FEATURE
It’s cool to see you using Rickenbacker guitars outside their typical context.
Rickenbackers are the unsung heroes of
rock ’n’ roll. They’re still made exactly the
same way they always have been. They’re
built just great, and they’re one of the only
companies that only builds stuff here in the
States anymore. And they play so well—so
much better than most new guitars I check
out that it’s just sick. They’re so smooth.
A lot more early rock ’n’ roll records than
you might think were made with Ricks. The
idea that they’re just for jangling is pure
nonsense. Those single-coils are fantastic
and have a lot of character. They may not be
quite as hot as DeArmonds, but they’re hot
enough. You can do anything you want with
a Rickenbacker—anything.
Scott Asheton from the Stooges
[told me] “A carpenter can’t
blame bad work on his tools.”
So I don’t think about the ways
that gear—or the fact that it’s
just Pat and me working on a
song—limit what we do.
pickup—it just sounds so weird. I used that for
the solo on “Howlin’ for You.”
What other guitars made it onto this record?
That solo buzzes like a mosquito. I couldn’t
figure out how you got that tone.
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It’s just that weird Supro pickup through a
little Magnatone with a 10" speaker. You put
that sound on top of a big Rickenbacker bass
and a fuzz bass, along with some organ—all
holding down the bottom end—perfect!
It’s heavy without being too much, y’know?
There’s still some space in the mix, but it’s
really heavy!
I used my white-and-black Supro a lot. It’s
got two DeArmond single-coils that look like
humbuckers, and it’s got a weird bridge pickup
that’s supposed to sound almost like an acoustic
There’s a lot of Jimmy Page’s “loud little
amp”-style ambience on Brothers.
Small amps are all I’ve ever played, honestly, apart from live stuff. I’ve only played
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