Guitars

INTRO

The passion for modifying and “tweaking” guitars has been as strong as the passion for playing them. As a kid in 70’s ADHD did not give me much patience so I ended up mutilating quite many now collectable and expensive guitars. The one I keep in the corner of my room as reminder of the virtue of patience is the mutilated Burns Baldwin Hank Marvin signature model (this appears on Motorbirds video and also in 2004 Web Edition Cover).

I have always had tendency for strange looking and obscure guitars. So I have had Bond Electraglide, American Showster (one of the original 57 hand made ones), Yamaha G10 midi guitar etc...

On this page I have pictures of the guitars I use and pictures of guitars I have had (so many...). I’m not collecting guitars anymore like I used to. Now I only keep the guitars I actually play. I also modify my guitars the same way so they sound pretty much the same and just play differently.

SCIENTIFIC PICKUP SELECTION METHOD

After some tedious testing I have found the perfect setup for my music. To find the best bridge pickup I bought all the usual high power humbuckers. I installed them into same guitar one after another, played and recorded exactly same riff with same effects onto different tracks. This is the only way to hear the real difference in pickups as the guitar body "effect" remains the same.

I then played the tracks to other people who did not know what I was doing and asked what sounds best. The clear winner was Bill Lawrence L-500XL. There’s Seymour Duncan “copy” of this pickup called SH-13. So, after this all my guitars have Bill Lawrence 500XL on bridge or Seymour Duncan SH-13 (2nd choice). Funny enough the Bill Lawrence original is almost half the price of the Seymour Duncan version!

UPDATE: Now my Amfisound Guitars have hand wound Lundgren M6 & M7 pickups. These where designed for Swedish Metal Band Meshuggah. I have not done a comparison with the Lundgren’s and Bill Lawrence L-500XL. Would be interesting to do!

SUSTAINER

The next “must have” thing is Sustainiac Stealth Plus system. If I’m not able to install one I use Sustainiac C System which can be attached to any guitar. The Sustainiac Model C will be introduced later on this page.

Sustainer is a electronic system with the special made neck pickup which magnetically starts to vibrate the strings creating a feedback effect, like what you get by standing in front of a stack of Marshalls. The only difference with the sustainer system is that you can repeat and control the feedback exactly the same way every time you play.

Sustainer system is the biggest invention since electric guitar! It was invented by Kramer in 1989. My first sustainer guitar was a re issue MusicYo Kramer Sustainer.

There are two main systems around Fernandes Sustainers and Sustainiac Stealth Plus. I have had both systems and by far the best one is theSustainiac Stealth Plus. Fernandes has the best selection of sustainer guitars. I have had a Fernandes Ravelle Elite which will be introduced later on this page.

You can buy the fernandes sustainer as a kit but the circuit board is quite large and requires a chisel to make room inside your guitar. The Sustainiac Stealth gives stronger feedback and is very small so you can install it into most guitars without modifying the body. The installation can be easily reversed if you decide to sell the guitar.

For detailed info and ordering check out Sustainiac WWW site: www.sustainiac.com

Alan Hoover at Sustainiac is very helpful guy who modifies the setups to your needs with affordable prices!

LOCKING MACHINE HEADS

I hate guitars that need constant tuning. I’m not also a big friend of the Floyd Rose locking/tuning system. So I prefer Planet Waves Auto Trim Tuners.

AMFISOUND KAIRA H6 GUITAR

It is made by a Finnish Metal Guitar Specialist: AMFISOUND (www.amfisound.fi). I got this guitar from Guitar Maker Tomi Korkalainen (Amfisound) as an award for my pioneering work for Finnish Metal. Quite Cool!

I really like the colour and finish on the guitar as it reminds me of my favourite element, water. The black fret board without any inlays is simply stylish.

I think the words to describe this guitar are "stylish, functional and beautiful".

All the materials and parts on the guitar are top of the line. Fulfilling my "special" requirements the guitar has a Sustainiac Electro Magnetic Feedback system. The guitar has the fastest neck ever!

KAIRA H6 SPECIFICATIONS

5 screw "bolt-on" construction

25,5" scale

12" radius

Alder body

Quilted maple top

3-piece hard rock maple neck

Ebony fingerboard

Copper ring side dots

Hipshot Hard Tail bridge

Planet Waves Auto Trim tuners

2-way adjustable trussrod

24 jumbo frets

Earvana compensated nut

Pickups:

Bridge: M6 Humbucker, handwounded by Lundgren pickups

(www.lundgren.se)

Neck: Sustainiac driver

Electronics: Volume/Tone/3-way switch, Sustainiac Stealth PLUS

Chrome hardware

Original Amfisound "NON-SLIP" knobs

Schaller straplocks

Neutrik locking jack

Hard case

Color: see thru blue/black

Sanded satin neck finish

HOW TO MAKE A FLAME THROWER GUITAR

You can watch a video of my 60’s Hagstrom III guitar which was customised to have a Flame Thrower in 1980.

Flame Throwers are dangerous so do not try this at home :)

The Hagstrom III guitar was chosen for this project as it has an ultra thin neck.

So this is a very playable guitar even when there’s a gas pipe on the back of the neck.

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!

GUITAR INTERVIEW:

Three legendary heavy metal guitarists KK Downing (Judas Priest), Kimmo Kuusniemi (Sarcofagus) and Varg Vikernes (Burzum) were interviewed for an extensive US rock webzine Peacedogman "Guitargument" article.

This is in depth interview makes comparisons between three generations of influential metal guitarist -KK Downing from the 60's, Kuusniemi from the 70's and Vikernes from the 80's... and asks - amongst other things - about their music making methods, guitar preferences and the essence of metal. The article has some brilliant and interesting revelations!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE: http://www.peacedogman.com/gtrgriff.htm

KIMMO’S GUITAR GARAGE

BURNS HANK MARVIN 1964 SIGNATURE

NEWS! My old badly mutilated Burns Hank Marvin has been restored!!!! The restoration was done by Matti S Alatalo and Kalle Suhonen (www.suhonenguitars.com) It is amazing!!!!! I am looking forward to use this guitar on one of the Sarcofagus gigs if Matti allows me to play it :) More about this later!!! WOW!!!! I am now putting some other old guitars on ebay for people to restore them rather than been stored in my closet!

Here’s a list of guitars I remember I have had. There have been so many...

Amfisound Kaira H6

Amfisounf Kaira 7 String

American Showster 57

Ovation Breadwinner

Ovation

Hayman 1010

Hofner Verithin

Kramer Floyd Rose Sustainiac

B.C Rich Ignitor Sustainiac

B.C Rich Beast

Switch Innovo III Midi