Devo guitarist Bob Casale dies, aged 61

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bob Casale pictured centre playing the Ibanez Talman guitar, pictured alongside bandmates Mark Mothersbaugh (left) and Bob Mothersbaugh (right)

For me as a big Devo fan, this comes as very sad news. Bob Casale, along with his brother Gerald Casale and the Mothersbaugh brothers Mark and Bob, was a founder member of Devo and played on all of their albums. He died on 17 February 2014 from conditions that lead up to heart failure. More here.

G L Wilson

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Bob Mothersbaugh's Les Paul with "droopy" lower horn

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The previous blog post reminded me of this - another Gibson guitar with a part of the body sliced off and reversed. The photo shows Bob Mothersbaugh in the video for Devo's "Whip It" with a very peculiar-looking Les Paul.

Bob tells the story of this guitar in this Premier Guitar magazine interview:

With all the technology being dangled in your face when you hit it big, did you ever use a guitar synthesizer?

Back in 1979, I used a device made by 360 Systems. It was a big box that sat next to your amp and required a special pickup. The 360 Systems people recommended I use a Les Paul, and at the time I was horrified—I thought Les Pauls represented arena rock, long hair, and Puka shells. But I got a Les Paul and took a jigsaw to it with the intention of making it look like a skull. I cut the little horn off at the cutaway and flipped it over backwards and thought it looked a lot better. The 360 was a horrible synth and really didn’t sound good. I only used it for one tour.

Read the full interview here.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

LaBaye 2 By 4 "Six"

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Here's a LaBaye 2X4 "Six" guitar - a rarity that I've not seen turn up on eBay before (other than the short-scale bass version).

LaBaye 2x4 guitars were produced in the Holman-Woodell factory in Neodesha, Kansas in 1967, and share features and hardware with the Wurlitzer-branded guitars that were built in the same factory. The guitar is so-called because it is modelled after a 2-by-4 plank with a neck attached to it. Controls are positioned on the top edge of the guitar except for the pickup selector on the guitar models situated on the bottom edge where it is very easy to inadvertantly knock and change the pickup selection. Short-scale bass, guitar and 12-string versions were all produced plus allegedly one or two long-scale basses, but none were successful and production ceased within a year.

This particular example looks to be well-used and is being sold "as is". The auction has started with a low price, and it'll be interesting to see what this eventually sells for. The action does look a little high. Maybe Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh should buy it as a back-up guitar for the one he uses on "Smart Patrol/Mr DNA". I don't think the guitar's action is very important on that "solo"!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

The best anti-guitar solo ever?

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This is one of my favourites; it's the antithesis of a guitar solo. Check out Bob Mothersbaugh on the LaBaye 2X4 on the 2nd part of this song.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Tei! Tei! Tei!

guitarz.blogspot.com

This video is specially for Mister GL Wilson, for I know (and share) his taste for old school electronic music, Yamaha guitars and Devo! 

The spirit of Devo is truly alive in their Japanese heirs POLYSICS. I know them for a few hours and I'm already a fan - but I had no chance, I have a soft spot for Japanese female bass players playing a seafoam green Yamaha SBV in Guantanamo orange jumpsuit!

Warning: If you start to watch on YouTube all the videos they have of this 2006 concert, you're stuck for the coming hour!

Bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Devo's Bob Mothersbaugh and the Blue Potato guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As a big fan of Devo I am excited that they are releasing new material for the first time in 20 years, and from what I've heard already it sounds like classic Devo!

I was also pleased to see that guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh is once again using the Ibanez "Blue Potato" guitar that he lost and was later reunited with. You know how we love wacky guitars here on Guitarz, and Bob's one-off Blue Potato is one of my own very favourites.

Watch Devo performing "Fresh" here.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Q. Are We Not Men? A. We Are Devo.

I saw Devo last night at Shepherd's Bush. They were looking a bit older and greyer (and a little fatter in a couple of cases) than they are in the above photo, but their playing was absolutely spot-on. Very entertaining and totally barmy.

Guitars used were a Steinberger bass (strung right-handed but played left-handed), an Ibanez Talman electric, and a couple of early G&L guitars that sounded fantastic. (I say early G&L because they had a simpler headstock design - without the little pointy bit, if you know what I mean).

There was another bizarre carved-up looking guitar that was used by Bob 1 on "Smart Patrol/Mr DNA" for a rather manic solo and then some mechanism was triggered to break all the strings. I didn't quite see how he did that.

Mark Mothersbaugh (the singer) also played guitar on "Satisfaction" - it was left-handed Strat (played right-handed) with effects pedals gaffer-taped to the body. Also, it seemed to have the 2 centre strings missing.

BTW, does anyone know what the strangely-shaped guitar in the above picture is? I'd love to know. (I don't mean the bass - that looks like a Gibson Ripper with a somewhat modified body!)

UPDATE: A little searching on the web has identified Bob Mothersbaugh's current favoured guitar as being the G&L SC-2, a student-level guitar with pro features designed by Leo Fender to be G&L's answer to the Fender Mustang. Judging by what I heard last night, I'd very much like to check out one of these, although they are not particularly common. Devo's Bob 1 was using two of these on stage last night - a hardtail for most of the set, and one with a tremolo on one song. Anyway, all this doesn't answer my question: What is the guitar in the above photo?

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Blue Potato Guitar has been identified! Thanks Nic.