Regarding playing acoustic with a loud rock band, what gear do you use? Pickups? Amps and/or monitors, etc.? Onstage I love the sturdiness and visual beauty of the Gibson J-200. I have several because I like to keep a number of open tunings going, so when I pick up a guitar and start to fiddle around I might discover something new. They seem to make guitars today the way they were once made by Martin. I was a huge fan of Leadbelly, and the Harmony was as close as I could get to his big Stella. Later I bought a Harmony 12-string that became my staple. My first good guitar was an acoustic made in Prague. Have you always played Gibson guitars? Do you play any other acoustics other than the J-200? From 2010 Acoustic magazine interview: I understand your favourite acoustic guitar is the Gibson J-200. I may try this on a variant of my signature model. It has quite a crisp sound for such a large guitar, and my first one (now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum) actually had a metal tunamatic bridge. What originally attracted you to the Gibson Super Jumbo 200? I know that Elvis, Dylan and Ron Wood used it. My very first J200 seemed to have a thinner neck. How involved were you in designing the new J-200 signature? From September 2004, 20th Century Guitars interview: The Music Must Change Could you say something about the Pete Townshend J-200 limited guitar that Gibson recently introduced?. In fact, the J-200 is the only acoustic guitar used on this tour. This guitar will be put into rotation with two other J-200 used by Townsend and Roger Daltry on the Who’s current “Quadrophenia” tour. Tim Bolin presented Pete Townsend a Fishman Matrix-equipped J-200 acoustic guitar. Last Saturday, July 19th, Gibson Artist Rep. Gibson news release regarding Gibson SJ-200 for Quadrophenia tour Who plays Gibson? Well. They are hard to bring to life with piezo pickups because the sound is so distinctive in real air, but the body shape, the necks and the sheer strength of the guitar are all very important to me. Like the Everly acoustic, it has a rather dead soundboard and that allows you to really dig in when strumming. It was only later I found how well the J-200 records when you play it hard. I picked it out from about five at Manny’s in New York. I settled for what I think all Who fans would have wished - the best mix.” From May 17, 2004, Gibson Guitars interview: J-200s, regrets over smashed guitars, The Who ‘Then and Now’ and more: Q&A with Pete Townshend What’s the story on your original J-200? What is it about a J-200 that makes it so essential to you? Simon did a fantastic job on electric and covered me very well. Ideally I’d like to play acoustic and electric at the same time on stage. A lot of the songs from Quadrophenia, like a lot of Who songs, sound best when I play acoustic. Remember that I write mainly on acoustic guitar. acoustic thing is not just about my hearing, my intransigence, my fear of spearing myself or my musical preferences, it is not just about ‘Pete.’ It is about musical and presentational dynamics as well. I only used the electric channel a few times in the set.” I was actually playing via an acoustic transducer fitted into the guitar which produced a rhythm sound very close to my white Gibson J200. Although I was holding a Stratocaster all the way through the first two dates in the USA it was heavily modified. In fact at the first dates, and even later in the electric Love Reign O’er Me, there was a bit of an illusion going on. “I hope that prior to the tour I didn’t raise fan’s hopes that I was going to play electric all the way through the show. Selected quotesĪll quotes and references are copyright their original owners and are included for reference only. In late 19 he would begin using Fender Eric Clapton Stratocasters fitted with Fishman piezo electronics, to simulate the acoustic sound, switching back and forth between the acoustics and electrics depending on the number. The first Who shows in 1996 saw Pete playing acoustic on stage exclusively. Pete chose the J-200 to match the sound and performance of his beloved sunburst 1968 Gibson J-200, which he acquired new from Manny’s in 1968 and used in virtually every recording from 1969’s Tommy to 1989’s Iron Man. In 2006 he used one of these guitars on Endless Wire. Pete Townshend began using - and continues to use - Gibson J-200 jumbo acoustic guitars on stage for Who and solo performances beginning in 1996, with the Quadrophenia shows.
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