Metheney's ES175

[LogicTweek]

I've always wondered what was up with the modifications to Metheney's old Gibson, specifically the tailpiece. http://i621.photobucket.com/albums/tt298/briandavis1978/3.jpg</a>It looks like he has two tailpieces on this guitar. Why? There's also what looks like a little stick tied up in it. Is this some kind of mic/pickup setup?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itF1OMeeCuQ&feature=related

[Custom50]

that's actually a synth pickup if i'm not mistaken. He has them on tons of his guitars

[friendofjaco]

It may be just a way of attaching his strap to guitar. His Gibson was getting so warn and used up that he was at one time using a toothbrush to aid in holding strap to body of guitar. He has since retired his trusty 175 from the road to keep her safe. Metheny sounds amazing regardless of what guitar/tool he chooses to play.

[Bluedawg]

The stick is a toothbrush ....


MB - I guess I've always wanted to ask this: what's the deal with the toothbrush?

PM - When I was about sixteen years old, the little pin at the bottom of the guitar that holds the strap on, broke off, and I had to finish the gig, so I took the strap and wrapped it around the tailpiece and I had to have something to stick in the hole so it would stay on the guitar, and I had a toothbrush there and its been there ever since.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/pmetheny.htm

Not sure about the rest .... :dunno

He usually plays his signature Ibanez in public these days

:banana

[LogicTweek]

a toothbrush, that's funny! It's punk.

[stratocat63]

Now that's how you can tell if a guy moves around a lot, toothbrush in the case.

[dspellman]

The stick is a toothbrush ....

So I wonder what it looks like when he's brushing his teeth...

[KRosser]

I saw Pat play with that guitar several times way back in the day in Boston. My favorite sound he ever had.

[Bluedawg]

I saw Pat play with that guitar several times way back in the day in Boston. My favorite sound he ever had.


Saw him at Blues Alley in DC around 1990 on the Question and Answer tour... and the toothbrush was there in all it's glory ... and that place is wonderfully small so no one is sitting more than 50 feet from the artists.

He as been in Tucson twice in the last two or three years and he played multiple Ibanez sig guitars as well as his electric and his Picasso guitar.


All were great concerts

:band

[jimmyj]

My favorite sound he ever had.

+1

My favorite of his recorded tone is still Bright Size Life before he got quite so much into the stereo delay thing.

[...rock...]

i actually always thought it was an L4 instead of an es175... correct me if i'm wrong...

[Flogger59]

You're wrong.

[toddinjax@yahoo]

Since nobody asked...Pat's 175 was purchased for $100 from a friend of his dad. His son had been sent to Viet Nam and did not make it home. I sat probably 20 feet from it at the Jazz Workshop in Boston circa 1977. I was underage, the very first club I was ever in.

[Bluedawg]

i actually always thought it was an L4 instead of an es175... correct me if i'm wrong...


Definately a 175 ... he has had the pick of the litter when it comes to choosing his guitars and he decided early on to stick with his laminated 175 for his signature sound



IIRC the L4-CES is a recent indtroduction dating from the mid or late 80s. I have a 1988 L4-CES.

Every vintage (pre-1980) L4 I've encountered or seen advertised was an acoustic ... although I'm sure there were some exceptions .... and they seem to have quit making them in the 60s and 70s

I could be wrong :dunno but that's my impression of the L4s history


:munch

[Bluedawg]

Since nobody asked...Pat's 175 was purchased for $100 from a friend of his dad. His son had been sent to Viet Nam and did not make it home. I sat probably 20 feet from it at the Jazz Workshop in Boston circa 1977. I was underage, the very first club I was ever in.


Cool story

[1kidc]

I was lucky enough to have scored a couple of lessons from Pat in the early 80's. My teacher back then had been one of his students at U of Miami. At the time it not only had the toothbrush still in it but a couple of peices of duct tape on it as well.. He let me play it for a couple of minutes. It ain't the guitar folks - but the hands that play it!

[xjojox]

Saw him at Blues Alley in DC around 1990 on the Question and Answer tour... and the toothbrush was there in all it's glory ... and that place is wonderfully small so no one is sitting more than 50 feet from the artists.
:band

I used to love Blues Alley! When I saw Larry Carlton there my table/seat was right at corner of the stage on the right. At one point I had my drink on Terry Trotter's keyboard amp (next to his drink... just long enough for the picture. He didn't mind). Great venue! And I saw Pat's toothbrush too...

[MisterMitch]

A 175 and his name is Metheny.

[zenfreud]

That's a lovely clip, thanks for sharing. Kinda wished I'd caught his show here earlier this year, didn't know what to expect and it was spendy. I regret that decision now, I can't remember the last time he came through this town.

This has gotta be on the net, but what's the history of the missing bridge pickup? I read another thread here where it stated the pickup was removed for installation of a dowel for feedback suppression.

Did he just not find that bridge pickup's tone useful for his artistic expression? Other than his synth pickup, is he still a 'neck pickup only' player?

[kingsleyd]

Every vintage (pre-1980) L4 I've encountered or seen advertised was an acoustic ... although I'm sure there were some exceptions .... and they seem to have quit making them in the 60s and 70s

I could be wrong :dunno but that's my impression of the L4s history


:munch

Well, first, "vintage," with respect to Gibson electrics, is more like (pre-1964) :), but anyway, there were a handful of L-4CESs built back in the late '50s. Only a handful, though, and I've sure never seen one in the flesh.