Hi, my name is Earl Slick and welcome to my living room and my guitar collection.
We'll be talking about a few guitars today. First one, would be actually almost one of the first
ones that I ever bought that was a real guitar; this is a 1968 Gibson J45 that I bought in
1970 it was brand new and I paid $170 including the case and the tax and somehow I've managed
to hold onto this thing all these years. It does have some history to it, as using it
as a kid and then working with David Bowie this guitar was used on the Young American's
album, Station to Station album, it was used on John Lennon's double Fantasy of Milk and
Honey and an array of other recordings and it's still one of my absolute favourite guitars
in the world, it gets better with age.
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Alright next my Gibson J-200 mini 75th anniversary guitar, it's 2012. Got it less than a year,
it's like the new toy. This one Gibson gave me as a gift, a much appreciated gift and
I put history on this one right away. This was used on a track called Valentine's Day
on the new David Bowie The Next Day album so I broke it in pretty good right away.
This is another fav, it sounds different than the J-45, it's a little bit more high end on it
not as pick sounding but very clear and wonderful instrument.
[music] 0:02:42.350,0:02:35.750 Good for blues.
Ok this one is my gypsy jazz guitar it's Gitane compliments of Saga music. It's the guitar
that Django Reinhardt used to use back in they day for all that gypsy jazz and that
really fast stuff that he used to do, that I really don't have a clue. So I actually
got the guitar because it's got kinda, the way I've set it up, I've got it on a d'addario
gypsy jazz strings on it which give you a good clangy sound, and it's good if you want
a really good ratty blues sound which is not what it's meant for but
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Alright moving onto electrics, this is my Framus Earl Slick model, we developed this guitar
about 2 or 3 years ago on my specs and it's got my favourite stuff on it I mean, the neck
is made for me to suit my hands, I've got 2 guitar fettish P-90s that were hand wound
for me, as well as a Bigsby, it's a very simple old school guitar, one of my favourites and
this one's been used quite a bit, it's one of my favourites. This is also used extensively
on a new David Bowie record in particular on Valentine's Day the signiture lick at the front.
That's this guitar and I think the whole song is this guitar, it's served me
quite well, it works in any situation whether live or in the studio. It sounds like this...
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Oh and my VIP sticker from the last Rolling Stones gig. I don't normally stick things
on my guitar but I didn't want to lose the sticker, so I knew I wasn't going to lose
the guitar so they kind of go together from now on.
Ok, next my friend's Mafio, 330, Gibson 330 5 type guitar, old school, very very simple
again, I've got 2 Dimarzio humbuckers on it, and it's traditional wiring. Actually it's
got the tonepros hardware on it, this guitar it's got a little bit, it's got much more
of an old school
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Do the old chuck thing with it and matter of fact I used this guitar at October 2012
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when they did Chuck Berry week and the end result was
a concert in honor of Chuck which he actually closed off with a few songs. I used this,
I did 2 of Chuck's songs with the back up band with myself and David Johansen on vocals
and you know because of the nature of the music I used this guitar for that. This is
also on the new David Bowie Next Day album as well. I used this on some rhythm parts
on the record and it's also one of my favourites it's a pretty versitle guitar and old school
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Ok, here's a home made guitar that my friend, my luthier buddy Rick Mullen does all my repairs
and guitar work and he built this for me. I had a few guitars stolen and one of them
was like my favourite Les Paul's about 5 years ago and as a gift he said you know I really
feel bad about that, let me build you something, what do you want? So you know we could build
a melody maker kind of guitar, that would be kind of cool and at the time I'd started
a line of guitar straps for Guitar Fettish called Slick Straps and I was doing art work
that was very similar to this and so you know what when you cut the body out send it over
to me and I'll paint it whilst you're building the neck and he actually built this entire
thing by hand; the neck, the body, everything and I did the paint job and I've used this
extensively. It hasn't hit it's stride on an iconic record yet but it'll get used, but
you know, one of my favs.
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Alright, here's my latest aquisition; it's my James Trussart red star, it's a telestar
guitar and very unique sounding and I just love the aesthetic of it and I got this a
couple of months ago and it's kind of the new toy, I guess everything is a new toy,
everything I play is the new toy. I actually love this one, it's just got a thing
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Alright next one, this is the oldest guitar in the house it's a 1965 Gibson SG Junior,
that I really messed up. It sounds great, it still plays great, the neck is just straight
as a board, over the years it went through a variety of changes, pick up changes and
paint jobs and this is what I did to it. These, I knew what they meant when I put them on,
but I forgot but they look cool and I think, there's one on the back. So anyway, I painted
this one. And this guitar I bought in 1966 or so. I got one '67 maybe? anyway so '65
but I bought it brand new and it was over stocked leftex, the original Sam Ash store
in Brooklyn New York paid $130 with a case and tax brand new, I don't know why I remember
that but this was my main guitar for quite a while and this is the guitar that was used
on a David Live at the tower, the Diamond Dogs Tour as well as, this was also used on
Double Fantasy of Milk and Honey and there's a couple of solos I did on that record with
this, but this has been a mainstay for years. I don't take it out of the house often and
it's not allowed on tour but you know I still record with it and still play it around the
house. It is a Gibson even though it doesn't look like one any more but it still does the
trick and it sounds great. Let's do a Bowie lick, just for giggles.
[music]
One of my favourites