That One Guitar...

(or bass, or keyboard, or horn, or...) That One Guitar is a intimate photo project that pairs some of our favorite musicians with their most important or beloved instrument. Website: http://thatoneguitar.com. If you'd like to be involved, please get in touch! - [email protected] - http://johnmcnicholasphotography.com

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Gary Dizon

City: Tampa, FL

Instrument: Gibson Les Paul Standard

This guitar has been my left arm for a long time. I have played so many live shows with this guitar and it is my go to guitar. I originally found this guitar in the early Nineties. I went shopping with a friend and went to Thoroughbred Music and got strings. We ended up going to Aardvark Music and I found this Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul that had some wear on it. I reached for my checkbook in my back pocket and it wasn't there. I looked out the window of the music store and saw that it was on the dash of the friend that drove us to the store. He wouldn't let me get the checkbook.

He bought the guitar from under me. I ended up on a quest to find another Les Paul. I actually tried pretty much every Gibson Les Paul in the tri-county area over the course of 3 months.I bought a Gibson Les Paul Custom in Burgundy from John McNicholas and it was a resonant guitar. I ended up changing the pickups in the guitar multiple times and settled on EMG's. I still preferred that guitar that the friend bought. I couldn't find a Les Paul that I was as enamored with.

I ended up buying the friend a Pearly Gates pickup for the bridge. The guitar had some Jackson Custom pickup in the bridge and some PJ Marx pickup in the neck. I thought the neck pickup was good, but then I realized playing anything through my Mesa Boogie, sounded good. The pickup was garbage. Ridiculously hot and fragile. I borrowed the guitar constantly. I used it for the Rancid Polecats CD. The LP Custom and the Standard were a big chunk of the album.

I played the guitar at more shows. The second most played guitar I have used was my 1965 Fender Mustang with 50's PAF's.

I kept borrowing the guitar and eventually, it was sold to me. I should have gotten the guitar years before, but when the friend bought a limited edition vintage Korina Gibson Explorer... he wasn't too attached to the guitar. I have added locking tuners, Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 neck pickup and same guitar strap that I have had for 20 plus years. There is no finish on parts of the neck and the back of the guitar. There is a lot of wear that this guitar looks like someone wore a cast iron frying pan as a belt buckle. I broke the poorly made PJ Marx pickup and replaced it with a series of pickups. It had a Seymour JB in the neck for a while and I am happy with the Alnico 2. I use everything on the guitar... the tone knobs to the volume and sometimes have that sweet woman tone. The tone I have is generally Billy Gibbons inspired for clean. I string with Dean Markley DT 13's in standard tuning.

Band name: Dead Fender Twin, Transmogrifier, Analog Ruin, & Jordan Kinley, Cory Chase, & Gary Dizon band...

Music : https://soundcloud.com/gary-dizon/driving-away-transmogrifier The majority of the track is the Gibson Les Paul Standard with Boss PQ-4 Parametric EQ, Maestro Echoplex,through Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier with 4x12 Mesa Boogie Halfback cabinet. The overdubs were Gibson Les Paul Custom with EMG 89 & 85 & an American Hamer Special Vintage with Seymour Duncan P-90's into a Mesa Boogie black treadplate Triple Rectifier with Boss Metal Zone or Boss Super Overdrive.

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Martin Rice

City: St. Petersburg, FL

Instrument: 1978 Fender Precision Bass 

When I first transitioned to bass from guitar, there was a bit of evolution in my musical tastes and therefore, playing style. While my first bass sounded fine, it didn’t feel right in terms of the way it hung and the balance of the playability. My points of reference musician-wise were always usually playing P-Basses and I thought that made sense for me and the Fender legacy was enticing. I always felt like the P-Bass was the quintessential bass shape and nothing else really looked right to me.

My decision to get a P-Bass was in the late 80’s and I didn’t really like the newer P-Basses from that era. I preferred the weight and balance of the mid-late 70’s models. I worked in a music store in Tampa, Florida at the time and played several P-basses that were in stock, but was just waiting for a nice used one to come through the door, but it didn’t happen. I decided to take a day and drive to Orlando to visit several music and pawn shops. In one day, I must have visited at least a dozen shops. I found a few basses that were okay, but they were either too beat up, didn’t feel right or were overpriced. One pawn shop had a mint ’76 with original case and paperwork, but it was about double my budget at the time. I had pretty much given up, but decided to try one last store on Orange Blossom Trail on the way home. I walked in and my bass was hanging in the corner on the last hook. I knew it was the one…3-color sunburst with a maple neck. I asked the clerk about it and he said it was a 78’ but it didn’t have a case. I asked the price and he said $300. He got it for me and I played it and immediately knew it was the one. It was in perfect condition, with not a scratch on it. I told him I’d take it and he threw in a stock case they had. I felt like it was meant to be.

This bass really helped guide the way I play. The weight and the angle of the position of it work great when played low, requiring some improvisation of stock strap lengths. As my playing evolved and I played in several aggressive 3-piece bands, I felt the need for a little more attack, so I put EMGs in it. Even though some might frown on the pickup switch, the active pickups really helped me get the sound I wanted. I eventually had several worker basses from the same era with this set-up. This was always my main bass, though, and I always came back to it even after the initial excitement during the times I acquired another instrument.

This bass has travelled with me on many a road trip and seen gigs in corners of crappy bars, festival stages and everything in-between. It’s seen it’s share of mishaps...spilled drinks, collisions with amps and band-mates, etc., so it no longer has the perfect finish it once had. But that’s why I love it. Whenever I look at it, I see all the scratches, dings and wear and it reminds me of all the good times I’ve had playing music over the years. It’s like scars on the face of a well-travelled old friend and it’s a welcoming sight.

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Brian Keele          

City: Atlanta

Instrument: 1999 Gibson Custom & Historic 1961/1962 Les Paul (SG) Custom

My wife and I didn’t get married until a few weeks before I turned 40.  She was well worth the wait.  Similarly, it took me decades to find my musical soulmate…

I’ve played guitar for about 30 years, several of them as a gigging and recording professional.  I’ve owned 5 Les Pauls, 4 Strats, a Tele (briefly), a few hollowbodies, 3 acoustics, a 12-string, a lap steel, 4 basses, and at least one pointy product of the late 80s of which I’m not proud.  Through it all, I’d never given a second glance to an SG.  That changed last year when I attended both shows of an amazing 2-night stand by HoneyHoney at Eddie’s Attic, and spent the better part of both nights mesmerized by the sound and look of guitarist Ben Jaffe’s glorious reissue ’61 LP/SG Custom.  (note: they were known as Les Pauls in 1961 & 1962, until Les had Gibson pull his name and replace it with SG, for “Standard Guitar”)  I spent the next few weeks dreaming of SGs, occasionally browsing listings online, all while telling myself that I did not need another guitar, and that it was just a crush that I’d soon get over.  And then one night I stumbled across a listing on Reverb.com that literally gave me chills – Classic White, triple-pickup Custom model with a Maestro Vibrola unit and very rare stock nickel hardware (which I greatly prefer over the usual gold).  Against my better judgement, and after a few days of questions and negotiation with the seller, I nervously pulled the trigger…

I was nervous because I wasn’t at all sure what I was getting.  I had never spent time playing any SG – for all I knew, I might hate the way they felt.  I also preferred to put hands on an instrument before buying it, and as such had rarely purchased guitars online.  Sure enough, upon its arrival I thought I’d made a mistake.  The neck was wide and flat and a little chunky in the back - not at all like the thin, narrow “slim taper” LP or “thin C” Strat necks I was used to playing.  To make matters worse, the balance of the guitar seemed all wonky, and it looked funny when I played it slung low like a Les Paul.  What the hell had I done?

Within 2 days I was completely hooked.  I shortened my strap by almost a foot and found that the guitar was incredibly comfortable and well-balanced.  It was much lighter than my back-breaking LPs, and most importantly, sounded amazing through everything from a dead clean Fender Deluxe Reverb to a cranked Friedman Dirty Shirley.  The neck profile that I was so worried about ended up being far more comfortable for my large-ish hands than those of my other guitars.  My playing became cleaner, I had less hand fatigue, and I was able to pull off licks that I was never able to previously.

As the seller noted in his listing, the guitar itself has undeniable “mojo”.  It was originally owned by a noted blind blues player in New Orleans named Bryan Lee – a cool coincidence given that my first and middle names are Brian Lee.  Despite only being 18 years old, the guitar has been PLAYED, and has the battle scars to prove it.  It’s like something you’d expect to see leaning in the corner of a Louisiana roadhouse, which is to say that it’s nice and broken-in.  It features plenty of finish checking/cracking, numerous scratches and dings, yellowed patches, hardware patina, some random areas of mismatched white touch-up paint, and an odd little raised “nubbin” on the back of the neck around the 15th fret.  (I think this was installed as a tactile position marker for the original owner, and was carefully located where it doesn’t affect playability)  The original pickups were at some point replaced with Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbuckers, which sound great to my ear.  Since buying it, I’ve lowered the action slightly, changed out the Vibrola bar, replaced the original Klusons with aged milk-bottle style Grover tuners, added straplocks and a custom strap, and housed it in a new plush, white-lined Gibson case to replace the ill-fitting Gibson Nighthawk case that it came to me in.

A year later, this is the only guitar I reach for, and it’s ushered in a very happy and productive period for me both as a player and as a songwriter.  It truly is the guitar of my dreams and my musical soulmate – it just took me 30 years to find it…

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Ryan Taylor

City: Atlanta, GA

Instrument: 1983 Fender Squire Telecaster

I found this guitar on eBay back when you could still stumble across cool sleeper guitars on there – a cheap, beat-up 1983 Squire Tele with all the finish gone. I knew that Andy Partridge from XTC swore by early 80s Squires, and I knew some of the lore around the quality of these guitars rivaling the American-made Fenders, but I didn’t know what a great guitar this one was until I got it. I’ve had all kinds of guitars come and go around it, but this one just sticks around. I get more comments about the tone and bite of this guitar at shows than any I’ve ever had. It might be the lack of finish, it might be the age of the wood, but it just sounds like magic.

Bands: Blackfox, Eldorado Omega

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Ryan Fleisher

City: Atlanta Georgia

Instrument: Gibson Les Paul Custom

Les Paul, I wish I knew how to quit you.

I'm a guitar slut. I practice guitar infidelity, so picking just one was a challenge. Throughout my trysts, there's one git I always come back to - The Gibson Les Paul. Specifically, the Custom. I've had probably four or five by now.

It was the summer of 2012, and I was combing through various cities’ Craiglist postings to find my next treasure. For reasons unbeknownst to me, this one just sat on Nashville’s Craigslist, and I made a low-ball offer that the seller immediately rejected. But for whatever reason, a few months later, my offer was accepted. I sped to Nashville the next day and brought her home.

The guitar is stupidly indulgent - with gold hardware, huge inlays, a fiery bookmatched flame top, and a paint job (Triburst) that makes me blush. Hell, even the case is lined with crushed red velvet! And at 13 pounds, this back-breaker is just as loud as it is opulent. It's the guitar I always have to turn down when jamming - it doesn't just cut through the mix, it crushes it altogether. But the beefy and creamy sustain is undeniable, and even Les Paul naysayers admire it lustfully.

Many guitars have come and gone since I acquired this Les Paul - but every time I just peek into the case, I'm reminded why she’s sticking around.

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Trey Hollingsworth

City: Atlanta Georgia

Instrument: 1989 Fender Stratocaster

I bought the guitar at Firehouse Music in Conyers, Ga in 2003,  I was 12 Years old and had been playing drums for 6 years leading up to guitar and always wanted one of my own. The price was $500 and the date said 1989 my "birth year" So I knew It was the one. Over the years I have replaced all of the electronics, neck, tuners, and bridge as well as upgrading various other things over time.

This guitar has gone through many modifications over the years. In it’s current state, the guitar’s alder body is fitted with a custom built c-shaped birdseye maple neck with jumbo frets and a bone nut, 2 lace sensor hot gold 6.0k's for the neck and middle position and one Hot Bridge 13.2k for more power and cut.

The tuners are satin Sperzel Locking Tuners and the tremolo is a Wilkinson VS100 with a hipshot tremsetter. The entire guitar cavity is shielded with conductive shielding paint along with copper shielding tape on the Pickguard.

The original Pickguard was sent to Lace for the pickup wiring with upgraded 250k pots, and a .022mfd cap wired with standard 5 way switching. I have also added a thicker neck plate and a steel trem block for more sustain.

The strap is a old belt that I threw schaller strap locks on and as for the rest of the guitars cosmetic state I pretty much just play the hell out of the thing, keep it clean, set up properly, and try not to scratch or ding the finish.

Strings: Ernie Ball regular slinky, standard tuning.

Amp: The amp is a custom Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. This amp has been modded to complement the guitar. The speaker is a Celestion vintage 30.

Band name: Electra Vega

Instagram: @electra.vega

Soundcloud

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Van Bassman

City: Atlanta

Instrument: Gibson SG Zoot Suit "Clownburst"

Late in 2008, my friend Gary sent me a message: “You’ve got to see this guitar!”

Ever feel like something was made for you?

I couldn’t believe my eyes! It had all the specs I was looking for and an amazing, unique body. It’s not a paint job — each piece of 1/8th” wood was dyed, then laminated together and carved.  There were five different color schemes and only 1000 made of each. I pre-ordered immediately.

I made a few minor changes, replaced the 250k pots with 500k and changed the cap to make it a little more buzzard-y. Cosmetically, I replaced the clear knobs with an amber set that go to 11 (it’s one more, you know) and went with an amber switch on the pickup selector.

Initially, people had some really negative things to say about my dream axe: “Clownburst” and “Plywood Guitar” were the most memorable. I remember seeing someone post a Photoshopped image of Ronald McDonald holding this model. It seemed like most guitar players hated the way the Zoot looked.

But the more I played out, the more positive comments I received. After one particularly awesome show, I had an audience member ask if he could get a picture.

“Of course”” I said, pleased with my newly found stardom.

“With the guitar?” he queried.

So I picked up my Zoot and engaged my baddest power stance until he responded “No… I mean, can you put the guitar back on the stand? I would like to take a picture of it."

OUCH!

Now that these are all but impossible to find, I’m glad I went with my gut and grabbed one while I could. The only other person I’ve seen with my “Clownburst" Zoot is Ringo Starr.

That's how it goes when you're looking for The One...

Band name: Uncle Van & The Buzzards of Fuzz / Van Bassman

Listen: From our first EP Buzzard Custard, "Buy Some Rope" was written and recorded on the Zoot

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Brian Roberts

City: Tampa

Instrument: 1974 Fender Precision Bass

We are the same age and have been making music together since 1997. It feels right. Like myself it's heavy and starting to show its age.

While none of the bands I have been in have gotten very far my bass has actually appeared on Jimmy Kimmel. https://youtu.be/uTzi6IPz56I

Eben from the band Saves the Day had been a fan of my band Hankshaw and I brought my bass out to a show to show him. He liked it so much he demand it start coming on tour with them (I was their guitar tech at the time) so it went on several tours with Saves the Day and was used as his main bass.

Band name: Rec Center

Video: https://youtu.be/Ygn3Ie8WDlY

[thatoneguitar]

Ashley Dieudonne

Instrument: Epiphone ES-339

City: Tampa, FL

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Bob Anthony

City: Largo, FL

Instrument: 1971 Fender Jazzmaster

I picked this instrument up for $250 in Jan. 1988. I was living in Tallahassee at the time and was down at my Mom's in Seminole recuperating from a serious car wreck. My band at the time had several dates booked, including many out-ot-town shows. I was going to be sitting to play for the next several months. A friend sold me this guitar, which was designed for the sit-down player, and I had been wanting a Fender guitar after using one in the studio and years of playing Gibsons. So it became my main guitar for many years.

The guitar was pristine when I got it, but it has seen many a spill of every kind, including a fall onto a rough road face-down (All it did was break a string--I put one on and played three sets that night). It is a temperamental beast--the pickups howl, it's too noisy to record with, but the mojo is unbelievable--I probably play better on it than any other guitar, and I can get any sound I want out of it.

The period when I got the guitar was a real turning point for me as a person and as a musician. Sure, I wish it was pristine, but I can trace each ding, and there were (may still be) bloodstains on it from my own dings! I play it less than my other guitars, but when I pick it up, I wonder why I would play anything else.

Song sample is 'Sha-La' by the Casual Ts from the 'Contrails' album (1994). Solo picks up at 3:38 until the end. Jazzmaster through BlueTube or Boss OD1, Boss CE3 chorus and DD2 Delay,>1978 Fender Twin Reverb.

Band name: Solo, Botomatics

Website: http://facebook.com/bobanthonymusic

Audio Sample: Sha-La

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Robbie Nelson

City: Atlanta GA

Instrument: Ludwig Suprahonic LM400 5x14 snare

Out of nearly 20 snare drums in my collection this drum seems to always be behind the kit. For me, this is the perfect drum for most of the music I play. The aluminum shell has a dry sound but still has a great crack when laying into the hoop and head for a good back beat or to wake a sleeping band mate up. It also has a tone control to muffle the head when you need an even drier sound and no overtones. Why doesn't every snare come with one?!

This is the drum I grew up listening to on all the early YES albums with Bill Bruford. He got such a unique sound from his because he had to fight against the loud amps in the band so he had to play all rim shots. Also, Tim Alexander from Primus plays one and I've always loved his snare sound. The beginning snare hits of Tommy The Cat off STSOC is pure heaven to my ears.

Band: Cadillac Jones, Interstate, People Do What They Wanna Do, Jupiter Watts

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Gary Kurz

City: Atlanta, Georgia

Instrument: Gibson Custom Shop ES-335

My 335 is my main guitar. It’s the one I reach for instinctively whenever I go to play.  Or to put it differently, I have to make a conscious choice to play a different guitar.

I bought my 335 from Midtown Music in Atlanta in 2006. It was around the time that Cadillac Jones - the band I play in - was completing a record that we were really excited about, and it was during the time when we were touring a lot. So it was a really special period that I wanted to punctuate with a new guitar.

The type of guitar was never really in question. I wanted a Gibson 335. Both of my other electric guitars were double cutaway, semi hollow bodies – a Sheraton Epiphone and a 70’s era Gibson 355. So I went to Midtown Music and saw this custom shop replica of a 1959 335. Top row, somewhere near the middle. There was no crazy story behind finding it though. It was hanging right there, and when I picked it up it just felt right.

The guitar changed the way I played music. The neck is basically a baseball bat sawed in half. Much thicker neck than my other guitars.  As a result my grip on the neck switched to a more closed style and I went from playing real noodley solos to more rhythmic stuff.  It forced me to rethink how I would get the same emotion using fewer notes. That was a fantastic and freeing feeling.  And I’m still learning how to do it. More notes can only take you so far…

Band name: Cadillac Jones

Video

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Monica Arrington

City: Atlanta, Ga

Instrument: Portable AM/FM radio

Using my radio gives me my signature sound which I can describe it as "found sound" I guess the visual equivalent would be found art. I play around with mixing musical styles and the noisy element of radio adds another layer.

This radio is the 3rd I've played with and had longest I've had thus far. It will be hard to replace in this day and age.

Band name: (nerdkween)*

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Ramon Wals

City: Atlanta, GA

Instrument: C.F. Martin D28

I am apt to get in some kind of trouble when visiting a music store. The day I found 'Sadie' was no different. In trouble is what I got from the minute I laid eyes on this one. As soon as I played this guitar and heard that tone, felt it vibrate through my body, I began scheming of a way to bring this one home. I knew that I had to right away. I put down what money I had, sold a guitar or two, ate peanut butter and jelly for a month and that was that. After that month I could finally eat a more diversified diet and you know who was sitting in my living room waiting to be played. 

This guitar has since opened doors that I had for so long been afraid to walk through. With Sadie's help and trust in music as my savior a new world began to open up. That would probably be enough for consideration, however I have not had but two instruments in my life that I feel compelled to spend time with everyday. The other being a mandolin. So Sadie is 'That One Guitar' by a long shot in my book.

"I Said Thank you, Mr. Martin, I'm alright 'Cause once again this old guitar helped me through the night I'm mighty grateful to you, you know how to make 'em right I said Thank you, Mr. Martin, I'm alright."

                                               ~Norman Blake

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Koby Downs

Instrument: Upright Bass

I played electric bass in high school, but stopped playing music in college. When I returned home from school I was unemployed, broke, and bored. I started listening to rockabilly and psychobilly music then and decided I wanted to play upright bass. I got a job at UPS working overnights to save up the money. I bid on a bass on eBay, but didn’t win the auction. The company reached out to me and offered me a slightly damaged version of the bass I’d bid on for half price. I bought Bessie sight unseen and had her delivered (via UPS). I started practicing and six months to a year later I joined The Love Drunks. Less than a year later we were signed to Alive Records and touring the country.

Band: Former: The Love Drunks, The Deadtowners. Current: Superpill

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlh5yEjiDsc

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Matt Harr City: Atlanta, Georgia Instrument: Sonor Sonic Plus 22" Bass Drum I bought this drum as a part of a six piece kit in 1996. Sonor had come out with a line of affordable birch shell drums known as Sonic Plus and since some of my favorite players at the time (Will Calhoun, Danny Carey, Jeff "Tain" Watts) had endorsements from Sotnor, I was sold on this kit. I was in a band called Blue Druids when I first got it and the drum required very little tuning and sounded great in the studio so much so that there are a few of my old friends and band mates that will still proclaim their love for it to this day when they see pictures of it online. I have pretty much only ever used Aquarian Super Kick II heads on it and I don't think I have changed the head more than 3 times in 18 years. The current head has been on there for at least 8 years I believe. I used to stuff it with a pillow and a blanket but really didn't realize the true beauty of the drum until I took all of that out and just have a single cloth napkin in there as well as some old setlists that I "feed" it from time to time. The front head, also Aquarian, has a sticker I cut out of some stage backing I got out of the trash when I used to work at the Center for Puppetry Arts. It was a square sticker that I cut the circular part out of by hand and though it isn't perfect, I have been told that it looks pretty cool when it's being kicked but that may depend on the intoxication of the person watching the drum resonate. The boom. The boom is what has become legend. In my current duo with Miss Andy Gish, the drum has become almost a de-facto bass player since our instrumentation consists of just acoustic guitar, drums, and vocal. When I let the beater of the pedal bounce off the head, it almost sounds like an old 808 sample of a bass hit. That resonance in itself changed the way I thought about the bass drum, freeing the drum from my tendency to lay into a back beat, bringing out more musicality in my playing, and a greater appreciation for what Miles Davis called the "notes you don't play." The wood is stained and very soft which shows the dings from my rack tom pretty well when I set up too tight and one of the legs broke off a few years ago but the drum has served me well in every band I've ever been in and still gives me goosebumps when it's miked up and ready to blow the walls out of the next gig. Band name: Love Me Till My Heart Stops, Lark and Pearl

[thatoneguitar]

Name: Mark Perkins

City: Atlanta, GA

Instrument: 1950's Chinese Plywood Upright Bass

When I joined the band Brodie Stove, the idea was to have each member play an instrument they normally didn't play. I had never played an upright before and someone in the band had one. Like a sucker, I bought it. 

There's just something about the tone of an upright, the squeaks and groans from the wood. It's always funny (well, and maybe a hit to the ol' ego) that when I record with it, people talk about the sound it makes more than my actual playing! 

My favorite story is from a time we opened for a reggae band. As we played, some kind (of kind) smoke was pouring out from backstage. We finished up and as I was lifting my bass of the stage, two dudes from the reggae band just kept staring, back and forth, at me and my instrument. Finally, they both looked me in the eye, smiled and drawled "bass." Yes, mon. Bass.

Band name: Lark and Pearl

Music: Work for You