This article series is about the tools of popular guitarists. What are their favorite guitars and how is it related to them? This time with Robert Wendt (VANJA SKY BAND).
Well, it´s hard to choose a guitar that I like the most. It depends on the song, the style or the situation and last but not least on my personal mood. For the island I would definitely grab my Martin Dreadnought. I mean, you can almost play everything with an acoustic guitar and for me that´s my instrument for doing songwriting whether it is a rocksong or an acoustic ballad at the end. And as Keith Richards said: „the strings are sharp but you can hold it like a baby“. It´s a Martin „D21 Special“ with a Sunrise pickup. Tuned to „Open G“ and set up with 0.13 strings, it´s one of the best acoustics I´ve played. I bought this beauty when I was on a trip in Nürnberg and actually had no plans of buying an acoustic guitar. But when I played a few chords on it, I felt that the guitar was build just for me and I fell in love with it from the first moment.
I love the Telecaster. To me, it´s the perfect electric guitar. So here are my #1 and #2 Haar Tele style guitars. Both equipped with Kloppmann pickups. The 60´s style Tele has an alder body and a rosewood fretboard. That would be my first choice if I could only use one guitar on stage… the sound is something between the typically „Tele-Twang“ and an old Les Paul.
The 50´s Tele is my Keith Richards guitar 🙂 It has a classic swamp ash body with a maple fretboard with a really fat neck. It´s always tuned to „Open G“. Perfect in combination with an old Fender amp.
Since last fall I use my Gibson Junior very often too. I replaced the Gibson PU also for an Kloppmann P90 that fits perfectly. So, you have one pickup with a volume and a tone control… that´s all I need.
I also love the old traditional Mississippi blues, so I like to play slide guitar. I have a couple of resonator guitars including a very old one from „Peters Resonators“ from Neustadt. That´s the sound and feeling for that kind of music!
Photo Credits:
Georg Quartz
Meinolf Reimering
Bonnie N. Fotografie
Sven Arendt
