Guitar Special Vol.217 with Angus Clark (Trans-Siberian Orchestra)

Model: Flying V

Year: 2013

Color: White

Hardware: TonePros Bridge, Tailpiece, and Tuners

Pickups: Duncan Distortion Set

Upgrades/Alterations: Bone nut, pickguard, straplocks

Setup: Standard .010-.046

This has been my main guitar for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra Tour since I bought it in 2013.  When I bought it there were almost no standard ’67 style V’s available on shelves anywhere, so I just called Dave’s guitars in LaCrosse, WI and asked if they had one. Sure enough they did, so I bought it sight unseen and as fate would have it, it’s a great guitar.

I put covered pickups in all my humbucker guitars because I don’t like the risk of catching a string on a pickup bobbin. At the time I got this I was working with TonePros so they sent me their version of the Kluson Tuners along with the Bridge, Taipliece, and studs. The pots and switch have all been changed a few times over the years, and it got a new nut a couple of years ago.

As the color started to yellow I thought the white pickguard it came with started to look too bright, so last year I put the black guard on it.

I love this guitar, sounds great, plays great.

Model: Flying V

Year: 2005

Color: Heritage Cherry

Hardware: Gibson

Pickups: Duncan Distortion Neck, Duncan “Whole Lotta Humber” Bride

Upgrades/Alterations: Bone nut, pickguard, straplocks

Setup: Standard .010-.046

After I got the white V I was interested to get another one.  One day on the way to play Rock of Ages on Broadway, a friend of mine that worked at Sam Ash called me and said he’d just gotten a used Gibson V into the shop and thought I might want to check it out. The guitar was in sort of rough shape, the nut was broken and the finish is very cloudy, but just from playing it a little I could tell it was super resonant and at $900 it was steal.

The original work was done by Patrick Nelson at Patrick’s guitar repair in Brooklyn.  He put a bone nut on it, replaced all the wiring and installed a set of Duncan Distortions. I left all the original hardware on it.

The neck is much more U shaped than the white V, and it’s a way brighter guitar. So much so that I swapped the Bridge pickup out for a Whole Lotta Humbucker, which is a bit warmer and lower output.

The truss rod cover is mirrored. I had a mirrored pickguard on it one year, but it really didn’t show up will in photos and so on, so now it’s black.  But I left the truss rod cover.

Model: ’61 SG “Les Paul” RI

Color: White

Hardware: Gibson

Pickups: Gibson “Custom Buckers”

Upgrades/Alterations: Bone nut installed and Plek’d by Brauer guitars.  Original bridge was replaced with a  Callaham in 2018.

I bought a Gibson USA ’61 SG and started bringing it to TSO rehearsals one year. Paul O’Neil saw me with it and said, “I like the SG on you” so I said, “it would show up better if it was white.”  And he said, “call the office and make it happen.”

As luck would have it the Custom Shop had just done a run of these white ones.  The Gibson Custom Shop at that time (2012 maybe?) definitely had some QC issues so this guitar needed a little love. My guitar tech on the TSO gig at that time is James Hetfield’s tech and he suggested that we send it to Brauer to get a new nut and have it Plek’d. So we did that and wow this guitar came back playing like a dream.

It came with first generation Burstbuckers, and they were good, but not great for the higher gain stuff that I do.  I contacted Gibson and they sent us a set of the Custombuckers, which I think are the same ones the custom shop still uses. They sound great.

I’m just noticing in looking at this picture that the foil is missing off the neck volume knob.

Model: ’61 SG Standard

Color: Heritage Cherry

Hardware: TonePros

Pickups: Gibson 57 & 57+

Upgrades/Alterations: Bone nut. TonePros Bridge, Tailpiece, and Tuners

I bought this guitar direct from Gibson via their New York office. I had played one in a store and really liked it. The Gibson guys in the New York office at the time were friends of the TSO so they gave me a great deal on it.  This is the first Gibson guitar I ever bought.  I always loved the SG because of Iommi and Angus Young.

This is probably a late 2000’s factory model. It’s really good.  The neck is pretty slim and the custom shop does sound a little better, but I still love this guitar.  At the time they put this out this was the lowest priced model that had that “punch” you want to hear on an SG.

I played this on the TSO recording of “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana on the Nightcastle album. It was the main axe I used when recording the “Victory: A Rock Opera” project with Jill Janus from Huntress.  It’s also the guitar I used for the guest solo on a Metal Church record.

Model: Brent Hinds Flying V

Color: Silverburst

Hardware: Gibson

Pickups: Seymour Duncan Distortion set

Upgrades/Alterations: None

Setup: D Standard, .011-.052

Epiphone started making pretty good signature models for a bunch of artists all right at the $1,000 mark.  Since I had gotten into V’s I had been looking around at all these “benchmark” V’s with LP Custom appointments like the binding and block inlays and so on. Plus I had silverburst on the brain because I thought it would be a good look on the TSO stage. Those Benchmark models were around $6K and they all sold in no time.

This guitar has a huge neck. It’s good for low tunings and it looks awesome on stage.  I haven’t used it much outside of on tour with the TSO, as it is huge and heavy.  But it definitely makes a statement.

Model: Les Paul Classic T (Sam Ash Guitars of Distinction)

Color: Silverburst

Hardware: TonePros Bridge and Tailpiece. Grover tuners.

Pickups: ThroBak

Upgrades/Alterations: 50’s wiring, pickup swap, TonePros, Tuners, nut

Setup: Eb Standard. .010-.-046

I bought this on Reverb, I have no idea how authentic it is.  It’s really heavy and the 2017 Sam Ash Les Paul Classic T is supposed to weight relieved. So….

Anyway, this guitar sounds great, it sounds like a Slash Les Paul should. The neck is 60’s style slim. The Throbak’s are awesome. I’ve had the nut replaced twice and put the hi ratio Grovers on it, but it still has tuning issues.

When I took the pickguard off we found evidence that the pickguard was not original, which was weird.  My repair guy plugged the screw hole and fixed a mark on the face of the guitar left by the bracket that held the pickguard in place.

When I put the ThroBaks in it (which the guys at Throbak very kindly potted for me due to my being a higher gain player), I had the tech change the wiring to 50’s style.

I like using it in the TSO context cause it only has to last a couple of tunes staying in tune and my tech does a great job of getting it to stay that way.  It looks great on stage and the silverburst catches light without drawing too much attention. But wow is it heavy.  I’ve used it on the Broadway’s Rock of Ages Band shows as well.

Model: Floyd Rose Classic Stratocaster

Color: Sunburst

Hardware: Original (Fender and Floyd Rose)

Pickups: Bridge – DiMarzio 36^th Anniversary PAF, Neck and Middel – DiMarzio True Velvet

Upgrades/Alterations: Floyd Rose Tungsten block, Titanium inserts, refretted, full pocket neck shim.

Setup: E standard, .010-.046

This was my main guitar from ’92 until 2001.

I bought it when I was in Naked Sun because I wanted a more traditional looking guitar (I was playing an ESP M-II with a hockey stick headstock) that was still a Floyd Rose with a humbucker.

The reason I got this specific guitar was because there was enough room between the humbucker and the bridge to fit a Roland MIDI pickup.  It’s fateful that I wound up with this guitar because when I was seen by Kitaro’s manager, the fact that I was playing a strat, and looked like David Gilmour, and sounded like David Gilmour, were big contributing factors to my getting the gig. And the gig even required me to use the synth pickup!

I played this on all the work I did for Kitaro, all three Grammy-Nominated records including the live “An Enchanted Evening Video”. I did my TSO audition on it.

Matt Brewster at 30^th Street guitars refretted it in the mid-2000’s, the guys at Atomic Guitars replaced the pickguard and did the current wiring.

While I owe a lot to this guitar, in a certain sense it has been a liability, as it is hopelessly un-hip, and you know, sounds like a Floyd Rose strat. But sometimes that’s what you need.

Model: Floyd Rose Classic Stratocaster

Color: Sunburst

Hardware: Original (Fender and Floyd Rose)

Pickups: Bridge – Seymour Duncan ‘59, Neck – Kinman, Middle – who cares

Upgrades/Alterations: Floyd Rose Tungsten block, Titanium inserts, refretted with 6105 frets, replacement pickguard

Setup: E standard, .010-.046

I mentioned to a friend of mine that I had backed off playing the Kitaro strat because I liked maple fingerboards better than rosewood.  A few months later that friend sent me this guitar as a gift. It was made just shortly after the Kitaro strat and is virtually identical except for having a maple fingerboard.

I spruced it up and took it out to play with Cher. So yes, this guitar has been played on stage with Cher.

I had first put a Duncan “Full Shred” in the bridge but it didn’t suit the guitar so I went for a ’59 and it sounds good. It still has some of the same subdued presence the other one has, but it sounds way more “Van Halen-y” now. The Kinman neck pickup is awesome.

Model: American Vintage ’62 Reissue

Color: Vintage White

Hardware: Original (Fender and Floyd Rose)

Pickups: David Allen “Echoes” set

Upgrades/Alterations:

–          Re-fretted with 6105’s by Matt Brewster

–          Matt ground the new frets to create a compound radius (7.25”-10”) effect on the top of the frets, while leaving the fingerboard a 7.25” radius

–          “Vintage Narrow” bridge with Callaham block and saddles

–          Bridge tone knob is a pull-up switch that cuts the bridge pickup down to vintage output

Setup: Eb standard, .009-.042

I love this guitar, it sounds and plays great.  I used it on the TSO tour for a couple of years but it’s a bit too strat-y for that gig.

I used this for a bunch of Deep Purple and Rainbow tribute stuff and it’s all over the Anna Phoebe “Gypsy” album. It’s the main strat on the “Your Last Battlefield” record as well. My favorite time using this guitar was with Joe Lynn Turner, it was awesome on that gig where I was doing all the Blackmore, Yngwie, and Hendrix stuff.

I learned a lot about what I like and don’t like on a strat from this guitar, which is why I have such particular taste regarding string spacing, frets, fingerboard radius, and so on.  I started noticing a real difference when moving from Floyd Rose spacing, or Gibson spacing, over to a traditional strat.  That’s how I came to replace the bridge with a bridge from an American Special, which drops right into a vintage guitar, but has narrower saddle spacing.

Model: AC6722 Stratocaster

Color: Black

Hardware: Gotoh / Callaham / Fender / Highwood

Pickups: Lollar 60’s Specials

Frets: 6105

Setup: E standard, .009-.042

“AC6722” is a model number of my own creation, just like this guitar.  After getting a guitar from the Fender custom shop, and another from a boutique builder, I just decided that I liked the neck from my American Special because it had a large headstock and 22 frets. So I had it refinished and refretted with 6105’s and attached it to an Eric Johnson signature (lightweight alder) body. Nitro finish.

I put together a bridge using the plate from an American Special, a Callaham Vintage Narrow block and arm, and a set of Highwood saddles.  WD pickguard, Lollar pickups, and an Emerson Custom wiring harness.  All assembled and fine tuned by Anthony Marchitelli at Majestic Guitarworks here in New Jersey.

I’ve used this guitar for some home recording projects, it hasn’t been out on the road with anything.  The Lollars are very traditional sounding, so this guitar does really well if I want to do something with fuzz or any other effects that are looking for that lower output from the guitar.

I had it on the road as my hotel guitar and started the “hotel hobbies” series using it doing a bunch of Gilmour and Clapton covers.  Both of those guys played black strats at one point or another.

Model: AC6722 Stratocaster

Color: Olympic White

Hardware: Kluson / Callaham / Fender / Highwood

Pickups: Kinman Impersonator e69

Frets: Fender Medium jumbo

Setup: E standard, .009-.042

This is the second “AC6722” and while it was originally slated to have 6105’s in the rush leading up to having it ready for tour I just left the original Fender frets on the neck.  Anthony built this one too.

As I have honed in on the strat specs I like, I also got involved in a project for which I am going to need guitars that evoke the guitar players that were a part of Ronnie James Dio’s rise and reign as the greatest Hard Rock vocalist of his time.  This is the Blackmore guitar.

For this one I had to order the parts, the neck is an American Special replacement neck. The body is an aftermarket body made by USACG, finished and aged by Mark Jenny (@MJTele).  The Kluson tuners are an updated spin on the “F” style tuners, modern diecast 19:1 small button tuners with staggered split-shaft posts.

It has the same bridge as the other 6722.  The pickups are Kinman noiseless pickups, except for the middle, which is a Mojotone.  It has an Emerson Custom harness, but for some reason it is just not as good as the one I got for the black guitar. I think it has something to do with availability of parts during the pandemic.

6722 is a combo of “67” being both the year of my birth, and a year that Fender made four-bolt large headstock strats, and “22” because it has 22 frets instead of 21.

Model: 2020 50’s Standard

Color: Blacktop (re-finished)

Hardware: Kluson / Callaham

Pickups: Pariah “Distruction 70” (customized)

Frets: Gibson

Setup: E standard, .010-.046

This is the second guitar in the Dio lineup, it’s meant to recreate the vibe of Vivian Campbell’s “Holy Diver” era Les Paul Deluxe.  Viv famously bought a brand new, red Les Paul Deluxe and promptly sanded the top off of it and painted it black.  Then he took it to his local shop and had it routed for full-size humbuckers and properly painted flat (or matte) black.

I ordered this from Gibson, it was a tobacco burst. I took it to Anthony and showed him some pics of Viv’s guitar and now it’s a “blacktop”.  It has Kluson locking tuners and Callaham bridge and tailpiece. The pickups are by Pariah, and are similar to the high output pickups Viv used back then.

I’m really happy with how this guitar came out and I look forward to using it on this Dio Tribute show I’m putting together. I used it on stage with the TSO on a couple of shows of the last tour and on some Rock of Ages band gigs. The Pariah pickups are great.

I think all the hardware manufacturers doing this upgraded aftermarket stuff are great. Kluson has a crazy number of options so I find it easy to get what I want. In this case the 19:1 diecast tuners with traditional keystone tuners instead of metal is a nice option. They have them locking or not, and the locks work great.  The Callaham stuff has locking screws on it like the TonePros but the metal has a quality to it that sets it apart.

Model: 2019 SG Special

Color: “Old Boy” Relic

Hardware: Kluson / Pigtail

Pickups: JayDee “Old Boy” pickups

Frets: Gibson

Setup: Eb standard, .009-.042

Rounding out the Dio tribute models is this recent SG Special.  Gibson has a $3K+ proper reissue of the SG Special, and they also put out this $1400 version in Burgundy and Pelham Blue. This one was Pelham Blue. I bought it used on Reverb from a guy who had already put a bone nut and a set of Lollar’s on it.

I had it refinished by Joe Riggio in Tacoma, Washington. I sent him some pics of Iommi’s Old Boy to reference. I love the work he did on it. I ordered the rest of the parts and had it put together by Anthony.  He had to route the body somewhat to fit the pickups in.  The wiring harness is from an outfit called “Gun Street Wiring Shop” and they do great work.

This guitar is an IOMMI-machine!!!!  Super happy with it and can’t wait to get on stage with it.

Getting the pickups was hilarious. Tony got his guitar (in the 70’s) and pickups from John Birch, who owned a shop that built guitars and guitar parts. Tony’s guitar tech (John “Jaydee” Diggins) worked in the shop and went on to build what became the Old Boy.

Jaydee now makes replicas of the John Birch pickups, they can be ordered directly from Jaydee Guitars in Birmingham, UK.

Anthony fabricated the pickguard from scratch to fit the guitar.

Model: DK 24

Color: Trans-Purple

Hardware: Charvel / Floyd Rose

Pickups: Seymour Duncan Full Shred set

Upgrades: Floyd Rose Original swapped in for a 1000 series. FU-Tone Brass Block. Covered pickups to replace the uncovered ones that came with the guitar.

Frets: Charvel

Setup: E standard, .010-.046

I specifically got this guitar from Mike Tempesta at Charvel for the Cher gig. When Joel Hoekstra called me about subbing on the gig the plan was for me to use the “show” guitars, meaning I’d use the same guitars Joel was using. The problem with that plan was that for the big guitar feature, Joel was playing his Phil Collen model, a Fender scale guitar with .011-.048 strings on it. I had played that guitar during our time at Rock of Ages together and I knew that I was not comfortable on it.

I played 3 Cher show with this guitar. So yes, this guitar has been played on stage with Cher.

I got this as a stand in for the Phil Collen, and they let me swap it into the lineup on the show. It sounded great on the gig, everyone was really happy with it.

Amazingly good guitar for the price.  I put an original Floyd on it which I think improved the feel and tuning stability.  If I had my druthers it would have all chrome hardware on it, but I couldn’t get a Chrome Floyd at the time I needed, so I just got the knobs, screws, pickup switch tip to match the pickup covers.

Brass block from FU-Tone!

Model: Les Paul Standard R9 (’59 Reissue)

Color: Desert Burst (? I think)

Hardware: Gibson

Pickups: Gibson Custombuckers

Upgrades: Floyd Rose Original swapped in for a 1000 series. FU-Tone Brass Block. Covered pickups to replace the uncovered ones that came with the guitar.

Setup: E standard, .010-.046

Around the time I turned 50 I decided it was time I got one of these.  Gibson has been doing such great work since the new management took over.  This is an amazing guitar, it weights about 8.1 pounds, which is really light for a non-weight relieved Les Paul.

I’ve used it on a bunch of home recording, instructional videos, etc. It’s visually stunning in person. Every time you open the case it’s like Christmas.

I’ll say this guitar is a serious cut above the Standard 50’s that I got for the Dio project. Is it worth the price tag? Depends on your reasons for getting it.

Model: Adrian Smith Signature

Color: White

Hardware: Floyd Rose

Pickups: DiMarzio Super Distortion / DiMarzio True Velvet

Upgrades: The original single coils were Fender noiseless, which I replaced. No-load tone pot on the bridge pickup. Replacement pickguard. Replacement neck.

Setup: D standard, .011-.049

The TSO got me this guitar as an alternative to a guitar that an Atomic Guitarworks guitar that featured some TSO-related artwork that had become embroiled in a lawsuit. No fault of the Atomic guys, who do great work.

After having it out on the tour in 2010, when I came back in 2011 my tech said the neck was twisted so we got a new neck from Jackson. In the process we uncovered that the original neck had been shimmed at the factory with these loose squares of cellophane-ish plastic.  That’s a massive fail from a QC standpoint I’d say. This is the $3K USA version of the guitar. Anyway, we got the new neck and it’s good to go now.

I replaced the pickguard myself, the original was black. I ordered a standard Fender guard and dremel’d the cut around the neck pocket, as the Jackson neck is a bit wider and squarer than a Fender.  Another reason for replacing the pickguard was to get a three-knob console, because the AS only comes with two knobs.

You can see one of the knobs is missing, that happened on the 2021 TSO tour because I wound up not using this guitar and Takumi needed a knob for Andrew’s black Charvel.  Guys? Guys? Am I gonna get that knob back?

Model: Retro Classic S

Color: Fiesta Red Mary Kay

Hardware: Gotoh / Wilkinson

Pickups: Grosh

Upgrades: Came with a Gotoh 510

Setup: E standard, .009 – .042

After a disappointing experience with the Fender Custom Shop I went and met with Don Grosh at his shop in Denver and I really liked everything I played and saw. He does great work.

This is a lightweight ash body and a one-piece maple neck, that is cut, routed for the truss rod, gets the truss rod installed, and then the neck is glued back together. It has all these modern appointments that I was after like a contoured heel, 6105 frets, and so on.

The fretwork on this guitar is immaculate. It plays amazingly well, and it records the best of any of my strats.  Which is interesting because when you just play it next to one of my other strats it feels a bit low output and sounds like it lacks low end. But when you hear it in playback it just sits perfectly in a mix.

It’s a testament to my somewhat saturnine disposition that I wound up swapping out the bridge. The Gotoh 510 it came with just bothered me cause it had a Floyd Rose-ish bar.  So I put one of my Vintage Narrow bridges on it. It had ongoing tuning issues so I got this Wilkinson thing, which is balanced completely differently than a traditional bridge and for some reason only needs 2 springs instead of the three the other bridges required.  What I like about this Wilkinson thing is that the holes the strings go through from the block are staggered – so the D and high E strings don’t have as severe a break angle when leaving the neck plate and traveling over the saddle. So they don’t break as easily.

Model: Ultra Jazzmaster

Color: Rootbeer Burst (I think)

Hardware: Fender / Mastery

Pickups: Fender Noiseless

Upgrades: Mastery bridge and vibrato arm

Setup: D Standard .011 – .052

This guitar was a gift from a friend. I had played a jazzmaster on the Cher gig and I had mentioned I should probably have one because they really are a different beast and they make some really cool tones.  Good friends notice when you say things like that.

The Ultra series wiring is a bit untraditional, so I may pursue having this wired more traditionally.  Even with the locking tuners and the somewhat upgraded Fender bridge and vibrato system it had terrible tuning issues, so I got the Mastery bridge, saddles, string tree, and vibrato system. It works great and stays in tune much better.

I’ve used it on a few recordings and on the DD Verni and the Cadillac band gig, which straddles from Brian Setzer-type rockabilly to classic surf rock. I brought this out on the jazzier and surfier numbers, it sounded amazing.

The Fender noiseless are immensely improved over what they were years ago. They still feel a little inorganic to play, but the sound translates as perfectly authentic.

Model: USA Deluxe Series Telecaster

Color: White Pearl

Hardware: Fender

Pickups: Fender Noiseless neck / Seymour Duncan ‘lil ’59.

Upgrades: Wiring, Rock Rabbit control plate

Setup: D Standard .011 – .052

I ordered this guitar from Fender when they put it out.  There was an ash body version of it and I wish I could have gotten one of those, but they sold them out in a heartbeat. This is still a great guitar.

It has a compound radius and medium-jumbo frets, so it’s a bit of an odd bird for my standard taste, but I’ve used it to great effect on plenty of recordings and in the TSO show over the years.

Right now I’m a little disenchanted with it, but I’ve been through a lot with this guitar.  These USA Deluxe series guitars came with a great TSA-approved case so I would just check this guitar on flights all the time without worry. I wouldn’t even slack the strings and it would be in tune every time I opened the case back up.  There was a period where I was doing a lot of fly dates and I hated walking around the airport with a guitar on my back.

I may put some more traditional pickups in it and the 6105’s and so on just to see if I can fall back in love with it.  I’m hopeful.