and more powerful, of course. Still, the similarity in terms of pure tone

was uncanny, really. Pretty much everyone that has heard the Tremolux shoots it a knowing look of respect and deep admiration, and so it goes with the Twins, only from a few more feet away, perhaps.The Twin’s massive transformers and comparatively simple circuit are key to its sound, yet both amps sounded exceptionally fine and dynamic even at low volume levels – clear, supremely rich, and true to all the big narrow panel tweeds, extremely vocal. We use that description a lot with certain pickups, amplifiers and guitars because in our mind, that’s the critical line of demarcation between ‘good’ and truly ‘great.’ Plenty of amplifiers new and old sound good, others create a tone and character that are so complex and musically captivating that you can never forget them.

The hand-wired EC Twinolux has been cleverly tweaked to render it more versatile at varied volume levels with

a switchable power attenuator. A 3-position switch selects 1 SP Lo, producing 1/4 power with just one speaker active, 2 SP LO with the second speaker added, and FULL with both speakers at 40 watts full power. Additional controls include Power, Standby, Presence, Vibrato Intensity, Speed, Bass, Treble and Volume. Tubes in the Twinolux follow the ‘56 -’57 5E8-A circuit utilizing two 5U4GB rectifiers, two 6L6GCs and four 12AX7 preamp tubes. Speakers are Alnico Fender Special Design Weber/Eminence 12s as installed on the hand-wired ‘57 Twin. A vibrato footswitch and cover are also included. Weight is 53 pounds.

Having previ-ously evaluated and reviewed the ‘57 Twin (TQR December ‘08) the Twinolux seemed fa-miliar enough aside from the enhancements

made to this model. At all power settings the amp remains relatively clean until you approach ‘7’ on the volume control, when you can expect a gradual increase in sustain and a sweet overdriven tone building in intensity all the way to ‘12.’ The attenuated 2 SP Lo sound with both speakers selected is very similar to full power, just not as loud, but the volume seems higher than the 1/4 power specification indicates. The 1 SP LO setting with one speaker engaged seems to thin the tone

amps

Twins

-continued-

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 20131818

consid-erably com-pared to the fuller sound of both speak-ers, with a

significant drop in bass frequency response. Consequently, this isn’t a setting we would probably ever use. The vibrato effect is very swampy – not as intense as that of our ‘58 Trem-olux, but good nonetheless.

At a street price of $2999.00, the hand-wired Twinolux is a substantial investment. By comparison, used hand-wired ‘57 Twin amps are selling for $1400-$1600 in ‘as new’ condition. For those on a budget, this may be an attractive alternative,

and you can reference our December ‘08 review for tips on optimiz-ing the ‘57 Twin. We like that amp a lot. The

Twinolux simply expands the capabilities of the original low-power Twin to meet the needs of players today who may not always find 40 watts of power and volume appropriate for home and club use. What we found most appealing is how the Twin retains its relatively high threshold for clean headroom at the 2 SP Lo 1/4 power setting rather than quickly spilling over into heavy distortion in the style of a smaller tweed amp like the Deluxe. Because the Twinolux remains cleaner below ‘7,’ it can be used for clear or moderately grinding rhythms

at higher volume levels and boosted with an overdrive or boost pedal as needed with excellent results. Of course, you can also leave the volume of the amp set higher and clean up using the volume pot on your guitar. We also like the responsive-ness of the tone controls on the Twinolux. The Presence control is extremely useful for gradually moving top end sparkle forward with different pickups, and blues

players will appreciate what it does for otherwise woofy neck pickups in particular. The bass and treble controls also effec-tively adjust EQ with a smooth and precise taper that is very useful in dialing in the tone of different guitars. True to the character of Fender tweed and brown amps, the voice of the Twinolux is less scooped in the mid frequencies, producing a rich clean tone and a smooth growl turned up. We also urge you not to be put off by the 40 watt power rating… While different amplifiers may share the same power specs, you’ll find that the Twinolux does not create quite the same impres-sion of aggressive power and crushing volume as a Super Reverb, for example. Call it a kinder, gentler 40 watts, with a smoother, less abrupt tone. Overall, the Twinolux produces an outstanding range of tweed-inspired tones with a bold voice that only two 12” speakers can deliver, and the added capabil-ity of effectively managing volume without sacrificing tone and dynamic punch. It also sounds equally good with Fender single coils, P90s and humbuckers. Hand-wired and housed in an elegant pine cabinet, the Twinolux appeals to us as an enduring workhorse – a simple plug & play amp and a worthy modern alternative to a Fender legend.

Next issue: Reviews of the Fender Excelsior and Super-Sonic www.fender.com

Conquest Sound has been around for decades – since 1977 to be exact. We rum-maged around

and found an old Conquest cable (still working) that dates back to the ‘70s, which got us thinking about some of the places it had undoubtedly been used… Of course, coil cords were also very popular in the ‘60s and ‘70s when no one seemed to be concerned with capacitance and signal loss. Stevie Ray actually preferred it. We can vividly recall one instance in a recording studio when, being too lazy to walk across the room to unplug the cord from an amplifier, we just kept tugging on it until the cord was stretched taught, and suddenly the male jack shot out of the input jack with tremendous velocity, rocketing straight to a direct hit on

cables

Cable Tone?Cable Tone?

TQ

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 1919

the family jewels. These days you don’t see coil cords being used much, and the market for ‘high end’ (expensive) guitar and speaker cables has grown in step with custom pickups, guitars, amplifiers and effects. How much are you willing to spend on a ‘better sounding’ cable? While we haven’t quite hit the ridiculous prices of high-end audiophile cables, you can spend a lot on custom speaker and guitar cables. Or not… Conquest has introduced a new line of Custom Shop cables for guitar, and we received two for review. We also asked Larry Spalla and Nick Kutzko from Conquest to describe their intentions in developing their new Custom Shop cable, and our review follows…

TQR: In general, how has instrument cable evolved and been improved over the past 30 years?

In the past 30 years alone, cable for audio applications has changed dramatically. Audio and Instrumentation cable took its roots originally from the telecommunications and military industries. It has only been recently that cables became geared to specific applications. Over time, cable product emerged for specific markets based on their application. Twisted pair cables were designed to reduce cross-talk, radio frequency interference, and common mode rejection. As new and improved insulating materials became available, better and newer design and processing techniques were developed to reduce targeted spurious noise components. The technology for guitars and their amplifiers was born; this has sparked a revolutionary change in the past 30 years. During this time, audio quality and the end user’s awareness has increased dra-matically. The educated buyer has demanded more compara-tive testing and specific cable designs for individual instru-ment uses. Our goal was to create the best sounding cable on the market, but keep it affordable. Many of the leading brands of “high end” cables were used in our test comparisons along with numerous instruments, amps, professional musicians, sound techs and recording studio engineers. The cable con-sists of four conductors of pure copper and a 95% tight weave braid shield. The four conductors are wired North/South and East/West which creates a hum cancelling effect. No noise passes through.

The large outside diam-eter created by com-bining the con-ductors allows

a totally clean signal to pass from the instrument to the amp

or board. Signal loss is non-existent because of the super-low shield resistance, so there is no signal loss in the highs, mids and lows. The cloth weave on our woven versions is the tightest and heaviest in the industry, applied by the company that invented the process. The jacket was designed to take the beatings of road use but is very flexible. It is impervious to oils, liquids and most other chemicals. The heavy braid shield acts like an armor plating. The consensus from our tests was a tighter, cleaner, crisper overall sound with the frequencies from high to low being retained and accurate. It was best summed up by John Pierce, L.A session player and member of Huey Lewis and the News when he said “Sounds like there is no cable between my guitar and amp. I can finally hear what it’s supposed to sound like”. The last point is cost. We made these affordable – priced much lower than most on the market and attainable by any musician.

Breaking out a pile of cables for a tone-fest probably isn’t the kind of thing you look forward to in your spare time, so we are happy to shed some light on what’s happening with Conquest’s new cables. Obvi-

ously, the most important factor is durability. Nearly a fourth of the cables we have here don’t work anymore – shorted at a jack, including a few that weren’t cheap. Look, cables get stepped on, twisted, jerked around and generally abused even under normal ‘home’ use, so you can buy cheap ones, fix them or throw them away when they fail, or spend a little more for something that will last. Conquest cables are backed by a lifetime guarantee, and the cables we received for review equipped with Neutrik jacks appeared on inspection to be sol-idly assembled (in Monee, Illinois) to insure reliable service.

The next big question is, do ‘high end’ cables really produce a meaningful difference in sound? In our experience, cheaper stranded cables tend to produce a darker, murkier tone that seems somewhat muted by comparison. Superior cables can make your rig sound as if a blanket has been removed from your amp, with a more immediate, faster sound and enhanced fidelity that just seems more ‘there.’ The Conquest cables produced the clarity and immediacy we have noted from other premium cables reviewed here in the past, but at a significant cost savings and no sacrifice in flexibility. PVC 10’ with Neutrik jacks as reviewed: $42.50 Heavy braided covering 10’ with Neutrik jacks: $64.00. Also available in other lengths with silent or right angle jacks.

www.conquestsound.com

cables

TQ

TONEQUEST REPORT V.14 N.6 April 2013 20

PERIODICAL POSTAGEPAID AT

DECATUR,GAAND ADDITIONAL MAILING OFFICES

the

ReportToneQuest

TMPO Box 717 Decatur, GA. 30031-0717

the

ReportToneQuestToneQuest

TM

Editor/PublisherAssociate Publisher

Graphic Design

David WilsonLiz MedleyRick Johnson

EDITORIAL BOARD

The ToneQuest Report™ (ISSN 1525-3392) is published monthly by Mountainview Publishing LLC, P.O. Box 717 Decatur, GA. 30031-0717, 1-877-MAX-TONE, email: tonequest1@aol.com. Periodicals Postage Paid at Decatur, GA and At Additional Mailing Offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to:TheToneQuest Report™, PO Box 717, Decatur, GA. 30031-0717.The annual subscription fee for The ToneQuest Report™ is $89 per year for 10 issues. International subscrib-ers please add US $40. Please remit payment in U.S. funds only. VISA, MasterCard and American Express accepted. The ToneQuest Report™ is published solely for the benefit of its subscribers. Copyright © 2013 by Mountainview Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this newsletter may be reproduced in any form or incorporated into any information retrieval system without the written permission of the copyright holder. Please forward all subscription requests, comments, questions and other inquiries to the above address or contact the publisher at tonequest1@aol.com. Opinions expressed in The ToneQuest Report™ are not necessarily those of this publication.Mention of specific products, services or technical advice does not constitute an endorsement. Readers are advised to exercise extreme caution in handling electronic devices and musical instruments.

Analogman

Tom AndersonTom Anderson GuitarWorks

Mark BaierVictoria Amplifiers

Jeff BakosBakos AmpWorks

Dick BoakCF Martin & Co.

Joe Bonamassa

Phil Brown

Dan ButlerButler Custom Sound

Don ButlerThe Toneman

Steve CarrCarr Amplifiers

Erick ColemanStewart-McacDonald

Larry CraggNeil Young

Jol DantzigJol Dantzig Guitar Design

Ronnie Earl

Dan ErlewineStewart-MacDonald

Larry FishmanFishman Transducers

Bill FinneganKlon Centaur

Lindy Fralin

Peter Frampton

Greg GerminoGermino Amplification

Billy F. GibbonsZZ Top

Joe GlaserGlaser Instruments

Tom GuerraMambo Sons

Johnny Hiland

Gregg HopkinsVintage Amp Restoration

Mark JohnsonDelta Moon

Phil JonesGruhn Guitars

Mark KaranBob Weir & Ratdog

Robert KeeleyRobert Keeley Electronics

Gordon Kennedy

Ernest KingGibson Custom Shop

Chris KinmanKinman AVn Pickups

Mike KropotkinKCA NOS Tubes

Sonny Landreth

Albert Lee

Adrian Legg

Dave MaloneThe Radiators

Jimbo Mathus

Shane NicholasSr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitar Amplifers

René MartinezThe Guitar Whiz

Greg MartinThe Kentucky Headhunters

Richard McDonaldVP Mktg, Fender Musical Instruments

Joe MloganoskiCo-Founder K&M Anaslog Designs

Todd MoneyManager Gibson Repair & Restoration

Justin NorvellSr. Mktg Mgr, Fender Guitars

James PennebakerArtist Relations, Fender Musical Instruments, Nashville

Riverhorse

Tommy ShannonDouble Trouble

Todd SharpNashville Amp Service

Tim ShawFender Musical Instruments Corp.

Randall C. SmithDesigner & President, Mesa/Boogie Ltd.

John SprungAmerican Guitar Center

Peter Stroud

Buddy WhittingtonJohn Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

Greg VLos Angeles

Lou Vito

Mike VoltzR&D / Product Development, Gibson Memphis

Acquire Your Personal Copyof the 1999-2012 TQR ArchivesNOW ON SALE!Imagine having a PDF file of every issue of TQR on CD, including a searchable issue-by-issue index for your future reference and enjoy-ment. Acquiring the ToneQuest Archives is now more affordable than ever, priced at just $299.00 when you order by June 15, 2013. Order today and you’ll also receive a free ToneQuest guitar strap with your CD. Order your personal copy of the ToneQuest Archives today by clicking the Order Back Issues selection on the main menu at www.tonequest.com, or call us toll-free at 1-877-MAX-TONE (629-8663). Don’t delay - order your CD archive today!