TO MOD OR NOT TO MOD? BY JOL DANTZIG
The link between guitars and cars has been discussed
often. Who among us doesn’t
love swoopy sports cars, sick bobber bikes, or wicked hot rods?
Flashy and loud, brimming with
sex appeal, and plenty of geeky,
mechanical specs to discuss—
instruments and vehicles share
many of the same characteristics.
I’ve spent countless weekends at
custom car shows or concours
and vintage races while ogling
fine machinery. Not surprisingly,
I find that parallels exist right
down to the way we personalize
and modify our toys, as well as
the attitudes about doing so.
In the automotive world,
performance is what it’s all
about. Pumping up the intake
pressure with turbos and superchargers to gain horsepower
(can you say preamp?), or tuning an exhaust (choosing the
right speaker cab) is just the
beginning. We like to have
controls in easy reach to negotiate tricky twists or turns, and
pedals underfoot to jam on
the brakes or power through
straight passages. As you can
see, I’m already letting my
worlds collide.
Today, performance mods
aren’t considered radical, but
an automobile hot-rodder him-
self) sought when he removed
the covers from his Les Paul
humbuckers to get a sonic leg
up. Steve Miller and Boz Scaggs
heaped extra pickups onto their
semi-hollowbodies back in the
heyday of Haight-Ashbury. Not
to be outdone, Quicksilver’s John
Cipollina wove a dozen amps,
cabinets, and controls together
for his signature sound. A decade
later, Edward Van Halen jammed
a naked humbucker into his
striped, hot-rodded guitar to get
the sound he couldn’t buy off-
the-shelf. Like dropping a hemi
into a ’ 32 Ford, the replacement
pickup is the musical equivalent
of a motor transplant—the staple
of a hot-rodder’s vernacular.
When a mere mod won’t do: The
late John Cipollina—Quicksilver
Messenger Service’s inventive
lead guitarist—built an amazing
custom rig around a pair of Stan-del bass amps, a Fender Twin
Reverb, a Fender Dual Showman, and a cluster of Wurlitzer
horns. Photo and gear details
courtesy of JohnCipollina.com,
a memorial website
Some would argue that it’s sacrilege to corrupt a design from its stock configuration.
This is a debate that can be heard at car
shows as well as vintage guitar festivals.
almost a right. Everyone wants
an edge over the competition, or
maybe a little push over the cliff
to get one’s creative juices flow-
ing. The game was on when big-
band guitarists started stuffing
phonograph needles into their
guitars. Performance was what
Randy Smith had in mind when
he created cascading preamp
sections for the first Boogies. It’s
what Jeff Beck (coincidentally
orate, raw aluminum tremolo
arms reminiscent of his Crocker
motorcycle shifters. To improve
comfort and fit, Fender curved
and scalloped the bodies of the
Stratocaster and Jazzmaster until
they flowed like the long hoods
of European racing cars. Indeed,
one such 1960s design was
named Jaguar and another, the
Mustang, was adorned with rac-
ing stripes. Clearly, the pioneers
of American electrics under-
stood the relationship between
guitars and cars.
JOL DANTZIG is a noted
designer, builder, and player
who co-founded Hamer
Guitars, one of the first
boutique guitar brands, in
1973. Today, as the director
of Dantzig Guitar Design,
he continues to help define the art of custom
guitar. To learn more, visit guitardesigner.com.
