it was completed. There are
only two in existence that I
know of. The other belongs to
Sheryl Crow. The first time I
used the guitar to record was on
Matthew Sweet’s “Someone to
Pull the Trigger” [from his 1991
album, Girlfriend], and for that
track I changed the capacitors
to give the guitar more of a
Rickenbacker sound—cleaner
and brighter. You can also hear
the guitar on “Constricted”
from The Naked Flame.
I’ve also been enjoying these
new electric guitars made by
Hanson. I’ve got a solidbody
one called the Cigno, which has
P-90-style pickups and sounds
great. As for acoustic, around
’ 92 or ’ 93 I visited Gibson’s
acoustic factory in Bozeman,
Montana, and smelled the
wood and glue of a new
Hummingbird, played it, and
it on the spot no matter how
much it cost, and it’s been my
main acoustic ever since.
Are you picky about strings?
I use D’Addarios—.010s at
home but .011s or .012s on
the road if I’m feeling like a real
man. I find that I get a bigger
and better sound with heavy
strings higher off the fretboard.
Something else I do, which I
picked up from Nile Rodgers, is
put acoustic strings on an electric
guitar. The magnets don’t pull
on the metal as much as they do
with electric strings, so you get
a much woodier sound—a cool
thing for chords and rhythm
stuff. Currently, I have acoustic
strings on the 12-string Tele. I
wouldn’t recommend that readers
put acoustic strings on all their
electric guitars, but try it on at
least one sometime—you’ll be
pleased with the sonic results.
Julian with his 1962 Strat (which as an epoxied-on 1973 neck) at Europa Club in New York City in 2007. Photo by Jackie Roman
