Johnny Winter | 1944 - 2014

This article is dedicated to Johnny Winter who passed away on July 16, 2014 at age 70.

"I never took lessons like to learn how to read music or where to put my fingers. I would just ask these guys to show me whatever they thought I ought to know."

"I would just learn how to play a record note-for-note. I just took what I heard and assimilated it, and I guess it would come out part mine and part everybody else's. There's nobody that really plays original. You can't. You can find some of everybody's licks in almost everybody's playing, but I tried to make it my own after I got the basic things down."

"I'd listen to those blues records like Bobby Bland and Otis Rush, and I wondered, how could they push those strings, how could they do this? I used a second for the third, a first for the second and an A tenor banjo string for the first. That was really cool!"

"(My parents) thought that all musicians were either drunks, dope addicts, or sexual perverts of some kind. And I said, "It don't have to be that way, though." Of course, they were right."

"Everybody thought I was crazy. Nobody wanted to hear that stuff. I was almost embarrassed to play it. I used to shut my door, and people would come by and say, "What is that music, man? You don't really like that stuff!" I didn't find one other friend that liked blues until I was about 23 or 24."

On playing with BB King for the first time: "One night, when I was about 18, I went down there. We were the only white people in a club of about 1500 people. BB was playing and I wanted to show off, man, so bad. And so finally I went up on a break and asked him if I could. BB thought I was crazy. He said, "Can I see a union card?"

On his guitars: "Firebirds. I love Firebirds. I like real high action. I had it pretty high before I played slide, because I played hard. Just for pushing strings it's important for it to be high. When I have low action I can't get my finger under the string to push it as well. (String gauges are) .009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042. The brand doesn't matter."

On his amps and amp settings: "Everything on all the way, and all treble and no bass. We're using a stack of 100-watt Marshalls. One head and two bottoms, and one head and two bottoms of the Ampeg SVTs."

On his younger brother's different musical tastes: "Edgar was never into blues. He couldn't stand it. He plays his John Coltrane and Dave Brubeck records for me and says, "Now isn't that great?" And then I'll say, "But what is that stuff you're playing for me, man? I don't feel it -- I mean, there's feeling in it, but it just sounds like a bunch of notes. As to Edgar's jazz, it's fun to listen to but I wouldn't want to live there."

"Every second that I wasn't doing something else that I had to do, I was playing guitar. It was just an obsession. I guess I played at least six or eight hours a day from the time I started until I was fifteen. Then when I started playing in groups, I didn't practice unless we were having band practice. (These days) I'll go a couple of weeks and never even touch my guitar. Of course, when I start back, it definitely takes a week or so to get back in shape. It's hard making myself practice 'cause there's not much that I'm interested in learning. But pretty much it's just practicing for a reason. We play so much on tour, that usually when I get off the road I don't want to see my guitar for a while anyway."

On his use of a thumbpick: "Since I started out playing Chet Atkins' style, I used a thumbpick. Really, a flat pick would have been a lot better, but I've just been doing it so long, it'd just be too hard to switch. I bought a hundred of them a couple of years ago because I had so much trouble finding them, and a few months after that, Gibson quit making them. I still got about fifty left, but I'm going to have to quit playing the guitar when I run out, unless I can talk Gibson into making me some more."

On his right hand technique: "I don't really think about it. When I started out with the Chet Atkins' stuff I was using those metal fingerpicks, and they just got in the way, so I quit using them. But on my blues stuff, I'm still using my finger some, mostly the first and second finger with the thumb."

"I've had my slide for years. I was using test tubes and playing with the back of my wristwatch and everything imaginable. (I went) to a plumbing supply place, got a 12-foot long piece of conduit pipe, cut it into pieces and rounded out one side. When I got it, it was dull, gray and real rough. Then I just played and wore that off, and it became kind of shiny black. And then I played it for a little while longer and wore that off, and now it's kind of silver. Crust just sort of built up inside. Rust and dirt and sweat and everything. I love it! I don't even have any backup slides."

On his different slide tunings: "Open A and open E. Sometimes I play slide in regular tuning, but not too often."

On Jimi Hendrix and the tremelo bar: "Jimi Hendrix could use it so good! And people would put him down for using it, but man, it was a whole different dimension when he used it.  Even when his guitar was horribly out of tune, he could play so cool, you'd hardly ever know it. He had a way of bending the strings just enough to where it could sound in tune, even though it was horribly out of tune.If I'd pick it up and play a chord on his guitar, it would sound ungodly."

"We learn more things on the bandstand than we would practicing. After I learned how to play guitar I never have liked to practice that much."

On recording versus playing live: "I get off on turning people on. It's hard for me to put everything into it when I know there's nobody there."

"So many people just buy a guitar because the decided, "I want to be a rock and roll star. I'm going to learn how to play this son of a bitch." And after they get a few runs down they think, "Okay, it's time for me to be a star." You know, I was really ready to play for fifty bucks a week, if that's what it took. The basic drive and main thing was that I really liked what I was doing. You've got to have that first, or you can't make it."

Ordering a Gibson Firebird V from Ishibashi Japan

I've always had good experiences when buying online from Ishibashi Music in Japan.  Their service has always been top-notch, and I like the fact that they always try to be as thorough as possible when describing an item a customer might be interested in. 

But they do get a large volume of incoming emails everyday, and only a small handful of staff who are able to answer emails in English, which means that a one or two day wait for a reply is the norm.

I ordered my Gibson Firebird V from Ishibashi's U-Box or used item listing a year ago, last September.  Yeah I know, it's taken me that long to blog about it.

Here's the initial reply from Ishibashi:

Hello! This is ____  from Ishibashi Music, Shibuya.


Thank you for sending our Kobe Sannomiya branch an inquiry of the used GIBSON FIREBIRD VS (316212705).  As all international orders are handeled here at Shibuya, I am writing back to you on behalf of them.

I am glad to advise you that this Firebird guitar is still available and would like to share you some information of its overall condition and accompanying item is as follows;

- No outstanding damages such as big dents, finish chips or cracks are found on this guitar, except for some minor picking scratches and small dents.
- The condition of the neck is good, not warped or twisted.
- Fret wear is just a little. The remainder of the frets are approx. 80%.
- The color of the hardwares are still shiny.

- No parts seems to have been modified, replaced or missing.
- No problem with the electronics.
- The playing condition is good.
- Made in 2003 (S/N 02533397)
- The guitar comes with a hardshell case.

Based on the above written condition, the best offer for this GIBSON FIREBIRD VS including the shipping/insurance fee for sending you this guitar to your country via EMS is...

Used GIBSON
FIREBIRD VS (316212705)--- ******* JPY

Shipping/Insurance fee----  ***** JPY

______________________________________

Total Amount: ******* JPY (tax excluded)
 
ISHIBASHI MUSIC, SHIBUYA 
**End of correspondence**
 
Thorough and descriptive like I mentioned.  And they even provided me with additional pictures of the guitar.
 
I sent them another email to confirm and received bank wire transfer details.  I prefer bank transfers instead of credit card payments in these cases as it gives me solid documentation of my purchase --a bit of a hassle with the $20 bank wire charge from my bank but worth it, I feel. 
 
After confirming payment on their end which took one additional business day, the guitar was shipped promptly within hours.  I even got a EMS tracking number so I could track my purchase all the way from Shibuya, to Narita airport, right up to my doorstep.  
 
Speaking of doorsteps, the visitor intercom to my apartment wasn't working on the morning the guitar arrived, which was, literally, a day after they shipped it!  Which meant that I had to schlep all the way to the post office the next business day to pick the guitar up.  
 
I was really happy with the way the guitar was packed.  Removing the outer protective cardboard box, I found the hardcase within thoroughly bubble-wrapped with the guitar snug inside.  And my first hands-on experience with the huge Firebird hardcase was that it does not fit in the boot of a cab.  So the backseat it was.
 
Since the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011, Ishibashi has shortened their working hours as part of the energy conservation program so they might take longer in answering incoming emails.  But from what I understand it's business as usual.
 
Check 'em out sometime.
 
http://www.ishibashi.co.jp/

In Search Of The Way Out -- The Gibson Firebird

In the mid-50's, hot on the heels of its successful Les Paul model, Gibson decided to create a trio of radically shaped guitars -- the Flying V, the Explorer and the Moderne.

As Gibson's president Ted McCarty explained it, "We developed these models because we wanted to be way out." These new designs were intended to break the company out of the mold of producing only conventional, aesthetically unchallenging instruments.

Of the three, the Moderne was produced in such a small quantity that it has become the holy grail of solidbody guitars. In fact whether any were made at all remains a point of contention -- none of the originals from the 50's are known to exist today.

The market, however, was not prepared for such 'way out' guitars. Sales flopped.

In a bold move, the ever forward-thinking McCarty hired Detroit car designer Ray Dietrich to come up with a guitar that would both shake up the guitar industry and be embraced by the marketplace.

A tall order indeed.

His new design, dubbed the 'Firebird' was released in mid-1963.

The Firebird featured all-mahogany body wings glued to a multi-laminate mahogany and walnut through-neck/centrepiece which extended the entire length of the instrument. Outfitted with proprietary Firebird humbucking pickups, it also featured a reverse peghead design with perpendicularly mounted 'banjo' tuners.

Some have observed that the Firebird's design was actually the Explorer shape with its points rounded off.

Because of the extended lower horn on the Firebird's treble side as well as the upside-down reversed headstock, these came to commonly be referred to as 'reverse Firebirds'.

Available in sunburst as a standard finish, the customer could also order the guitar in custom Duco automobile colors such as Polaris white, Pelham blue, Kerry green, frost blue and silver mist, golden mist and cardinal red -- true to the Firebird's automotive origins.

Four Firebird models were produced:

Firebird I -- one pickup, two knobs (tone and volume), wrap-around bridge, unbound rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays

Firebird III -- two pickups, 3-way selector switch, wrap-around bridge with Vibrola spring vibrato, single-bound rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays

Firebird V -- two pickups, 3-way selector switch, tune-o-matic bridge, Deluxe Vibrola vibrato with a metal tailpiece cover engraved with the Gibson 'leaf and lyre' logo, single-bound rosewood fingerboard with trapezoid inlays

Firebird VII -- three pickups, 3-way selector switch, tune-o-matic bridge, Deluxe vibrato with a metal tailpiece cover engraved with the Gibson 'leaf and lyre' logo, single bound ebony fingerboard, block inlays from the first fret and with gold-plated hardware

The Firebird was only a little more successful than its Explorer and Flying V predecessors -- it didn't take off to the extent that Gibson had hoped. The reverse-body Firebird line was discontinued in 1965, to be replaced by the redesigned 'non-reverse' model in that same year.

Along with the early, commercially unsuccessful Explorers and Flying V's, the 1963-65 reverse Firebirds are very much sought after by collectors today, fetching exorbitant prices.

Some things are just way out ahead of their time.

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