Gibson should make a Billy Gibbbons Sig Guitar

[pfrischmann]

Pearly deserves some love. Don't ya think?

[enharmonic]

But didn't Billy do much of his seminal work with a tele?

[Pete Galati]

But didn't Billy do much of his seminal work with a tele?

Did he? Wouldn't surprise me. There're several players who're said to have sold a lot of Les Pauls by playing Telecasters.

[tonedaddy]

There're several players who're said to have sold a lot of Les Pauls by playing Telecasters.
This should be on a plaque in every guitar store.
:D


And yes, Pearly DOES deserve the love, and the Rev deserves a siggy version.
:dude

[DualRectifier]

I presume Gibson can't right now, because of this disaster:

http://www.gretschguitars.com/news/images05/gibbons2.jpg

Gretsch Billy Bo (Billy Gibbons/Bo Diddley)...looks like crap, sounds like crap, but hey, at least it's only $2,600 street.

He played this thing on Crossroads...worst guitar tone I've ever heard.

And wasn't Pearly Gates a bone-stock '59? I wonder if it would make sense to signature-line what would just be an R9.

[mrfjones]

wasn't billy playing a killer tele/equire not too long ago on some awards show or gathering of musicians. sounded great on that

[loudboy]

wasn't billy playing a killer tele/equire not too long ago on some awards show or gathering of musicians. sounded great on that

I saw him on the Rhythmeen tour and he played a black Esquire thingie almost all night. Eliminator was almost completely one guitar - a Charvel or something.

As far as anyone can really know, the early stuff was either Pearly or a Strat. Pretty easy to tell which was which...

Loudboy

[tonedaddy]

wasn't billy playing a killer tele/equire not too long ago on some awards show or gathering of musicians. sounded great on that

It might have been the VMA's where Rev was playing the Buck Owens Esquire with The Raconteurs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnCSuogt9v0

His lead is very short, but sounds good.

[cr8z4life]

I believe Pearly Gates started as a stock les paul but read a histrionics on Gibbons......the guitar was too heavy so apperently they hollowed it out to bring it to 6+ pounds!!

[Two-Octave]

My wife bought me a Billy Bo for my birthday.Bless her heart,I can't get up the nerve to tell her it's not a very good guitar for what she paid.She must have got a deal because the credit card statement showed $2,400.It's hard to play sitting down because the shape is so odd.At least we got a good joke from it,an oldie but a goodie.
Wife: 'Lauren,(our daughter) I got a new guitar for dad.'
Lauren: 'That's a good trade.'

:D

[DualRectifier]

My wife bought me a Billy Bo for my birthday.Bless her heart,I can't get up the nerve to tell her it's not a very good guitar for what she paid.She must have got a deal because the credit card statement showed $2,400.It's hard to play sitting down because the shape is so odd.At least we got a good joke from it,an oldie but a goodie.
Wife: 'Lauren,(our daughter) I got a new guitar for dad.'
Lauren: 'That's a good trade.'

:D

Sorry man, I don't mean to trash another man's guitar, but I really tried to like that thing (it's supposed to be shaped like a woman). That's a hell of a wife you got there....I'm not allowed to buy a new guitar until I get her something first.

[The Golden Boy]

Where is this stuff coming from?

Seminal ZZ Top done on a Tele?

Hollowed out?

[eric-d]

Cool:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/1544/billycl3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Not cool:
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/4463/4460kb1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[shuie]

No. Is nothing sacred?

[mrfjones]

It might have been the VMA's where Rev was playing the Buck Owens Esquire with The Raconteurs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnCSuogt9v0

His lead is very short, but sounds good.


that was it. short but sounded great

[duckbunny]

Bolin would probably have to make anything that is close to anything he really plays:D

-PG would be a R9, no?
-He did use an Tele, and an Esquire too (That came to me from the man himself!)
-What about the V?
-His road LPs are hollowed out by Bolin. (For all I know, so are all his other guitars.)

Billy has spun so many gear "tales," who knows what is close?


-db

[OldSchool]

This is my problem with Signature guitars and I'm glad Billy has enough class not to do it. Just taking a stock guitar (Like a 59 reissue Historic LP) and throwing a famous name on the headstock and charging $2-3000 extra is a Joke.

The Billy Bo? Say what you want about it...........its an original guitar worthy of a signature status.

[scottlr]

Pearly has an interesting color to it, though. Not quite tobacco, not cherry burst, not ice tea... Beauty of the Burst says it ought to be a color of its own, or something like that.

I've said it before here, I knew Billy when the first 3 LPs came out. After Rio Grande Mud, he asks me if I know anybody wanting to sell some old Strats because he had used some Fenders on the new LP. To me, that indicated he had not done that before. And this was long before he started doing the character he now does. There was no BS in his conversations in those days.

[DualRectifier]

When Jimi Hendrix personally gives you a Strat, you should play it....as much as possible.

[scottlr]

I thought Jimi gave Billy a wah wah

[DualRectifier]

Guitar World interview:

GW: I've heard rumors that Jimi Hendrix gave you a pink Stratocaster back in those days.
GIBBONS: It was just before we formed ZZ Top. Frank Beard [drums] and Dusty Hill [bass] were working in Dallas with the American Blues, and my band, the Moving Sidewalks, had been hired to open some shows for Jimi Hendrix. At that time I was saying, "Here's the master of the Stratocaster." That domain really belongs to him. Here was an example of a player who not only developed some skills on chord structure and new chord positionings for rock music, but was also really squeezing things out of a simple guitar and amplifier setup that had not been written about in any manual. As far as I know, he was the first exponent of playing a Stratocaster in the "in between" toggle switch setting. At that time, Fender supported what he was doing as an artist. He really didn't mind playing new, out-of-the-box guitars. Fender was sending out stacks of them-I remember he once got 17 different cartons from them. They were coming so fast and furious at him with new guitars, but he had few oldies and goodies. I acquired the pink one during our time together. It was a late Fifties Strat.

Also from Extreme Musician:

The Moving Sidewalks toured with Jimi Hendrix one season. Jimi is quoted (in the book "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" as calling The Moving Sidewalks the "best garage band in America" and Billy Gibbons his "favorite guitarist." Jimi gave Billy a pink Strat on this tour stating "it's too pretty to burn."


I've heard various other sources discuss this pink strat. Whether it's true or not that Jimi personally gave Billy that pink strat, it's been Billy's story as long as I can remember, and he definitely used to play with Jimi. But then again the Reverend has many stories. It's nice to believe though.

Now that I read that interview, he doesn't actually say Jimi gave it to him. He says he acquired it during that time. Hmmm.

[mrbungel]

The seminal ZZ stuff was definitely NOT Tele flavored, it was mostly Les Paul (Pearly Gates) and she has NOT been hollowed out. Next thing you know, someone will say that Keith used a cello on seminal Stones tunes, and it was a FENDER cello made of titanium.

[shuie]

Too much use of the word seminal in this thread, IMO :) The early ZZ stuff is just a few guys playing music. No slight of hand. No hollowed out custom one off guitars. Listen to his guitar and amp on those albums instead of believing anything he has said in the rags for the last 10 years. The tone on Jesus Just Left Chicago is the reason I have GAS for a tele and a tweed :o

[Chevelle]

Bolin would probably have to make anything that is close to anything he really plays:D

-db


Bolin doesn't get a lot of mention around here, but I can tell you first hand that he makes a nice guitar.

[murkat]

"Gibson should make a Billy Gibbbons Sig Guitar "
they have, it was shelf'd. Proto's are still at the CS in the archives.

[John Catto]

The Moving Sidewalks toured with Jimi Hendrix one season. Jimi is quoted (in the book "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" as calling The Moving Sidewalks the "best garage band in America" and Billy Gibbons his "favorite guitarist." Jimi gave Billy a pink Strat on this tour stating "it's too pretty to burn."


etc. etc.

This guitar was discussed in a 1985 book from Rolling Stone called "ZZ Top - Bad and Nationwide". I OCR'd the text quite a long time back, it's interesting though nowhere near the "official" story.

"But perhaps the most famous guitar and the most famous guitar story associated with Billy Gibbons is the story of the pink Hendrix guitar. When the Moving Sidewalks toured with Jimi Hendrix, Hendrix was so impressed with Gibbons that he presented Billy with a pink Fender Stratocaster. It's been repeated so often and in so many places that no one, maybe even Billy himself these days, would believe it's not true. The story is often accompanied, as it was in the 1984 story in Rolling Stone by a photograph of Hendrix, the "Hendrix guitar" and the Moving Sidewalks.

It is a fact that the Moving Sidewalks did encounter Jimi Hendrix. Riding high with the success of "99th Floor," The Sidewalks played four shows (two in Houston, one in both Dallas and San Antonio) as part of a show headlined by Jimi Hendrix. Over the years, these late four shows have turned into a big tour. The pink guitar has been used to forge a link between great guitarist Jimi and his young apostle Billy in Texas.

According to Dan Mitchell, the Sidewalks also ran into Hendrix in a hotel lobby later in their career. They said hello and recalled their bill together, and that was about the extent of the relationship. He can't remember where that happened, but it probably wasn't San Antonio. Don Lampton was in charge of making hotel arrangements for Hendrix in Texas. He recalls that they couldn't get Hendrix a reservation in town. He wasn't only black, he was rock ‘n’ roll. The only place that would give him a bed was a motel out on Interstate 35.

According to those backstage at the Sidewalks-Hendrix shows (the Sidewalks were one of three acts preceding the headliner) Hendrix was impressed with Gibbons' playing. If you listen to the Sidewalks' LP, you can understand Hendrix' enthusiasm. Much of what Billy was doing at that time was an imitation of Jimi. Hendrix wasn't as impressed with the other local guitar stars who appeared on the bills: Jimmy Vaughan (Stevie Ray's big brother, now of the Thunderbirds, then of the Chessmen, a legendary Dallas outfit) and the guitarists with the fanatics.

Hendrix did try to trade a guitar with the guitarist Jon Pereles who played with Neil Ford and the Fanatics, a rival band of the Sidewalks. Hendrix wanted to swap a 12-string for a Pereles Stratocaster. The deal didn't come off. Hendrix gave a couple of items away - a pendant he wore on the cover of Jimi Hendrix' Smash Hits, to Richard Ames, who promoted the shows with his brother Steve, and a guitar strap to Annette Cope, the production company's secretary.

One local musician speculates Billy saw Hendrix try to trade with Perelen and later changed the point of view. Maybe the Hendrix guitar story started when Gibbons was sitting in the studio and wanted a variation on the Pearly Gates/Les Paul sound he became well known for early in his career. Like almost everyone else who's reached for a Stratocaster in a similar situation, he may have said to his roadie, "No, the Les Paul isn't right for this track. I need that Hendrix sound here. Get me a Hendrix guitar. " The name stuck, a myth was born.

A Tanglewood friend remembers. "There were about 15 of us who ran around together. We were all either in bands or involved with bands. We hung out at the Ames' home, at the swimming pool. We'd play pool inside, drink Coca-Colas and eat their delicatessen food all day long. It was a country club for us. If Hendrix had given Billy a pink Strat then, one of us would've found out about it."

As for the famous photo of Hendrix holding a guitar and posing with a young, barely bearded Gibbons and the other Sidewalks, it was a black and white Polaroid snapped by a roadie. The guitar held by Hendrix wasn't his own, and it wasn't even pink.

Kurt Linhof, who played bass with The Children knows about the pink guitar's origin. It was one of three Stratocasters he and Billy painted in the garage. He even remembers the name of the paint: 1956 Ford Pink. He still has one of them at home in Denver.

The Hendrix story doesn't stop there. The rumor was refuelled when ZZ Top's Houston warehouse was burglarized in 1979 and Gibbons declared his prized pink "Hendrix" guitar among the missing. He found former FeverTree lead guitarist Michael Knust playing it in Remington's, a Houston club. Knust says he bought it for $200 from a lawyer who'd gotten it in lieu of a client's fee. Billy walked into Remington's with two huge men in suits and offered Knust $250. Knust thought at first Gibbons was trying to sign him to his record label or management company, until Billy pulled out photos of the guitar. Gibbons made a big, almost insulting to-do about it, telling him he was making $50 on the deal. Knust called him a few days later and said, half in jest, that he didn't mind giving him the guitar, but that he wanted to split the insurance money, which had to be more than $250. Gibbons huffed and bluffed, saying the guitar was too priceless to have been insured. In any case the happy reunion of Gibbons and his "Hendrix" was newsworthy enough to merit a "Random Note" in Rolling Stone.

"For all we know," says a Houston musician, "Jimi Hendrix could have flown into Texas the day before he died and put a guitar in Billy Gibbons' hands." But it didn't happen when anyone else was around.

Nor did Hendrix, as another frequently repeated story has it, go on the Tonight show and rave about the young up and coming Texas guitar player, Billy Gibbons. Hendrix did mention the Moving Sidewalks - not Gibbons, specifically-on a New York radio interview shortly after the Texas tour. Betty Paul, Dan Mitchell's girlfriend, who'd moved to New York City to pursue a career as an artist, heard it, and excitedly told people back home."

[eric-d]

So why wasn't this "famous" Hendrix "pink" Strat shown in his latest book?!?! Hmmm.... I don't think the guitar exists. I've even been to Gibbons' home here in Houston. I saw quite a few nice guitars and toys. That guitar is a myth fantasized by the Rev.

[RV52]

"Gibson should make a Billy Gibbbons Sig Guitar "
they have, it was shelf'd. Proto's are still at the CS in the archives.

Do you know why it's been left on the shelf?
Did Gibson start to make the protos before Billy signed his Gretsch "Billy-Bo" deal?

[Smakutus]

Billy was also saying that he had a real 50's Gibson Moderne back in the 80's.. What ever happened to that guitar?

Jeff

[GuitarsFromMars]

I am sure that if Billy ever bothered to read this,he would be incredibly amused and would tell you to go and practice playing the guitar.Pearly Gates is a Les Paul,no mods.I will grant you a vintage Les Paul,but no different than any other vintage Les Paul in the way it's made.I don't think that GMI would be able to get it right.If they could,they would have done it and made money on it already.The year after next,will be the 50th Anniversary of the 1959 Les Paul-GMI will whip up something special for that...maybe some Brazilian board,Mother-topped R9's,who knows?

:jo

[The Golden Boy]

Billy was also saying that he had a real 50's Gibson Moderne back in the 80's.. What ever happened to that guitar?

Jeff
It's "theorized" that the Moderne is the one Dan Erlelwine owned for a short period of time- and is the one pictured in the old Wheeler book. There's a magazine photo spread that has Billy with a Bunch of guitars in a convertible Cadillac- the guitar is partially visible in the back seat.

[scottlr]

Well, Billy would have had that Strat back when I knew him, which was long after Moving Sidewalks (BTW, my first band covered 99th Floor as it was a regional hit). All the times I saw them back then, he brought out a few guitars besides Pearly, but never any Fender. I sold him 2 different 55 Strats I found locally right after Rio Grande Mud came out, but I never saw him play either one. Both were pretty trashed as for finish. One I had for awhile, and the SB finish on it was pretty beat up (cool looking by todays standards), so I stupidly stripped it down and left it natural. The other one, the guy I got it from had done much the same thing, but also took a blow torch to it, and sort of charred the edges here and there before the clear coat. I paid $100 each for them, and sold them to Billy for $125 each, and was happy I made a profit LOL Now, with the story above, I wonder if they didn't paint one of them pink LOL

[dzo]

Bolin doesn't get a lot of mention around here, but I can tell you first hand that he makes a nice guitar.

+ 1

[Pete Galati]

Gibson should release a Nashville Püssy Signature SG... with no neck pickup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYZ0dDkvvyw

This one's too important for Gibson though, but I think Fabgear could handle it.

Pete

[scottlr]

"Gibson should make a Billy Gibbbons Sig Guitar "
they have, it was shelf'd. Proto's are still at the CS in the archives.

I looked but wasn't able to find it? any links? I'd love to see it.

[Snakum]

As a kid, and then already an avid Gibbons fan, I remember reading an article about the tools used in the studio on the early ZZ Top albums. And I distinctly remember him discussing custom Marshalls (called 'Rio Grande' Marshalls per Terry Manning, who mastered some of the earlier albums), old Fender tweed Twins and Princetons, a solid state Vox combo for cleans, Les Pauls, Flying Vs, and Teles. There is definitely tele twang on a few of the old songs. Most noteably on the aforementioned 'Jesus Just Left Chicago', and I also remember reading that he claimed to use a Tele on 'La Grange'. He certainly has played the Tele on stage often over the years. I have seen old pics of the Les Pauls (of course), Flying Vs, Teles, and a Strat (not pink, though :D ).

Speaking of Rev Billy G's choices ... most of 'Eliminator' was recorded using those hybrid Legend combo amps that Gibbons shilled for a while, and using a pair of oddly-shaped custom Dean guitars. This came straight from an Engineer on hand for the sessions (again ... Terry Manning).

But I've never read anything about hollowing out any Les Paul. Those '59s were considered "collectable" already when I was a kid. Can't imagine him hacking one up. However, that's exactly what I'd have to do if I was going to start playing them again. One set with a Lester and I get an ache in the upper part of my back that lingers for days. :(

[Ted James]

I specificly remember a Guitar Player issue from a few years back- one of those "set ups of the stars" articles from the front - wherein they wrote that when he gets a NEW Les Paul he sends it out to have not only the body but also part of the neck hollowed out. I t was so random that I still think about it from time to time.
Then again, all I ever see him playing are those weird fuzzy guitars that spin around or are shaped like snakes. My original impression from watching him on MTV was that he didn t really care what he played.
How does 6" of thick shag affect the tone?

[Smakutus]

It's "theorized" that the Moderne is the one Dan Erlelwine owned for a short period of time- and is the one pictured in the old Wheeler book. There's a magazine photo spread that has Billy with a Bunch of guitars in a convertible Cadillac- the guitar is partially visible in the back seat.

The one in the Wheeler book had a regular Gibson headstock right? If I remember right it was said to be owned by a Japanese collector and a fake.

I've heard Billy Gibbons tells a whole lot of BS stories in regards to his guitars.

Jeff

[cr8z4life]

But I've never read anything about hollowing out any Les Paul. Those '59s were considered "collectable" already when I was a kid. Can't imagine him hacking one up. However, that's exactly what I'd have to do if I was going to start playing them again. One set with a Lester and I get an ache in the upper part of my back that lingers for days. :(


I have to find the article I read about this.......it was in a very reputable publication and it does state that he had it hollowed or chambered to come in at just over 6 lbs! If I find it I'll make a copy and attach to this thread.......

[moozak]

I believe Pearly Gates started as a stock les paul but read a histrionics on Gibbons......the guitar was too heavy so apperently they hollowed it out to bring it to 6+ pounds!!

i believe this was one of "The Rev's" favorite "got-cha's"

[dzo]

Pearly was never hollowed out. His newer LP's are and they weigh less than 6lbs. All his new guitars have to be under 6lbs.

[Snakum]

Pearly was never hollowed out. His newer LP's are and they weigh less than 6lbs. All his new guitars have to be under 6lbs.

This is also what I read and heard repeated. All the newer Lesters hollowed out to reduce weight, but not the vintage pieces.

[cmatthes]

No way in hell he hollowed/hollows out REAL 50s LPs. Ed Roman has made a few for him that are MUY hollowed out - apparently the weight is somehow under 5 lbs.

Not a rumor, either.

[walterw]

no pink strat? no carson show rave? my heroes have feet of clay!

i also read about him getting new pauls hollowed out, and judging by a show i saw about 5 years ago, i can see why. he was rail-thin, and seemed to move and play slowly and deliberately, as if he was fragile or something. he sounded great, playing his "think buck owens" esquire, but he did not seem to be the most robust guy around. any scuttlebut as to why?

[RV52]

he was rail-thin, and seemed to move and play slowly and deliberately, as if he was fragile or something.

That was my impression too when I saw him in October 2002.
He played the hollowed out John Bolin LPs for the entire show. Just for 'Legs' he swapped to the fuzzy Explorer.

BTW here's what Jim frost of Bolin Guitars emailed me in Febr. 2003:

"The Les Paul you saw Billy playing has been hollowed out and weighs about 4 pounds. John Bolin has customized as well as built similar guitars for several other stars who don't want their names mentioned. Billy likes the sounds of the light ones better than a Les Paul.
John was at one time using Les Pauls and modifying them, but since not all survived the process of taking the top off and hollowing out the mahogany, John will now only build one rather than modify one (but without Gibson on the headstock)."

[dzo]

I have a Bolin LP in the 6.5lb range. It's key measurements are based on Pearly which he intimately knows. It was fun custom ordering a Les Paul.

I seriously doublt if ed roman has done anything for Billy.

[bluesbreaker59]

As to Billy's health, I've heard he's a vegetarian these days, and became somewhat of a health nut, and keeps himself very thin on purpose.

There have also been many UNCONFIRMED RUMORS about his health, that I don't even care to mention.

And in regards to recent interviews, only believe about 10% of the BS he serves up these days. If you want Billy's old tone, for the most part just use a good, ringing Les Paul with PAF type pickups into a Tweed Deluxe, Tweed Dual Pro, Tweed Bandmaster or Tweed Bassman OR 100 watt Plexi and a 4x12 with Greenbacks or the modern equivalents, get the licks down and you'll be 90% there, the rest is just Billy himself. No mojo, no magic, just a killer guitarist with great tone, and MUCHO tasty licks.

[scottlr]

In his 20s, he was heavy into Transcendental Meditation. He even became a teacher (I think that's what it was called). I attended a lecture he did on the subject in Beaumont, TX in the early 70s, as I was also into that for a short time. I always thought the Beer Drinkin/Hell Raisin image was so completely different than he was in person in those days ;)

[karmadave]

I'm sure the CHARACTOR of ZZ-Top Billy Gibbons and the PERSON are very different. I read an article that Billy drinks his Budweiser with a straw as to not mess up the beard :-)

-KD

[bluesbreaker59]

There ya go talking good common sense again........way over the heads of far too many.

Yeah I'm sorry, back to the discussion:

Well I heard Billy used a Harmony Rocket and split the signal between a Blockhead, a Tone King and a Victoria, and then fed that signal into an old Stella amp that he played through a jukebox speaker. I got this from a guy that once saw a studio that Billy MAY have recorded at. If that's not proof, I don't know what is. Yes, that's right, Billy helped design Blockhead, Tone King and Victoria back in the late 60's, and early 70's. The Jukebox was rumored to have had only Lightnin Hopkins songs on it too, and mysteriously stopped working after the recording was done.

Better?

[scottlr]

:rotflmao

I am not 100% convinced the beards are real. Think about it. With the beard, he can't go anywhere without being noticed, but if it were fake, then he could take it off and go to a K-Mart and nobody would notice him. ;) Plus, it seems like he went from a standard length beard to the long one in less than a year IIRC?

[bluesbreaker59]

:rotflmao

I am not 100% convinced the beards are real. Think about it. With the beard, he can't go anywhere without being noticed, but if it were fake, then he could take it off and go to a K-Mart and nobody would notice him. ;) Plus, it seems like he went from a standard length beard to the long one in less than a year IIRC?

I agree, I think he picked that up at the Al-Qaida store. I call fake.

[GuitarsFromMars]

Yeah I'm sorry, back to the discussion:

Well I heard Billy used a Harmony Rocket and split the signal between a Blockhead, a Tone King and a Victoria, and then fed that signal into an old Stella amp that he played through a jukebox speaker. I got this from a guy that once saw a studio that Billy MAY have recorded at. If that's not proof, I don't know what is. Yes, that's right, Billy helped design Blockhead, Tone King and Victoria back in the late 60's, and early 70's. The Jukebox was rumored to have had only Lightnin Hopkins songs on it too, and mysteriously stopped working after the recording was done.

Better?

You should know better than to holler fire in a crowded internet forum:rolleyes:

:crazyguy

[bluesbreaker59]

You should know better than to holler fire in a crowded internet forum:rolleyes:

:crazyguy

Hey Paul!!! Long time no chat, how ya been buddy?

[dhdfoster]

I think the Gretsch sounds pretty good here:

http://www.gckingoftheblues.com/blog/entry/46

[RV52]

I think the Gretsch sounds pretty good here:

http://www.gckingoftheblues.com/blog/entry/46

Thanks for sharing.
. :BEER

I'm gonna see him on the current tour.

[wichita]

I believe the beard is real guys..
I met Billy years ago in public "Being Billy" situation and then once again in the Houston airport. In the airport he was reading a book on Eastern philosophy had fishing hat on and a members only jacket with the beard tucked into the jacket and sunglasses...
I think that is about as low profile as he can get.

[Redbell]

Great thread, perhaps he really has a short beard & has extensions put in when they go tour?

[wichita]

You know regarding the rig..
I was playing guitar for this Danish guy who had opened shows for ZZ a few years ago.
Elwood apparently showed him Billy's rig which this guy claims was a Marshall JMP pre and a Boss SE70 effects unit with some programmable Digitech EQ's that ran straight to the board.
I know that sounds nutty but my former employer also claims that the 4-12's on stage were dead as a doorknob and that the only guitar on stage was run through the monitors.

[RV52]

"Gibson should make a Billy Gibbbons Sig Guitar "
they have, it was shelf'd. Proto's are still at the CS in the archives.

Anybody here who has seen these protos or knows something more about them?