Mike McCready 1959 Les Paul Standard. On sale now!

demetrios

Do you think Temple of the Dog will record any new music together?

I hope so! It's up to Chris (Cornell) and everybody’s schedules. I would love to play with those guys anytime.

What can you tell us about the status of any new music with Pearl Jam?

Right now, we just literally got off the road, so there’s hasn’t been a lot of talk about doing a new album. I mean, there has been some talk about it, and we’ll probably end up doing something next year, I think. But right now, I’m looking at some (film) scripts to maybe do some more scoring, which I’ve done before, and the Temple of the Dog thing is our next thing, so that's my next focus.

Tell me about your work with the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America.

Thank you for asking! I have Crohn's disease, and I got that when I was 21 years old. It’s a scary and painful disease, and I never wanted to talk about it until I complained about it so much that my wife finally said, “Look, you have to do something about this. I'm tired of hearing you complain about this. You need to be proactive and get out there and shed some light on what you're going through.” So, about 14 years ago, I reached out to the local Northwest chapter of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, and I went to their luncheon and spoke. The band came and supported me. They had seen me struggle with it through the years. When I finally started talking about it, there was a lightness to it. This burden I was keeping quiet just dissipated for me, because I could talk about it, and I met other people that had it.

Then, I started meeting kids who had it, and I realized that they were really suffering. These kids had to have multiple surgeries and were missing school, and it just ripped my heart out. I started this band called Flight to Mars, which is a UFO tribute band. We do covers, and it's a bunch of my friends from Seattle, and all the money we raise sends kids without the money to attend, to Camp Oasis. The camp has doctors and nutritional things for the kids, but the kids also get to just be kids, and go play and have fun. Each year, we do the Flight to Mars show in Seattle, and last year we raised $50,000.

EB218946

Love Mr. Mike McCready. Dude is a warrior. You are the modern day Eddie Van Halen!!

Jed

Hey All!

First off, thank you to all the contributors of this thread. You made me aware of and helped me to find my very own McCready Grail... Aged / Unsigned #59 is on it's way to me as we speak! I will post pictures and a review once it's arrived.

The guys at the guitar shop had a chance to play it and said, "We are convinced this is one of the best sounding Les Paul's that has ever come through our doors." The shop owner wanted to cancel the order so he could keep it. They said that it's the est sounding re-issue they've ever heard and it rivals most of the vintage guitars they've handled. Just unbelievable! Maybe Gibson paid this one special attention because it was #59?

Anyway, I can't wait to get this beauty. While I wait I figured I'd buy some new strings which got me thinking... does anyone know what stings Mike actually uses on his guitar? I might as well start with the same ones, if I can figure out what they are.

Thanks for any help anyone has!

2-feign-reluctance

Jed said:

Hey All!

First off, thank you to all the contributors of this thread. You made me aware of and helped me to find my very own McCready Grail... Aged / Unsigned #59 is on it's way to me as we speak! I will post pictures and a review once it's arrived.

The guys at the guitar shop had a chance to play it and said, "We are convinced this is one of the best sounding Les Paul's that has ever come through our doors." The shop owner wanted to cancel the order so he could keep it. They said that it's the est sounding re-issue they've ever heard and it rivals most of the vintage guitars they've handled. Just unbelievable! Maybe Gibson paid this one special attention because it was #59?

Anyway, I can't wait to get this beauty. While I wait I figured I'd buy some new strings which got me thinking... does anyone know what stings Mike actually uses on his guitar? I might as well start with the same ones, if I can figure out what they are.

Thanks for any help anyone has!

Boomers if memory serves.

Jed

Thanks for the tip! I found this on their site:

MIKE MCCREADY (PEARL JAM)
GBL ELECTRIC GUITAR BOOMERS - BOOMERS® 6-STRING
Roundwound Nickel-Plated Steel / 14 sets from 008-038 to 013-056

lotsalemon

Some info here:

http://www.pedalboardsofthestars.com/what-guitar-strings-do-they-use-mike-mccready-stone-gossard-and-eddie-vedder-of-pearl-jam/

Most guitar players stick to a certain gauge, so I'm guessing he's still using GHS Boomers 10s.

pdalowsky

Jed said:

Hey All!

First off, thank you to all the contributors of this thread. You made me aware of and helped me to find my very own McCready Grail... Aged / Unsigned #59 is on it's way to me as we speak! I will post pictures and a review once it's arrived.

The guys at the guitar shop had a chance to play it and said, "We are convinced this is one of the best sounding Les Paul's that has ever come through our doors." The shop owner wanted to cancel the order so he could keep it. They said that it's the est sounding re-issue they've ever heard and it rivals most of the vintage guitars they've handled. Just unbelievable! Maybe Gibson paid this one special attention because it was #59?

Anyway, I can't wait to get this beauty. While I wait I figured I'd buy some new strings which got me thinking... does anyone know what stings Mike actually uses on his guitar? I might as well start with the same ones, if I can figure out what they are.

Thanks for any help anyone has!

congrats!!

demetrios

https://instagram.com/p/BMKy8rxAxOs/embed/

Jed

The unsigned / aged #59 arrived last night!

lotsalemon

That looks incredible!
And couldn't have gotten a better number either!

Jed

lotsalemon said:

Some info here:

http://www.pedalboardsofthestars.com/what-guitar-strings-do-they-use-mike-mccready-stone-gossard-and-eddie-vedder-of-pearl-jam/

Most guitar players stick to a certain gauge, so I'm guessing he's still using GHS Boomers 10s.

I ordered these. Thanks so much!

My next big question is: Does anyone know what brand guitar strap Mike uses? I was thinking of grabbing a similiar looking one to complete the set up. I'm looking for something like this:

lotsalemon

That may be a custom strap, with the embossed or stitched MM.
A similar one:

Jed

lotsalemon said:

That looks incredible!
And couldn't have gotten a better number either!

Thanks! I made a special request for Number 59 a few months back and had to wait for it to be built! It came out of the factory this week. It was worth the wait.

mfc2006

that looks awesome!

jjflash

Jed said:

lotsalemon said:

That looks incredible!
And couldn't have gotten a better number either!

Thanks! I made a special request for Number 59 a few months back and had to wait for it to be built! It came out of the factory this week. It was worth the wait.

Man, she's a beauty . Makes me wanna sell a bunch of collectibles that are gathering dust in a corner and buy one of these to play

Jed

I got it from Wildwood guitars in Colorado and when it arrived at the store they played it and called me to say that they were "convinced this is one of the best sounding Les Paul's that has ever come through our doors." The owner of the shop asked if he could cancel the order so he could have it. The sales guy later told me he will never forget how this guitar sounded when they plugged it in and he was comparing it to the other 4 guitars they'd received in this series, other les pauls, and vintage les pauls they have gotten in over the years.

Needless to say, I am a happy guy and it was well worth the money.

lotsalemon

*drool*
Some day I will own a Les Paul.
And that's my favorite color and spec too. '59 all the way!

100 Pacer

How awesome would it be for Mike to randomly select an owner to join him on stage with both guitars belting out Alive?

Jed

Did anyone notice that Mike has a completely new amp rig for the TOTD shows? I guess they are Marshalls, but they say "Temple" on them and they are painted purple with some hearts and other shapes in white. I wonder if they are a whole new deal for him.

demetrios

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFrUzy5wsLI