"The one where you tear it apart!"

Since going off on a couple weeks of a tangent with the blog, which was fun, I have discovered even more important and pertinant points about the subject of “frankenstein” guitars and even pedals, etc. With doing a lot of different style sessions lately, and blending in this new live gig that definitely calls on me to pull off lots of different styles, I have learned that in putting gear together for the gig at hand that sometimes its not the “name brand” that always wins the battle. My head always wants to take me to the big names first, like my Les Paul, and my PRS. I unfortunately listened to this urge for about 3 weeks and forcibly played these two guitars in situations and pushed them upon myself and the songs/gigs for no other reason than that they “should work!” for the part or the gig. Deep down inside I knew that I should pick up my two guitars that I made for myself, for different reasons, and play them in these situations, but I was somewhat falling victim to the name brand syndrome! 

After these weeks of fighting it, I finally gave in and put together a new pedalboard, and plugged in my home made Telecaster. Now, a bit of back story on this guitar and how it came to be. I made it last year out of a sheer need for a super light guitar, and it just so happens that I needed a telecaster. I used Paulownia wood, which is insanely light weight but resonant. I used a Bareknuckle Yardbird single coil pickup in the bridge and made it an Esquire style tele with just the one pickup, which is all I need. I also wired it with just one tone and one volume, but backwards like one of my guitar hero’s, Danny Gatton, for the faux wah effect when rolling the tone knob with my pinky. I finished it with my favorite cream color with white binding and put mint green control plates on the front. Basically, it turned out to be one cool tele whacker! Oh, and it weighed in at an astounding 5 lb. I was skeptical at first about it being so light with this almost unheard of wood that I used, but I was taken aback by just how resonant and responsive this guitar actually is. I would definitely say, more so than any that I have played, and I’ve played hundreds of tele’s over my almost 30 years of playing. 

So, back to the story! I finally put down the big boys, plugged in my little monster, and boom there it was! The next rehearsal was awesome through every song, the tone was spot on for the gig, and I wasn’t fighting the guitar and effects the whole time. I will mention that I did make one huge addition to my board that would probably shock anyone who knows me; I added a compressor! Now, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, I have had a life long battle with compressors, and both have loved certain ones, and hated others. I just went with a newer addition, with the new Keeley Compressor Plus. It is one awesome comp. I love the addition of the single coil/humbucker voicing switch, and the blend knob. This one does the job just right for me and I think I’ll be sticking with it for a while! I had the Keeley 2 knob compressor for years and love it too, but Keeley made some super cool and usable updates to the circuit. With these 2 key updates to my guitar rig, I all of a sudden opened up a world of comfort and unlocked the tone that I was searching for. 

Now lets look at my other theory that working on your own gear, and learning how to do it effectively and professionally, benefits you as a player in all situations. I have, from day one, opened up every pedal, piece of rack gear, guitar, and amplifier that I have ever owned to see how it was wired and what made it tick. At the beginning, it all looked crazy to me, but I learned how to read schematics, and I learned how to solder through hours of practice on pieces of wire and switches. Eventually as I grew up and became a professional musician, this took on a bigger role in my musical life as I was setting up/intonating my own guitars for tours, swapping out tubes on the road and biasing my own amps between gigs, modding my own pedals because they were almost but not quite what I needed, and swapping out guitar necks/pickups etc to make my guitars just right for me. I contribute most of this need to tinker to my ultimate guitar hero, Eddie Van Halen (RIP!), with his early influence over me and my constant reading about his tinkering to achieve his sound. 

With all of this said, it is important not to be afraid of your gear. At least open it up and look at it, it’s cool. If it’s not quite what you want, make it what you want, and use it until it falls apart, then rebuild it again!!! Of course there will always be a few casualties upon the way, but it’s only stuff, and those lost ones will only make you better years down the road a what you do! Sometimes, and in my case more often than not, the pedals, guitars, and amps that I end up using are the ones that I know the best; the ones that I made tick for me, my way! If you know your gear inside and out, you will feel more comfortable with it, and ultimately be able to diagnose any problems that may arise on a session or gig within seconds, pull out the corrects tools and soldering iron, and have it fixed in minutes. Oh, and this is impressive too! So, like I said in the title, tear it up, frankenstein it, see what makes it tick, plug it up, and make incredible music. That’s all for now on this one, but I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it later, so check back in!

~ Ryan Ridgeway 10/19/20