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Why Is “Standard” Guitar Tuning, Well, Standard?

E-A-D-G-B-e.

While this may be a random assortment of letters to most people, if you play guitar you recognize them at once: standard tuning.

Almost every guitar you have ever picked up and played has been tuned this way. It’s the tuning we all learned on and the one we all just accept as “normal.”

But why is this arrangement of notes considered the standard? What makes it better than any other alternative? How did we even come to that decision?

The answer can be summed up in one word: playability.

Finding the perfect interval

Standard tuning for the guitar is based on a series of perfect fourth intervals, with one major third interval mixed in for good measure. This means that the distance in pitch between most adjacent strings is four steps of the major scale (fourth), with one pair that is only three steps apart (third).

The guitar, of course, is not the only stringed instrument (as much as guitarists want you to think it is). And other instruments in the family have different intervals between strings. The violin and cello, for instance, are both tuned in fifths. So why not guitars?

It turns out, size matters. The scale length of a violin, for example, is only around 330 mm, compared to a typical guitar scale length of 650 mm. With such a smaller neck, reaching larger intervals on a violin with your fingers is not as challenging as trying the same feat on an acoustic guitar. (If you doubt this, try to play the guitar part on Every Breath You Take. Now imagine every song being this hard.)

And even though the cello has a longer scale length than even a traditional guitar, it’s still easier to reach extended intervals because it is played vertically. The fact that guitarists must curl their wrist when playing doesn’t allow for comfortably reaching across so many frets.

To put it simply, using fourths to tune a guitar makes playing the instrument easier to play.

There’s just one problem…

So if fourths is the way to go, why not have the intervals be the same between all the strings? Why add in that pesky third between the G and B strings? After all, having the same interval between each string would make moving chords and scales around the fretboard a simple affair, because the same shapes would work everywhere.

The main issue with this approach is the fact that there are six strings. If you were to tune a guitar to all fourths, you would end up with E-A-D-G-C-f. The problem is evident — the low E string would clash with the high F string. While you could get around this problem with open chords, barre chords would be a nightmare!

The simplest solution was to change an interval to avoid the discordant E/f combination, which is exactly what happened when players added the third between the G and B strings. This brought the high and low strings back into a much nicer E/e relationship.

The result of this tuning was an instrument on which a person could play both chords and scales fairly easily, without dissonant notes or too-difficult fingerings.

Don’t worry, the Italians already figured it out

From a historical perspective, standard tuning actually dates back hundreds of years, although it probably wasn’t called by that name at the time. In the 16th century, the Italian folk guitar, or chitarra battente, had five courses (a course is a set of strings, like what’s on a modern 12-string guitar) and was tuned A-D-G-B-E.

A chitarra battente, a 16th-century Italian folk guitar (Photo by Dani4P at it.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

When six-string guitars came around two hundred years later, they simply added a low E string and kept the tuning of the popular Italian chitarra, thus finding the ideal tuning solution.

In the end, it just works

The intervals between guitar strings were refined and perfected hundreds of years ago because they were simply the best choice given the overall considerations of the instrument. But that leaves one question: Why do the strings start and end with E? Why not D, C, or B?

The answer is that no one really knows. However, it seems to me that when you consider the scale length of a guitar and the ideal diameter and tension of the various strings, E to E just makes sense. Lower-pitched tunings tend to buzz and rattle, and higher-tuned strings are prone to breaking. Just like the standard intervals, it’s likely that starting and ending with E just worked the best out of all the options.

People are nothing if not practical, and standard tuning for the guitar is a perfect example of this. In the end, guitars are tuned the way they are because it just works. And while there are many different alternates and variations, standard is still the king after 400 years — and will be for the foreseeable future.

April 26, 2022
Jim Marshall: the Father of Loud

No one would ever have guessed that the sickly kid in a London hospital would become a pioneer in rock and roll and work with such legends as Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix.

Yet Jim Marshall would grow up to found the amplifier company that bore his name and defined the sound of rock for generations.

Growing up sick

James Charles Marshall was born in London in the early 1920s. Much of his childhood was spent in a hospital bed, as he suffered from tuberculosis in his bones.

While he eventually overcame this disease, it was still enough to exempt him from service as a young man in WWII. Instead, Jim began a career as an electrical engineer and moonlighted as a musician.

Combining engineering and music

Initially, he was a singer for a local band, but in 1942 the band’s drummer was called into active service. As a result, Jim started playing the drum set to cover — while still maintaining his singing duties.

This led to a problem, though. Marshall had a quiet singing voice that was difficult to hear above his own drumming. With his background as an engineer, he started building his own portable PA systems to amplify his voice.

Teaching and opening the shop

In the 1950s, Marshall took up teaching the drums and at one point had close to 65 students showing up each week. He later stated that his significant teaching income enabled him to save up enough money to go into business.

This happened in 1960, when Jim opened a music store in London that catered to drummers. The store was popular with the local drumming community, and soon they were bringing their guitarists along with them to the shop.

The local rock bands absolutely loved Marshall because he treated them with respect. Other London music stores focused their efforts on jazz musicians and looked down upon the rock community, but Jim treated everyone equally. They were so enamored by him, in fact, that guitarists started asking him to sell guitars and amps so they could buy them at his shop.

Creating the first Marshall amp

Jim Marshall sensed an opportunity. At the behest of guitar players like Ritchie Blackmore and Pete Townshend, he assembled a small team of engineers and began working on the first Marshall amp prototype.

They started with a Fender Bassman, and after six(!) iterations, they had a product they were happy with. Their goal was to create quality amps at a more affordable price than the competition, which was not the easiest task given post-War England’s limited electrical components. They resorted to using parts such as airplane vacuum tubes but were still able to achieve the sound they wanted.

Townshend loved the finished product and began using Marshall amps with The Who. The amps soon took off in popularity, with even Jimi Hendrix visiting the shop in the late 1960s to place an order.

From shed to mass production

At the time, Marshall’s “pie in the sky” goal was to make and sell 50 amplifiers, but that number was quickly surpassed. Marshall was eventually able to move production from a shed in his yard to a more proper factory setup, where of course today the British company operates a multi-million-pound business.

Far more than a businessman

Jim Marshall was far more than just a maker of cheap amps. Many rock stars of the ’70s and ’80s called him “the father of loud,” or more simply, “Dad.” His customer service and care for people as individuals was unsurpassed.

Slash once fondly noted in an interview that Jim designed a brand-new amp for him after his were all destroyed in a concert riot in 1991, saying, “He took great care of me personally, ever since we first met.”

Marshall supported more than just the music community too. Over the years he quietly donated millions of pounds to charities and other causes, including the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital — the very facility where he was treated for tuberculosis as a child.

The “father of loud” had the love and adoration of many in the music community and in his home country of England for his selflessness, service, and care. In 2003, he was awarded an OBE from Buckingham Palace, one of the top civic honors in the country, for his “services to the music industry and to charity.”

The passing of a legend

Jim Marshall died of cancer in 2012, almost exactly 50 years after he made his first amplifier. Musicians from across the globe paid their respects on social media. It was quite the fitting end for this pioneer of rock music who was loved by all — and for good reason.

April 25, 2022
The Time Paul Reed Smith Built Santana a Guitar and Changed Rock History

Long before PRS guitars became the mainstream brand that it is today, Paul Reed Smith was just another luthier, living in the Baltimore area, and hoping for his big break.

Carlos Santana, on the other hand, was a guitar god and household name with exacting demands on his band, his crew, and his guitars.

When the two met, history was made. But it wasn’t easy.

Paul Reed Smith, small-time luthier

In the 1970s, Paul had honed his craft, making his guitars by hand and selling them to musicians. He made a deal with each artist he built a guitar for: if they didn’t absolutely fall in love with the guitar, they didn’t have to buy it. He was so good, however, that this was seldom if ever an issue.

By this time, he had built custom guitars for clients such as Al DiMeola, Ted Nugent, and Howard Leese. While these were certainly talented musicians, the luthier he needed more star power to really grow his business.

Paul Reed Smith playing a Paul Reed Smith (Photo by chascar, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Around that time he found out that Carlos Santana, one of the biggest acts of the ’70s, was playing a show near Baltimore. Paul went to work.

Carlos Santana, big-time rock star

He built Santana a custom guitar, went to the show, and gave it to one of the crew members to take to the rock star. A few minutes passed, and the crew member came back to take Paul to the guitarist.

Carlos was playing the guitar backstage and seemingly loved it. He ordered a custom electric with curly maple top on the spot, but he wanted to play the guitar Paul brought in the show that night to verify it could handle the stage.

At the concert, Santana strapped Paul’s guitar on and began to play. After just a few notes, however, he ripped off the guitar in disgust and performed the rest of the song with another instrument.

After the show, Santana complained to Paul Reed Smith that his guitar didn’t sound good through the live rig and told him, “The deal’s off.” Paul begged and pleaded Santana to give him another chance, blaming the pickup in the guitar for the issue. Reluctantly, Santana agreed.

“An accident of God”

Rather than build Carlos a new guitar, however, Smith called Howard Leese (from the band Heart) and asked if he would lend Santana his guitar. Howard said yes, and the guitar went off to Santana.

Paul called Santana’s tech a few days later and discovered that the guitarist loved the guitar and wanted to keep it. He tried to explain that the guitar was borrowed, but to no avail. Carlos came to the phone and informed Paul that he would give the first guitar back, but not this one — it was too good.

Paul later stated he told him, “This was an accident of God; we’re done…except I need a spare. Maybe one with a tone control knob.”

Santana playing a PRS guitar. (Photo by Magikman6386, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

When the new guitar was finished, he brought it to Carlos’s show. His tech gave it to Carlos during sound check. He could not tell that this was a new guitar until he looked down and say the new tone knob — it felt and played identically to like the first one. “Another accident of God,” he said. And then he proceeded to order another new guitar.

Paul Reed Smith: bonafide guitar maker

He subsequently ordered several more guitars from Paul, and after the fifth one, he finally told Paul, “Okay, you’re a guitar maker.”

Paul Reed Smith earned Santana’s respect the old-fashioned way — with lots of hard work and superb quality. That respect paid dividends to both men. Santana received upper-echelon-quality guitars, and PRS found its superstar.

Paul and Carlos became friends and supporters of each other after that. Santana played PRS guitars from the late 1970s onward, while Paul launched his now-famous company.

The PRS Santana signature guitar

In the mid 1990s, the two men worked together to finally release Carlos’ guitar to the public. The original model was only offered from 1995 to 1998, but the Santana line of guitars still continue to roll off the production line to this day.

Santana playing his signature PRS. (Photo by Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Paul says that Carlos made him earn his respect, but once he got it, Carlos became his biggest fan. Smith has stated that Santana calls him every Christmas to thank him for his work, and he sends him flowers on his birthday.

Although the two men’s relationship started out rocky, their combined love of music and high-quality guitars helped start one of the top brands on the market today. PRS players around the world — and I’m one of them — owe a debt of gratitude to what these men have accomplished.

April 22, 2022
A Quick History of the Gibson ES-335
In the 1950s, guitarists had a problem.

With the advent of amplification and the first electric guitars, the instruments were for the first time able to play above the rest of a band in a live performance. This changed the way guitars were played: the instruments could now be featured front and center. The lead guitar was born.

Wanted: the best of both worlds

Solid-body guitars like the new Fender Stratocaster or Gibson’s Les Paul were well suited for playing lead guitar. The fact that their bodies were solid wood allowed them to be turned up loud without on-stage issues cropping up. The tone, however, was brighter with more treble than other guitars of the day.

Hollow-body guitars like Gibson’s ES-330, on the other hand, had large, resonate bodies that gave the instruments a desirable, warm tone. But that increased resonance lead to feedback problems when amped up. (This was, of course, well before people like Jimi Hendrix learned use feedback as a musical technique.)

Guitar players at that time wanted the best of both worlds: a dark, warm tone without feedback during live performances.

Enter Ted McCarty.

Ted McCarty, problem solver

Ted McCarty was the CEO of Gibson. McCarty was one of the truly great guitar innovators and came up with such great Gibson guitars as the Les Paul, the SG, the Flying V, and the Explorer. He had a knack for problem-solving when it came to guitar design.

McCarty listened to guitarists’ complaints and began work. He came up with an idea to find a middle ground. To do this, he created a guitar that was neither totally hollow nor totally solid.

The ES-335, which debuted in 1958, became the world’s first semi-hollowbody guitar. McCarty’s design called for a solid block of maple to run through the center of the body, with hollow, resonate “wings” attached to either side. He also incorporated cutouts in the upper bouts to allow for access to higher frets and F-holes.

A 1960 Gibson ES-335 (Photo by Lightburst, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The guitar was an instant success, as it delivered on the need of a warmer tone with very little feedback. It quickly became one of Gibson’s top-selling guitars, and in fact it has been in continuous production since its debut over 60 years ago.

Famous ES-335 players

Over the years, the Gibson ES-335 has been used by many famous musicians. Chuck Berry was one of the first big stars to use the guitar to great effect with his new “rock and roll” style. (An additional tie-in with Chuck Berry can be found in the movie Back to the Future, where Marty McFly plays — you guessed it — an ES-335 at the dance with Chuck’s cousin’s band.)

Perhaps the most famous ES-335 player was B.B. King, whose trademark guitar, Lucille, was a version of the guitar that featured a maple neck instead of the standard mahogany and lacked F-holes.

B.B. King playing Lucille (Photo by Roland Godefroy, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Almost as famous is Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, who plays a beautiful blue variation of the guitar that has a Firebird headstock and diamond-shaped holes.

Dave Grohl with his custom 335 (Photo by Andreas Lawen, Fotandi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

The ES-335 has had enormous appeal to guitar players over the decades, and Gibson currently has over 25 different 335s in production.

Imitation — still the highest form of flattery

McCarty’s revolutionary semi-hollow-body design, of course, has been copied many times. Notable brands with their own versions include:
- Fender (Thinline Telecaster)
- Ibanez (Artcore series)
- Rickenbacker 330 (the brand’s top-selling guitar)
Success is being in the right place at the right time

The Gibson ES-335, which occupies a special place in the history of guitar and rock and roll, was a needed advancement in the electric guitar that came about at the right time. The fact that the design has endured and been copied many times over is a testament to how amazing this guitar actually is.
April 21, 2022
Eddie Van Halen: Rock Star or Mad Scientist? Both!

You know Eddie Van Halen as the rock guitar god that he was. You may know him as the tinkerer who built his Frankenstrat piece by piece. You may even know him as the guy who pioneered using attenuators on amplifiers.

Eddie’s Frankenstrat (Photo by Bainzy at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

But did you know that he was also a bit of a mad scientist?

That’s right, Edward Lodewijk van Halen: rock star by day, serial inventor by night. Okay, maybe that’s the other way around. But the point still stands — EVH held multiple US patents.

Look, Ma, no hands!

The most well-known invention — besides the Frankenstrat — Eddie created was Patent No. 4,656,917. This device was a flip-out support system that could be attached to a guitar. It was basically a support that rested against the guitarist’s body and provided a solid foundation for the guitar.

Best. Patent. Illustration. Ever.

Eddie came up with the idea to facilitate the tapping technique he popularized (but ironically didn’t invent!). The device positioned the guitar strings up, allowing the player to use both hands to play the instrument almost like a piano.

While Eddie certainly used tapping to an extreme in his music, it’s hard to know if he ever used his invention. At least, I couldn’t find any evidence that he did.

The tension is killing me

Eddie wasn’t satisfied with just one invention. Another EVH creation was Patent No. US7183475B2. This was a specialized tailpiece for a guitar that could alter string tension for an individual string.

Simply put, the tailpiece had a small lever with two settings or positions. In the first position, the string is tuned normally. When the level is moved to the second position, the string tension lessens, and a lower note sounds.

The easiest way to think about this to imagine you installed it on your guitar with the lever controlling the low E string. You would be able to change from standard to dropped D tuning literally with the flip of a switch.

Behold: a switch that does a thing!

Interestingly, many decades before Van Halen came up with this idea, banjoist Earl Scruggs used a mechanism on his instrument’s headstock to achieve a similar idea.

Why not pick up another patent, Eddie?

A third patent that Eddie had his hands in was Patent No. US20180102121A1, a unique humbucker pickup design. The design was actually created by a team of people, of whom EVH was one.

The main difference between this humbucker and any other is the orientation of the coils, which are turned on their sides as compared to “normal” pickups.

Unfortunately, the patent application seems not to explain the advantages of this method, and I’m not aware of any guitar ever having used this pickup.

(They also filed an application for USD817385S1, which was the ornamental design for the pickup.)

His legacy lives on

While sadly, we lost Eddie in 2020, his legacy lives on — not only in his music, but also with his inventions and patents.

RIP, Eddie.

April 19, 2022
The Seven-String Guitar Is a Lot Older Than You Think It Is

The last few years have seen a rise in the seven-string guitar. YouTube is filled with technical virtuosos showing the range of this type of guitar, and seven-strings can be found in many progressive rock and heavy metal bands.

While it may seem like the extended-range guitar is a relative newcomer to the music scene, in fact its roots go back more than 200 years.

Classical seven-string guitars

While guitars, and their precursors, lutes, have been made for many hundreds of years, there was a technological innovation in around 1800 that changed the game. That innovation was the invention of metal-wire strings.

Metal strings were more durable and produced a louder sound than their traditional gut counterparts. This allowed luthiers to experiment with dropping double-course instruments in favor of single-course ones. Guitars with six strings became common and then the accepted norm, as it remains today.

But there were players and composers who wanted to extend the musical range of the guitar, so luthiers accommodated by designing guitars with additional strings. Hence the seven-string classical guitar was born, and although somewhat rare, they are still sold today.

“The Guitar Player” by V.A. Tropinin (1823) (Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Jazz seven-string guitars

Around 100 years after the seven-string classical came on the scene, the jazz guitarist George Van Eps became the first person to put an extended-range guitar to a more modern use.

Van Eps contracted with Epiphone to build a seven-string jazz guitar in the 1930s. Many decades later, in the sixties, Gretsch built the Van Eps signature guitar, which was likely the first production model seven-string.

After Van Eps, other jazz guitarists of the day began using and experimenting with adding an extra string.

Up to this point, however, all of these guitars were hollow-bodies and arch-tops. The first solid-body seven-string guitar would not come about until the 1980s.

Solid-body seven-string guitars

Guitarist Lenny Breau, a Canadian-American who played a blend of many styles of music, worked with a luthier to create the first such solid-body guitar, which they then debuted at the 1983 NAMM show. This, however, was a one-off that did not gain much traction.

The same can be said for a Fender seven-string just a few years later that never made it past the prototype stage.

The real advent of the solid-body seven-string guitar was the Ibanez UV7, a signature model made for none other than rock legend Steve Vai. Vai would go on to use the guitar on Whitesnake’s Slip of the Tongue and his solo album, Passion & Warfare.

Ibanez UV7 (now called the Universe) headstock. (Photo by Rachmaninoff, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Much like his classical predecessors in the 1800s, Vai wanted to extend the range of his guitars and playing. He first experimented with adding a high A string, but it was too prone to breaking. He substituted a low B string, and the now-standard tuning was born.

Ibanez put the UV7 into production in 1990. The model did not sell well, but Vai encouraged the company to keep making them, even if they only sold a few each year.

Then, in 1994, the breakthrough happened. Korn released their debut album, Korn, which heavily featured the UV7. Vai later stated that when he heard them on the radio, he instinctively knew they were using his signature Ibanez.

The rise of Korn led to the prominence of the seven-string guitar, which has since become a staple in the progressive rock and heavy metal genres.

The band Korn in concert. Brian “Head” Welch (left) is playing a seven-string guitar. (Photo by Sven Mandel, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

From classical guitar to jazz, rock, and heavy metal, the seven-string guitar has been there all along. It doesn’t have the popularity of its six-string cousin, and it probably never will, but it certainly has its own place in the history of music.

April 15, 2022
From Cheap Imports to Vintage Gear — the Story of Teisco Guitars

If you’ve ever seen an electric guitar that just looks a little…strange…you might have just been staring at a Teisco.

Some of the hallmarks of Teisco design are funky angles, lots of pickups (up to four!), and knobs and switches galore.

The Teisco MJ-2L

While these guitars are sought after in the vintage market today, they didn’t start out that way. Instead, they were Japanese-made budget guitars meant to attract buyers who couldn’t afford a brand like Fender.

The beginnings of Teisco guitars

Teisco started life as a partnership between Atsuwo Kaneko, a Hawaiian and Spanish guitarist, and an electrical engineer, Dory Matsuda. Originally the company was named Aoi Onpa Kenkyujo, which means Electricity Laboratories. The name was changed to Nippon Onpa Kogyo Company in 1956 before they finally settled on Teisco in 1964.

(Many sources claim the name Teisco was an acronym for Tokyo Electric Instrument and Sound Company, but Kaneko was on record stating that this wasn’t true — he just liked the way the name sounded.)

They began building guitars and other musical instruments in Japan in 1946, and initially their products were only sold domestically.

Coming to America (and the UK)

That changed in around 1960, when brokers began to import them into the US and the UK. These brokers would then rebrand the guitars before selling them in music stores, Sears, and even pawn shops. Common new “brands” included Teisco Del Rey (it was thought that adding a Spanish-sounding name would increase sales), Kay, and Silvertone (another still well-known brand).

The appeal of these guitars was price. They were affordable, costing as little as $20 and up to $150, compared to a new Stratocaster, which in 1965 went for a cool $200. For a kid saving his allowance money, or a mom and dad with not a lot of disposable income, they were a great alternative to a name-brand guitar.

Features and issues

As the 1960s progressed, so too did the uniqueness of Teisco guitars. They became known for especially strange body shapes. Some models, such as the Checkmate 4, had four pickups instead of the normal one-to-three. They often came with a wide array of switches and knobs to change the sound of the guitar in myriad ways.

The Teisco May Queen

While they had plenty of eye appeal, what they lacked was playability. Being budget guitars, they had issues with intonation, very basic hardware, and plastic nuts. They were meant for players just learning the instrument, not people shredding solos at the twelfth fret and beyond.

The end of the production era

Teisco was bought out by Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Company in 1967, and the new owners phased out Teisco guitars in 1969, while still continuing to use the name to sell keyboards until the ‘80s.

In 2018, a Singaporean company acquired the rights to the name Teisco and began selling effects pedals under the brand.

The beginning of the vintage era

Over the years, Teisco has become a sought-after brand in the vintage guitar market. Undoubtedly the unique characteristics of the guitars made them valuable collector pieces, but nostalgia has probably helped as well, as players who started with the brand as kids now had the means as adults to collect them.

Today, you can buy a vintage Teisco on Reverb for as little as a few hundred to as much as a few thousand dollars.

The Teisco Spectrum 2

Famous Teisco players

There is a long list of players who have picked up a Teisco. A few of the more famous examples include:

Eddie Van Halen. Yes, that’s right — the guitar god himself started learning on a Teisco ET-440.

Glen Campell. The guitarist’s main axe in the 1960s was a Teisco T-60.

Dan Auerbach. The Black Key’s guitarist and singer often uses Teiscos for studio work.

So the next time you’re thinking about getting a new guitar (and let’s be honest, when are you not thinking about getting a new guitar?), why not add something unique to your collection like a vintage Teisco?

Photo attributions:

MJ-2L: , Teisco_MJ-2L.jpg: Cortney Martin from Houston, TX, USASideshow_Tramps_1,_New_Year’s_Eve,_Houston,_2009.jpg: Cortney MartinGuy_Forsyth,_New_Years_Eve,_Houston,_2009.jpg: Cortney Martin from Houston, TX, USAderivative work: Guitarpop, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Teisco_Spectrum_2_or_22_(SN374919).jpg: T Hderivative work: Clusternote, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Teisco May Queen (c.1968) & Ibanez unidentified bass (2017–11 by Alexander Lesnitsky @Pixabay 2878686).png: Alexander Lesnitsky from Moscow, Russiaderivative work: User:Clusternote, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

April 14, 2022
Slash’s favorite Gibson isn’t real — but it’s still awesome

Slash. The iconic guitarist of Guns N’ Roses. Inventor of perhaps the best guitar lick of all time: the intro to Sweet Child o’ Mine.

His image is as unmistakable as his playing: long, curly hair, top hat, and shades, with a Gibson slung across his shoulder.

Slash rocking out on a Gibson Les Paul (Picture byI Do Shows(Scott Penner), CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

But what if I told you his main guitar wasn’t a Gibson at all, but a copy?

The early days of GNR

Before GNR was a household name, they were just another Southern California band looking to make it big.

The band at that time, like many up-and-coming bands, had almost no money. And what money they did have they spent on parties, drugs and alcohol (which should come as a surprise to exactly no one).

When they finally scored a record deal in the mid-1980s, they were still in the same financial boat — the one with the giant hole in the bottom.

As they went into the studio to record what would become the Appetite for Destruction album, Slash ran into an issue. His meager arsenal of guitars at the time (he has over 100 of them now) was down to two Jackson guitars, a B.C. Rich Warlock, a Firebird, and a one-off arch-top, Strat-style guitar. He had sold the rest of his guitars because he needed the money.

Appetite for Destruction

Apparently he failed to consider how his remaining guitars would sound in the studio, because, in his words, “They all sounded horrible.”

Not knowing what to do, Slash turned to his manager, Alan Niven. Alan scoured the guitar scene in L.A. and came back the night before Slash was to record with a Gibson Les Paul. At least, that’s what it looked like. Slash fell in love with the instrument, recorded the album, and the rest was history.

A guitar built for no one

But that guitar did not originate in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was instead a replica Les Paul built by a local luthier named Kris Derrig. Derrig was a luthier who usually built custom orders for individuals, but he just happened to make a 1959 Les Paul clone without a buyer lined up in 1984–85.

When Slash’s manager was on the hunt for a guitar for the debut GNR album, he found Kris’ boss, Jim Foote, who directed him to Kris — and the guitar without a buyer. Kris agreed to let Alan borrow it for recording, and its legacy was established from that point on.

Slash refers to this guitar as the “original” and has used it on many of his studio albums, starting of course with Appetite.

What did Gibson think?

You would think that once Gibson found out Slash was using a fake, they would have gone after him with a vengeance. In this case, however, they made an exception — for several reasons.

First, Slash has since become a Gibson artist. He owns and loves many Gibson guitars and has had a business relationship with the brand since 1997. Gibson has made some questionable decisions over the years, but even they know that suing your best brand ambassador is a bad idea.

Second, Kris Derrig’s Gibson knockoff in the hands of Slash sold countless Gibson guitars. If you’re Gibson, why kill the golden goose when you can get the eggs for free?

Third, a high-end replica like what Derrig built is a far cry from a mass-produced “Chibson” (which Gibson does go after). Derrig’s guitar is a work of art and an homage to Gibson — real luthiers are generally not in the habit of passing off their guitars as someone else’s. Slash and his manager knew that his guitar was not a “real” Gibson — they knew exactly who had made it. But they also knew it was a special guitar.

A final note

Sadly, Kris Derrig passed away in 1987 and was never able to see the profound effect of his guitar on rock and roll. So the next time Sweet Child o’ Mine comes on the radio, take a moment to remember Kris and his unique contribution to the history of rock and roll.

April 13, 2022
A Quick History of Stratocaster Copies

If you’re a guitarist like me, you recognize this classic guitar style at a glance:

Buddy Holly’s Strat (Photo by John W. Schulze from Tejas, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

It’s a Fender Stratocaster, of course. The axe used by countless rock-and-roll gods, from Jimi Henrix to Eric Clapton. It’s iconic. It defined a brand and even a way of life.

Yet have you ever noticed how many companies make a “Stratocaster” guitar? Any company — heck, any luthier — worth their salt has a Strat option that, for the most part, has an identical body to a real Fender. But what about trademark laws? Why doesn’t Fender step in to stop these other guitar makers from using their design?

Designing the Stratocaster

The Stratocaster was unquestionably designed by Leo Fender in 1954. At the time, it was revolutionary, not resembling any other guitar on the market. It had a double cutaway and an instantly iconic look. The look was good enough — nay, perfect enough — that it has virtually remained unchanged for almost 70 years.

So why didn’t Fender step in and stop the copycats?

Well, they tried — and failed.

Trademarks and Fender’s Day in Court

Fender did in fact bring the matter to court in 2008. The company sued a number of their competitors for using several of their guitar and bass body shapes, including the Strat body. And they were clearly correct in stating that these other guitar makers 100 percent copied Fender’s designs.

So why did they lose their court case? To understand, you have to know a little bit about trademark law.

According to the USPTO, trademarks are “any word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination of these things that identifies your goods or services. It’s how customers recognize you in the marketplace and distinguish you from your competitors.”

It’s the second sentence that is important here — it’s something (like a guitar body shape) that distinguishes you from the other guy.

Late to the Party

But here’s the rub: Fender waited 54 years before attempting to trademark the Stratocaster body. By that time, copycat Strats had been around for decades. Literally everybody had a Strat version of their own. By 2008, when the general public heard the phrase electric guitar they almost undoubtedly envisioned a Stratocaster. (The judge in the case even noted that the illustration of the term electric guitar in the dictionary looked like a Strat!)

Simply put, by the time Fender got around to trying to enforce their trademark, it was too late. Their revolutionary, iconic guitar body that had emerged standing head and shoulders above the competition had become…generic.

Had they sought trademark protection in 1958 instead of 2008, the results might have been very different. But as they say in France, c’est la vie.

April 12, 2022