Saw you guys live in Cambridge about a year or so ago and thought you were mighty huge sounding for a three piece and I don't just mean volume and stuff. What gear you guys using to do that Had a convo with yer singer n bassist about gear and wish I had a notepad. Lots of interesting stuff going on there. Doing anything different for the new album?

Hello Dave,

Many thanks for your question and kind comments.

Stay tuned for an anorak infused breakdown of BB gear right here in the next few days. Watch this space.

All the best,

Andy

I got loads of gear a number of years back off the back of some cheesy remixing work I did and that helped to kick off a condition known as GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). And this condition has actually been quite instrumental to Buck Brothers' sound.

I have a tendency to be too nice and lend guitars to mates for years at a stretch but I've managed to get virtually all my axes back in the last couple of months and it's been really exciting to plot out what we're going to be using for the next album.

As this is likely to take ages to document, I'll post each instrument separately and include photos just because I care.

Gear Geek Alert! This could get messy. :0)

Andy

- Yamaha SG2000 (1976)

I've had this instrument for years and years. In fact, it's the guitar I've held onto the longest. It started life out as failed prototype for Pete Townshend and, when I bought it in a battered and decidedly knackered state, it looked like this:



Three humbuckers were a bit excessive (2 Dimarzios and a Gibson T-Top PAF from the Mid-70s) and made this dark guitar sound darker. After giving my overdraft a severe beating, I had the guitar refinished and fixed with 2 P90 pickups by Dan at DM Guitars in Essex, England.

I have a great passion for P90 Pickups. Also known as the "Soap Bar", P90 pickups were featured on early Gibson Les Paul and SG model guitars until replaced by the PAF (Patent Applied For) Humbucker. They are much brighter (and noisy) than their humbucking counterparts but have a sound and dynamic all their own. This is "Brother 1" of my 2 P90 family and was an important part of Buck Brothers' sound on the album "Me".

Strung up with heavy 12-56 gauge strings, this Yamaha SG2000 is reminiscent of a Gibson Les Paul Pro Deluxe in sound with a little bit of an SG Special thrown in for good measure.

Gibson Les Paul Special D/C

This is a Frankenstein in stock Les Paul Special clothing. Despite the following unique and decidedly un-Gibson-like features:

- Silver Sparkle finish (very Gretsch)
- Triangular Inlays (very Rickenbacker-ish)
- Varnished rosewood fingerboard (very Rickenbacker-ish)
- Bigsby Tremolo Unit
- Chrome P90 pickup covers
- Marble Style binding

........it's actually just a stock Gibson Les Paul Special which normally resemble:




........only customised to a very Buck standard.

Trivia about this axe:
At Buck Brothers' gig at Bovine Sex Club in Toronto, this guitar literally lost its neck. During a very rock and roll moment, the silver beast suffered a bit of a tumble and required a great deal of TLC in order to be restored. It's never been "quite" the same since BUT continues to churn out that Johnny Thunders-esque grind when required.

If our album "Me" was fueled by the P90 pickup, our follow up "We are merely filters" is all about the Mini-Humbucker.

And this 1964 Gibson Melody Maker has been modified with 2 PAF Mini Humbuckers (Shaw Designed/Gibson manufactured in 1980/81 and decidedly rare) which are normally found on Les Paul Deluxe models. Apart from the pickup assembly and machineheads, this Melody Maker is completely stock.

With a solid mahogany body ala an SG, this guitar sounds like a Les Paul only with a bit more brightness and definition. And it's incredibly light too.