Horse Feathers

Here's a shot taken last Friday on the new stage at Povlitzki's in Spring Lake Park. Darren Hensel from the reincarnated Iron Horse is showing off his two color sunburst Fender Stratocaster, a nice vintage reissue with pearloid pickguard. Check the Iron Horse band schedule to find where you can hear Darren jam & ask him about his stage axes.

Where's Waldo

1982 Gibson "The Paul" with traditional natural finish on walnut body, camouflaged against same guitar wallpaper. I guess this should really be called Where's Pauldo unless it gets painted with red & white stripes.}:-D- This is a great playing ebony board, neck-thru beauty with jumbo frets & Grover tuners. There's no maple cap here from which to carve the arch top. Gibson also chose not to include a pick guard to keep the cost down. Owner Dave Sanborn used this guitar for years in the twin cities rock metal band Wyzdom. These days you'll find his banjo skills are equally as impressive as his Deep Purple solos were back in the 80's. I'll post an update to the next hoedown.

Rock with me tonight (Saturday Dec 3rd) at the Blue Fox in Arden Hills.

Pull Your Pistol

Freak of the Week
This six stringer is a six shooter. Colt Peacemaker, designed by Jim Cairnes. This English made Star guitar has Cairnes pickups, & ebony fretboard. The trigger is the volume, & the hammer selects the pickups. The cartridge ejector rod is a push/pull tone control. Currently on display at the American Guitar Museum in New York.

America the Beautiful

1996 USA Fender Special Edition Buck Owens edition Fender Telecaster. This is really one of the most beautiful Teles that I've ever seen, & you can guess that it plays like a dream. Routed out for a 3rd pickup by Brad Paisley’s guy at Cook Guitars in West Virginia. Originally had gold hardware & gold pickguard, now changed to nickel & pearl. Pick ups have been upgraded to Joe Bardens along with a 5 way switch & 2-way toggle. B-Bender installed by Brad’s bender guy, Charlie McVay in Pennsylvania. Also has locking tuners and a custom tone/volumes knobs with red M.O.P.
      This axe isn't just for show. Owner Mark Heurkins of Big Lake plays it everyday & says this guitar will have to be pried out of his cold dead hands! Mark is pickin & a grinnin with this fine machine at local clubs around town with his band Blue Canyon. Catch their next show Sunday, December 4th, 4:00 pm at Neumann's Bar in North St Paul. Follow them on facebook HERE.

Rock with me tonight at Buster's in Owatonna.

Just Like Living in Paradise

Paradise guitars USA - Jason Becker - Siganture model. Owner Haanz Vakker of Spring Lake Park says that playability was a key factor when this one was on the drawing board. It's great for recording, as the ultra sustaneous pick ups are very quiet between passages. Check out the YouTube video of Haanz ripping it up on this axe. Click Here for the schedule of where to see Haanz shredding this guitar live with his band JoyRide,

Tonight: Pov's in Andover

Electric Mandobird VIII

Our show at the St Croix casino yesterday allowed me the opportunity once again to view a portion of the collection of Steve Lindstrom from Amery, WI. Here's his Epiphone Electric Mandobird VIII (8 String Mandolin in vintage sunburst finish). It's not every day that you run across these, so it's nice when someone generously shares their odd instrument. I snapped a few pics of some of his other axes, & I'll post them at a later time. Here's looking forward to featuring more specimens from Steve's collection & getting additional pics when we return to Turtle Lake for our next big show on new years eve. We'll be dropping hundreds of balloons from the sky at midnight, with THOUSANDS of DOLLARS tucked inside to make this the greatest party ever. Hope to see you at the show to check what cool guitars we're using.

Flock of T-Birds

I found a rather impressive display of Epiphone Thunderbirds hanging around a local used music shop last week & thought I'd share it. Music go Round in Roseville had these Ultra cool Nikki Sixx Blackbirds with traditional goth theme & maltese cross inlay. What's really unique about these is the absence of volume & tone pots; just one over sized toggle switch! Need more info of these? Call the store: 651 487-5600. Pick up one of these basses & It'll be your picture posted here next time.

Tonight: St Croix casino in Turtle Lake, WI.

Goldilocks

Shiny, sparkling, & downright glitzy. Original finish 1999 Epiphone Sorrento, owned, operated, & maintained by George Paulos of Little Canada. As always, a few mods were necessary to get this up to pro standards; note the new Gibson Nashville tune-0-matic bridge. George has installed an upgrade of new cts pots, & of course he puts jumbo frets on everything he plays. George was the luthier at Torp's Music for ten years, so getting the mods right the first time was quick, easy & painless. George can currently be seen using this axe frequently around town with his steady gig Rythm Engine, a five piece rock, soul, & pop combo complete with keys & sax. Click HERE for a list of their current scheduled performance dates

Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Dan Hansen from the Whatnots offered up a great performance last weekend at the St Croix casino showroom in Turtle Lake WI. The white stratocater that he used was quipped with a PRS dragon humbucker & Floyd Rose trem, but he also featured his new reliced 59 reissue Gibson Les Paul deluxe for a few tunes. They're both fine axes & look great on stage. Erin was in fine form also, & was kind enough to sing me a little Pat Benetar. }:-D- Here's their schedule for the next time you want to go rock for a while.

My Hero

These fine high quality plastic examples are true vogue specimens of the new millennium. Minneapolis power house drummer Eric Althaus proudly displays his red SG Guitar Hero controller which he enjoys using for the many difficult passages in tunes by RUSH. The black Fender strat Rock Band model is more appropriate for noodling along with Dick Dale's Miserlou. Wen he's not busy engaging in fierce family battles with guitar hero at home Eric stays busy performing on drums with twin cities based feature show JoyRide. Be sure to catch a show at any one of various local night clubs found on their tour schedule. Want to know even more about Eric? Click here to learn about Equinox.

Attack of the Spectors

Here's John Lockner of Maple Grove playing a 1986 Spector NS-2. It's a nice sounding & smooth playing bass that's never let him down on stage. This is one of five Spectors that he uses regularly to cover the low grooves. John's had a busy gig schedule, as he's been working with GEMINI for years. That keeps him active when he's not busy selling great gear at American Guitar & Band during the week. His past rock trysts include a long history of performances with great local acts Barilla, Dungeon, & Jaded. John's got a lot more cool axes to share, so check back on this site soon for more vintage mojo from a true dedicated rocker.

Battlescar Gallactica

This high mileage heavy metal Stratocaster is owned & built by Kelly Peterson from Blaine. Great beginnings for this one, starting life as a 1983 alder body reissue of a 1957. New features now include tone zone in the bridge position, dimarzio paf pro in neck position, & stacked coil razor from AllParts in the mid position. Fender logo on Jackson replacement neck with ebony board, Kahler locking nut &super jumbo frets attached to body now routed out for Floyd Rose. This battle worn weapon has earned it's stripes. Kelly has always stayed busy working with many past acts such as Rocking Horse, Regime, Badditude, Killawatts (the list goes on & on). Kelly is as talented & reliable as they come in this business. We got our music degrees together back in the 80's, so you know he's got it down right tight! He's one heck of a luthier as well. Some of Kelly's current projects are K-Train doing classic rock & Custard Pie, a cool Zep tribute act.
You can always hit the official KmanRocks.com website to find out where to rock with the Kman. He might even let you sit in, or at least let you knock over one of his guitars. }:-D-
Stay tuned for future posts featuring more of Kelly's other hip battle axes.

World's Largest Pedal Board

Freak of the Week
I'd get so lost using this set-up. Maybe there's an ap you can get for iPhone (like google earth) to help navigate this thing. We all dreamed of effects arsenals like this when we were teens, but now most of us dream of burning the mortgage. You've got to admit that it'd still be fun to start twanging & stomping all over these pedals. Use the comment section below to try & correctly identify as many of these classic pedals as you can. You can click on the picture to enlarge the photo. I'll honor the winner of this contest with my personal congratulations on their misspent youth.

Twisted Sister

I was lucky enough to have Gloria Gunnick of White Bear Lake think of me yesterday when it was finally time to sell her '81 Guild X-80 with factory mounted Kahler trem. She's taken good care of this, & it's still in amazing condition after 30 years here in the cities. She's rocked with several acts over the years, including the Glo Girls & Phat Pearl, so you might remember her from some of the classic rock party rooms of the era, like Muldoons, Monte's, or the old Iron Horse. Here's some classic footage of her in action I found on YouTube. Thanks for years of great entertainment, Glo. Can't wait to see what's next.
...Tonight: McKracken's in Burnsville.

1968 Gibson Dove

This classic is owned by Dan Osberg of Cottage Grove. Dan inherited this gem from his father who played a lot of shows in South Minneapolis back in the day. Note the addition of a custom clear plexi pick guard on the top. This axe has played a lot of polka & country before Dan ever got rocking on it. While this guitar has a lot of monetary value, nothing can compare to the sentimental value that Dan places on this classic honky tonk machine. I've played many shows with Dan this year. He a solid reliable player, & a dedicated rocker who's most noted for his prior work with the twin cities based Metallica tribute show "One".

Erin-Caster

This is an exact replica of an 82 "big peghead" Fender Stratocaster built for Willie McManus by Erin Randolph of South Minneapolis. Erin is usually busy doing repairs, as he is the authorized repair luthier for Encore Music. Erin still finds time to build a couple guitars every year. You you can contact him at lexluthier72@yahoo.com, or by phone at 612 987-0825. Click HERE to see Willie rocking this axe on YouTube. Catch Willie's next show on Saturday November 19th at the Fabulous Driftwood Char Bar. with his cool band "The She Shes"

Free Fallin'

Brian Evans can be seen all across the country playing this one of a kind axe by Phantom Guitars out of Oregon. This rare 12 string was custom made to specs set by Karl Swartz for Mark Larsen, & is one of the many authentic axes used in the Minneapolis based Tom Petty tribute show "Free Fallin'". Click HERE for a link to where you can see this guitar in action.
For more information contact: Phantom Guitarworks 80353 Quincy Mayger Rd Clatskanie, Oregon 97016 USA (503) 728-4825 Tel

1967 Voxmobile

Freak of the Week
Even though the owners of this Barris custom currently reside in Denver, I just had to upload this because of the obvious tie in with the previous post below. So here it is - the one and only VOXMOBILE! In 1967, VIP's from Vox corporation approached George Barris to build a Voxmobile guitar car. George had just finished the Bat mobile, & would soon be making the Monkey mobile. The idea was to fabricate a custom roadster that would function both as a car and as a mobile amplifier, designed to be used for promotional purposes. Their dreams came true with Vox mobile, a vehicle with a Vox guitar silhouette that served as a functioning amp that could support up to 32 guitars, and also featured a working Vox Super Continental organ in the rear deck. You can learn more from the Barris Customs page.
Here are more cool Vox mobile links:
http://www.thevoxmobile.com/index.php/what-is-the-voxmobile/6
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=351329&showall=1
http://www.pedaltothemetal.com/index.php/news_story/1967_george_barris_quotthe_voxmobilequot_vox.html

Beware the Encore Phantom

Here's the five sided Japanese copy of the ultra British Vox Phantom, distibuted by Tiesco Del Rey. A rare appearance of model EV-2T, circa 1967 available through Encore Music at 2407 Lyndale ave S. Chad was kind enough to let me into the shop to snap a few pics this week during the extensive remodeling process at Encore. With the plethora of vintage guitars on hand it was very difficult to select only one to feature. Give him a call at 612 871-1775 for more info on this pizza paddle, or to get an update what else he's got available this week.

God Save the Queen

Beautiful 2008 Red Special from Brian May Guitars (very similar to the original Burns) as used by Steve Pritchard of Rogers, MN in the great Queen tribute "Crown Jewels". Steve picked up this axe specifically for this cool show which I attended at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis on June 14th 2011. The band is now on temporary hiatus while searching for a new keyboardist for this project. Steve is also currently working with the Audio Marauders this fall. Click HERE to check their twin cities schedule. Maybe you'll get lucky, as Stevie just might be be swinging this axe for a few tunes.

Update: Just caught Mark from the Whatnots playing this same fine axe in the event center at St. Croix casino on 11/11/2011.