Few guitarists are as passionate about vintage kit as Joe Bonamassa. He admits that he doesn't bother much with new gear and estimates he owns "maybe 10" new guitars.
But when it comes to vintage guitars, Joe's got everything from late-‘50s Gibson Les Paul Standards to quirky Fender Esquires, rarer-than-rare Flying Vs and more. Much more.
But what's cool about Joe is that he's not just a collector but a user of vintage electric guitars. At any given moment during a show, he might bust out a '59 Les Paul or a '55 Strat, such as his beloved “Bonnie Strat," which he calls “the best Strat" he owns.
To get to the hear of the matter, Joe Bonamassa dialed in with GP to talk about his beloved vintages curios, the Strats he favors Strats and more.
If you could have just one guitar, what would you choose?
Even though I'm a Les Paul guy, and I've made my reputation with that, I always say that if I had to do a gig with one guitar, I could pretty much get all the sounds I require out of a Fender Stratocaster.
I can get the really dark chewy sound out of the middle pickup and clean bright Tele stuff out of the bridge. And if you want the woman tone, it's all within the tone controls. The Strat will do everything if you just fiddle with the volume and the tones. You can get there with the different gain structures.
Generally, with a good maple-neck Fender Stratocaster, I can do my entire gig without switching guitars seven or eight times.
Is there a particular vintage Strat you can't live without?
My favorite Strat is one that I call the Bonnie Strat. I call it that because Bonnie Bramlett engraved her name on the back of the body in 2018 when she sang with us at our show. It's a 1955 Fender Strat, with a hardtail, and no trem.
She asked me to engrave my name onto her very famous guitar that everyone from Jerry Garcia to George Harrison. She brought the guitar with her into the studio in Nashville, and she's like, "Joe, I'd be honored if you'd carve your name into it with this knife." She whips out this blade, and I'm like, "You kidding me?"
First of all, it's hard to sign your name with a knife into an acoustic guitar; it's not as easy as it looks. I was honored by that. So when she came to our gig in St. Louis a few months later, I said, "Bonnie, I got a guitar for you to engrave your name in. I'd be just as honored, so bring your Dremel." She goes, "Oh, I'm there, honey."
I have videos of her with a Dremel, carving her name into the back of my '55 hardtail. It'll forever be known as the Bonnie Strat, and it's my best Strat. Every pickup position is just exactly how I hear a Stratocaster guitar sounding.
What's the one guitar you'll never play, and why?
I have a hard time with archtops, like Gibson Super 400s. There's nothing wrong with Super 400s or those big jazz guitars, but for a loud electric player like me, it's just a hard guitar to get under control. They're just big and unruly, but many players have used Super 400s. I mean, look at Steve Howe, a guy who could rock an ES-175 or Super 400 with Yes. That shit is loud and awesome.
What pedal is always on your pedalboard, and why?
I would say an [Ernie Ball] Cry Baby wah-wah pedal. I don't use the wah a lot, but it does something. Without it, it just feels wrong if it's not there. I'm kind of a straight in [the amp] kind of dude. If I'm sitting in with someone, I just like a high-powered Fender Twin. It does everything. It roars and cleans up well; all you need is a cable.
What's the one guitar you still long for, and why?
That's one I honestly don't have an answer for. I own everything. [laughs] I don't want to sound bourgeois, but I own everything I've always wanted.
What guitar did you long for the most before you found it?
Well, it's not a guitar. The longest journey from discovery to acquisition has to be the Lowell George Dumble Overdrive Special. That took 15 years. If you break down my favorite slide players, they're all essentially cut from the same cloth. Lowell had one Dumble amp, and I used to study that. But it doesn't take an Ancestry.com DNA test to know what this amp was built for. If you play that style, it gets there real quick.
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