Ghostbuilt guitars

Paul Andrews

I've always loved seeing pearl jam for the beautiful guitars they have on stage: Strats, Les Paul, Melody Makers, Flying-V, SGs, Tele's etc etc. Looks like they have some very old and road worn guitars and also some new. Asa bass player, I've always love to see what basses Jeff uses too.

i was reading about the number of guitarists usings 'ghostbuilt' Les Pauls (and other big name guitars): ie A les paul that is tagged as a gibson, but is actually made by some other company or guitar builder. I was amazed to find out the guitar Slash used on AFD was actually a ghostbuilt les paul and not a gibson. I know a local builder here in Australia who used to make an incredible ghostbuilt stratocaster (fender markings optional) and loads of guys were using his 'fenders'.

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I used to have les paul, as did a few of my mates. Mine was a 69 goldtop deluxe and it felt really nice but its weight was the death of it when it dropped and smashed its headstock. One of my friends had a black '76 custom that felt, played and sounded like a turd and another friend has a early 70s cherry sunburst that would make Ace Frehly bar up. My teacher had a beat up old 60's goldtop that was the best of the bunch. The differnt in quality between these three guitars was incredible - it was not just a personal style thing. I've seen people with PRS and Fenders who feel the same. I often felt that some so called 'quality' guitar brands produced to pretty crappy guitars along with the great ones.

Looking at the number of models of 'name' guitars that were outsourced to cheap builders, no wonder some touring musicians have turned their back on the brand and have someone else build them a custom copy.

This said, Do Mike and Stone get someone to ghost build them guitars or have they been really careful about picking oput the best they can find whenever and wherever they find them? I'm pretty sure I've seen articles where Jeff talks about his custom made basses.

Piper At The Gates

Mike and Stone both use genuine, vintage Fender and Gibson electric guitars. The only exception is the Gibson custom shop Reissue Les Pauls used by Mike. Most Players do not want to take a $200,000.00 guitar on the road with them when a reissue of that instrument will do.

Paul Andrews

Thanks Piper

I wonder who actually makes Mike's custom Gibsons - are the from the Custom shop, or does Gibson outsource these to other luthiers?

Piper At The Gates

Gibson makes all of their stuff in the Custom Shop in Nashville. The only exception is some their relic jobs are done by a guy named Tom Murphy, who is a well known and highly respected guitar builder. Gibson builds the guitar, then Murphy does the after market work to make it look older and more used looking, a process called relicing. That is how these brand new guitars come out looking like they have been played for 40 years.
By the way, if you want to see a company that does ghostbuild guitars, and does a nice job of it, check out nashguitars.com. Be sure to check out the dealer links to see the pics of them.

DewieCox

Do Mike and Stone use reissues?? I don't f'in think so. Not as their main guitars anyway, right?

I know he uses his main old Strat, and I'm pretty sure he still uses his 59 Les Paul. Those are the REAL DEAL.

I don't remember much else of theirs that would need to be swapped out for fear of road damage.

Paul Andrews

I'd have assumed they'd be the kind of guitarists who grab great guitars whenever and wherever they find them around the place and collect them. Like I said, I love watching their live videos for range of classic guitars you see them use.

Every time I have travelled I've dropped into music stores and scanned through their guitars. I got a really sweet American strat in a dodgy looking music shop in some town in the middle of nowhere in Arizona for $150 in the 90s. Got my jass bass the same way in Vancouver. I wish i'd bought the 'old as' Gibson Thunderbird bass for $200 in Calgary, but turned it down becasue it looked 'too beat up'.

But it was an interesting read about ghostbuilders and the music industry. Almost like cricket players who have ghostbuilt cricket bats and a sponsor's sticker on it.

Also, I love the work of the guys who take a new guitar and then age it 40 years for you to make it look road worn.

Guitarhero27

Paul Andrews wrote:

Also, I love the work of the guys who take a new guitar and then age it 40 years for you to make it look road worn.

I'm on the fence about that. Sure it looks "cool" and "vintage" but there's something to be said about a guitar aging with you. Every scratch and dent as a result of "battle wounds" is more of my cup of tea - I don't intentionally bang my gear around, but it happens, we've all been there...and my 1 and 2 guitars (97 fender lone star strat and an 01 gibson les paul standard) have seen their fair share of battle....i have some more guitars that i use too, keeping the damages to a minimum on the other two, but that's just my preference.

But relic'd guitars do look great.

PS - I can't recall any member of PJ EVER using a Gibson Melody Maker... you're probably mistaking it for either the les paul jr or the les paul special reissue that mike uses.

Yes - PJ does use some reissues - most notably (mike) on this tour for songs that are tuned down half of a step - supersonic, the fixer, life wasted, and even the real me from vh1 rock honors (borrowed and broken from stones collection)

-seth

Paul Andrews

Guitarhero27 wrote:

PS - I can't recall any member of PJ EVER using a Gibson Melody Maker... you're probably mistaking it for either the les paul jr or the les paul special reissue that mike uses.

-seth

Yeah I think you're right.