(guitar music)
- [Michael Landau] I think that most musicians would agree,
the world is basically a mad house these days.
And looking back now,
I realized that I've always created a better world
for myself simply by playing my guitar.
I could stop the insanity of the world, with music,
and my days became more soulful.
Music has always been a good friend.
(guitar playing)
As a kid, I fell in love with the craziness
of the electric guitar, but on a deeper level,
was amazed by the unspoken power
that music seemed to have over me.
It went deep down into my bones.
What is this strange force,
and where did it come from?
Like people, every guitar has its own personality,
and while you can't transfer the soul
of an old guitar into a new one,
you can build a new guitar with the same specs,
and even a better guitar in many ways.
These new Coma guitars are made in Corona, California,
by an expert team of soulful people.
So very quickly, these new guitars will take
on a personality and a soul of their own.
Guitars are magical that way.
(rock music)
The Coma Guitar story began at Sol Betnun's Music in 1974,
when I was 16 years old,
My pals and I would often drive
to Betnun's check out the used guitars that they had.
Vintage guitar shops didn't really exist back then,
but Betnun's always had a lot of used gear.
The store was actually a funky old house,
converted into a music shop,
on Larchmont Street in the heart of Hollywood.
The store had many rooms to roam through.
It was a fun place for sure.
On one of my visits,
I noticed this 1959 Stratocaster hiding in the corner.
The original finish was stripped off,
and pickups weren't original, either.
They were selling them pretty cheap back then.
So I managed to round up the funds
and bought it a few days later.
I instantly had a good feeling about the guitar,
when I brought it home.
(guitar shredding)
Since the guitar had already been modified,
I felt it was all right to modify it even more.
And I certainly did so many times over the years.
Different pickups, bridges, and even different necks.
Really, the only thing that stayed constant
throughout the years on that guitar,
was that Resonant '59 body,
this latest incarnation of the Coma Guitar
has lasted a few years now,
and in many respects it's come full circle back
to the way it was in the eighties,
but with some modern updates.
I've used this latest version
on many recordings and many live shows.
I think it's safe to say
that I'm done torturing this guitar for now.
Famous last words.
(upbeat music)
(guitar playing)
The eighties were the days rock stars with one name.
Bono, Sting,
Prince, Flea.
I admired all of them.
So during a fun night of debauchery,
with my pals in the late eighties,
I decided that I too should have a one word name.
In a flash of alcohol-induced inspiration,
the name "Coma," magically appeared to me.
"That's it," I thought.
From now on, I will simply be known as Coma.
My friends laughed it off, told me to shut up,
and we continued the party.
The new name didn't end up sticking with me personally,
but as soon as I wrote it on that red stained '59 Start,
that guitar became the Coma Guitar forever.
The good old days, for sure.
In the mid eighties,
I had Jim Tyler strip the Dakota Red finish,
off of the guitar in order to refinish it.
But as soon as we saw that beautiful blotchy red stain,
the grain showing through, we ended up keeping it that way.
The natural satin finish reminded me of the hippie guitars,
in the seventies, but the red stain had more attitude.
The finish has been that way ever since.
I got my first Floyd Rose Bridge, in the early eighties.
I was a massive Van Halen fan, so I contacted Floyd,
and flew up to Seattle to have one installed.
I had to have it.
At that time, Floyd was installing the bridges
one at a time in a shop at home.
The first Floyd Rose was very basic,
didn't have the fine tuners,
so you had to get it perfectly in tune,
as you clamped the strings down at the nut.
Pain in the ass, but I loved it anyways.
I brought two of my Strats to have the bridges installed.
The future Coma Guitar was one of them.
I camped out on his couch overnight,
while he worked on my guitars.
Then flew home the next morning, a very happy little rocker.
In 1983, I did a world tour with Joni Mitchell.
Definitely a highlight of my career.
I brought two Strats with me back then.
The Coma Guitar being one of them.
The sound, the weight, and the body contours,
of that '59 Strat fit me like a glove.
That guitar has always felt like home to me.
At the time, the Coma Guitar had two Seymour Duncan stacks,
with a Duncan Invader in the bridge.
Somewhere around 1986, I added a 25 DV mid boost,
and the guitar became my main session guitar,
for many, many years.
On the stories collection, Coma Guitar,
we kept the Floyd Rose routing,
and the mid boost battery route in place.
This is true to the original guitar.
With these body routes and the additional routing,
for the wide range pickup in the neck position,
the Coma Guitar has a very resonant acoustic like quality,
similar to a thin line guitar.
The Coma Guitar became my main guitar again,
a few years back.
When I put a set of wide range humbuckers in.
The wide range became my new favorite neck pickup.
So Fender will offer a wide range HH pick guard.
Back in the nineties,
a great guitar tech named Richard Oblinger showed me
his technique for keeping the tremolo bar
nice and snug in the bridge block.
I like the bar to be tight in the bridge,
so I can get the exact amount of pitch bend that I need.
Putting the seal tape on the bar is an easy solution,
and I've done it all my Strats ever since.
(guitar twanging)
(guitar playing)
Not to sound overdramatic,
but I should probably be buried with the Coma Guitar.
We've been through a lot together.
The Fender team did a beautiful job,
of recreating this very personal guitar of mine.
I'm glad that we all put the many hours,
into making this fine instrument,
and I hope it becomes a soulful part of your life.
(guitar playing)