Band Gear

GEAR CORNER

  1. Hey, surf shredders and gearaholics! Here’s the lowdown on the gear I use with BIG SURF. -Phil

                                                                       -Phil

Instruments

Fender ’64 Jazz master

Thanks goes to Bob Waitz, surf music afficianado and Big Surf fan for giving me the opportunity to own this great guitar! All original parts. The bridge pick up was rewound by Lindy Fralin.The body has been repainted black and the neck refinished. I put a Mastery bridge on it. Twang and shimmer. Definitely my main axe. Strung with roundwounds .013-.56 with plain G (.022).    

 

 
Teisco Del Rey ET-312

Mahogany body, small, bolt-on maple neck, 4/2 tuners per side, rosewood fingerboard, roller saddles, vibrato, 3 pickups with blender style slide switches on an aluminum pickguard. Original metallic blue/torquoise paint job. Looks like something Elroy Jetson would have played. Strung with roundwounds .012-.52 with wound G.

Arai Diamond
A Japanese Mosrite wannabe from the 60’s. Mahogany body, bolt-on maple neck. Rosewood fingerboard, tune-o-matic bridge(replacing the original plastic roller bridge saddles, Jaguar-esque vibrato, 2 P-90’ish pickups with rocker switches on a faux tortoise shell pickguard. Translucent, dark forest green with black. Strung with flatwounds .011-.50 with wound G.

Framus Strato-Deluxe
Late ‘60’s, sunburst finish, laminated neck, bound rosewood fingerboard, 2 pickups, lotsa chrome and creative machining. Wonderful vibrato and a superbly designed string mute. Way cool, defeat able, spring-loaded volume pot with a pinky hook on it! Strung with roundwounds .011-.49 with plain G.

National Special lap steel
‘48 Black and white eight string. Tuned to B11. High to low E-C#-A-F#-D#-B-A-F#. Strung with semi flatwounds, .014-.56.

Other Instruments
  • Farfisa mini compact organ
    What can I say? This baby is dirty, noisy, and made entirely of aged Italian cheese.

Amplifiers

  • Fender Band-Master, 1966.. I split my pedalboard output with a Lehle P-Split. One output goes to the reverb tank and into the Vibrato channel. The other output goes to a MXR Dyna Comp (script logo) and into the normal channel. Fender Bassman cabinet loaded with an old pair of P-12 Jensen speakers (alnico magnets).I got ‘em from a funeral home, where they had been used for organ and had them reconed.

  • Laub Manufacturing Unique Amplifier. Hailing from Mequon, Wisconsin in the 60’s, this 2-12 combo was probably intended for use as an accordion amp. With it’s dark sound, cavernous reverb, and trippy pitch shifting vibrato, it makes a perfect mate for the Bandmaster.

  •  Fender Deluxe Reverb, 1966. It’s got a Tone Tubby hemp cone alnico speaker in it. This amp runs in parralel with the Band-Master on some gigs for added complexity. I plug a Fender Dimension IV oilcan modulation effect in the reverb send/return with a homemade footswitch for kicking it in and out. I also play the Farfisa through it.

  • Fender Tube Reverb, early 70’s, silver face. I find this unit has a more lush and complex sound than the blackface ones.

  • Supro Model 24 With a ’63 Fender Reverb unit in front of it. Used for recording. Great amp for lap steel guitar.

Effects

  • Lehle 3@1 (for switching instruments)

  • Korg Pitchblack Tuner

  • Keeley Katana Clean Boost

  • Exotic RC Booster

  • Tech 21 Roto Choir

  • Maxon AD 999 Analog Delay

  • Fulltone Deja ‘Vibe

  • S.I.B. Varidrive

  • Echoplex - solid state Market Electronics Co. era

  • Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (on the Farfisa)

  • Digitech JamMan Phrase Sampler (for between song sound bytes)

Noise Toys
You can hear some of the effects of applying circuit bending techniques to childrens’ toys on the songs ‘Monsta Stomp’ and the intro to ‘Journey To the Stars’ from our ACTION HEROES cd. All sorts of weird and unexpected sounds can be produced by connecting circuits in unconventional and downright ignorant ways. Check out http://www.anti-theory.com/soundarts to find out more. Great fun!