Walls Of Genius Instruments |
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EC:
1983 - Equipment at Eldorado house, left-to-right, Dokorder & TEAC mixer (under a towel), Sunn Guitar Amp (long gone), Kustom bass amp (long gone) and a Fender guitar amp (Ed's? it's long gone, too).
1983 - Equipment at Eldorado house, left-to-right, Dokorder & TEAC mixer (under a towel), Sunn Guitar Amp (long gone), Kustom bass amp (long gone) and a Fender guitar amp (Ed's? it's long gone, too).
EC:
Stuff at Hall o'Genius: Kustom bass amp with roto-toms in front. There's a cello--Dena's? Andrea's? Who knows.
LF:
This was Evan’s “percussion ensemble” that he arranged to be played like a trap set such that he could play various percussion items all from the same spot. Thus the proximity of the gong and a hanging trash can lid and probably some small percussion items (on top of the amp) to the roto-toms.
Stuff at Hall o'Genius: Kustom bass amp with roto-toms in front. There's a cello--Dena's? Andrea's? Who knows.
LF:
This was Evan’s “percussion ensemble” that he arranged to be played like a trap set such that he could play various percussion items all from the same spot. Thus the proximity of the gong and a hanging trash can lid and probably some small percussion items (on top of the amp) to the roto-toms.
EC:
Close up of Dokorder and mixer.
Close up of Dokorder and mixer.
EC:
Photo of Fyodor at the Hall Of Genius grimacing shows bongos behind him.
LF:
The pic with me grimacing also has my Kalamazoo guitar standing up in background, behind the two sets of bongos.
Photo of Fyodor at the Hall Of Genius grimacing shows bongos behind him.
LF:
The pic with me grimacing also has my Kalamazoo guitar standing up in background, behind the two sets of bongos.
EC:
Fyodor holds the plastic sheet that Frank Zygmunt gave us (made great whoop-whoops).
Fyodor holds the plastic sheet that Frank Zygmunt gave us (made great whoop-whoops).
EC:
The Ape-Head Guitar was never actually played. Ed Fowler created it with the intention of destroying it on-stage, but it was so beautiful he couldn't bring himself to do it. When Ed moved out of his Dahlia Street apartment back into his mother's basement after losing his job at Air Midwest, he needed to get rid of some things and offered me the Ape-Head Guitar. How could I say no? It's been hanging on my wall ever since.
Below: Picture of Ape-Head guitar in front of Hall o'Genius.
The Ape-Head Guitar was never actually played. Ed Fowler created it with the intention of destroying it on-stage, but it was so beautiful he couldn't bring himself to do it. When Ed moved out of his Dahlia Street apartment back into his mother's basement after losing his job at Air Midwest, he needed to get rid of some things and offered me the Ape-Head Guitar. How could I say no? It's been hanging on my wall ever since.
Below: Picture of Ape-Head guitar in front of Hall o'Genius.
EC:
The Fender Musicmaster bass was my main axe for many years. I bought it at the Pro-Sound Music store on Pearl Street in Boulder shortly after moving to Colorado. Pro-Sound is long gone, who knows what's in that space now, so much of downtown Boulder has been razed and rebuilt. Pro-Sound was one of those obnoxious music stores where every employee was an apparent heavy-metal hair-head, contemptuous of clientele who didn't meet their expectations of 'cool'. The Musicmaster is a short-scale bass, so very convenient for me as I switched back-and-forth between guitar and bass. I can't remember when or how I got rid of it, probably back in the days when I had to first sell an instrument in order to buy another. I favor Fender basses to this day, my favorite being the Fender Jazz Bass.
The Fender Musicmaster bass was my main axe for many years. I bought it at the Pro-Sound Music store on Pearl Street in Boulder shortly after moving to Colorado. Pro-Sound is long gone, who knows what's in that space now, so much of downtown Boulder has been razed and rebuilt. Pro-Sound was one of those obnoxious music stores where every employee was an apparent heavy-metal hair-head, contemptuous of clientele who didn't meet their expectations of 'cool'. The Musicmaster is a short-scale bass, so very convenient for me as I switched back-and-forth between guitar and bass. I can't remember when or how I got rid of it, probably back in the days when I had to first sell an instrument in order to buy another. I favor Fender basses to this day, my favorite being the Fender Jazz Bass.
LF:
This was Ed's primary axe in days of WoG, though it's mine now as he's since sold it to me, for way under market price (he's got I think three others now). It's a Fender Stratocaster, estimated to be of 1973 or '74 vintage. Boy you should see how excited my bass player, Amadeus Tonguefingers, who's also a guitarist, gets over this baby.... (I like it too!).
Below, Ed playing his '73 or '74 pale yellow Strat with Stand In The Yard.
This was Ed's primary axe in days of WoG, though it's mine now as he's since sold it to me, for way under market price (he's got I think three others now). It's a Fender Stratocaster, estimated to be of 1973 or '74 vintage. Boy you should see how excited my bass player, Amadeus Tonguefingers, who's also a guitarist, gets over this baby.... (I like it too!).
Below, Ed playing his '73 or '74 pale yellow Strat with Stand In The Yard.
EC:
The nut-brown Gibson is my 1961 Gibson SG. I bought it in 1979 from some guy for $200 with money I had made dealing weed. It was completely trashed. I took it to Rolls Music in Falls Church, Va, to get it refinished. They kept it for weeks and were making no progress at all, so I took it back home and refinished it myself. I stripped the remaining cherry-red lacquer and stained it nut-brown. Then I used wax to protect the Gibson inlay and used auto-spray-paint on the headstock. Ditto for the pick guard, which had several different iterations of paint over the years. By the time of WoG, I had had the electronics straightened out, so it sounds great. Somebody before me had changed out the bridge and taken away the whammy bar, might have been a Bigsby. They replaced one of the Gibson pickups with what looks to me like a Fender humbucker and I left that intact. At one point, I thought about having it refinished again and took it to Wildwood Music in Lafayette, CO. I decided not to pursue that, but they looked up the serial number in a book and confirmed that it was an authentic 1961 SG, a run of guitars that was apparently overseen by Les Paul himself. The body is so light that when it's strapped on to your shoulders, the neck hangs down lower than the body. The action is incredible on this guitar. Someday maybe I'll restore a whammy-bar to it.
The nut-brown Gibson is my 1961 Gibson SG. I bought it in 1979 from some guy for $200 with money I had made dealing weed. It was completely trashed. I took it to Rolls Music in Falls Church, Va, to get it refinished. They kept it for weeks and were making no progress at all, so I took it back home and refinished it myself. I stripped the remaining cherry-red lacquer and stained it nut-brown. Then I used wax to protect the Gibson inlay and used auto-spray-paint on the headstock. Ditto for the pick guard, which had several different iterations of paint over the years. By the time of WoG, I had had the electronics straightened out, so it sounds great. Somebody before me had changed out the bridge and taken away the whammy bar, might have been a Bigsby. They replaced one of the Gibson pickups with what looks to me like a Fender humbucker and I left that intact. At one point, I thought about having it refinished again and took it to Wildwood Music in Lafayette, CO. I decided not to pursue that, but they looked up the serial number in a book and confirmed that it was an authentic 1961 SG, a run of guitars that was apparently overseen by Les Paul himself. The body is so light that when it's strapped on to your shoulders, the neck hangs down lower than the body. The action is incredible on this guitar. Someday maybe I'll restore a whammy-bar to it.
EC:
The little acoustic guitar (H520) was a Haynes parlor style guitar, supposedly dating to the 1890s. I bought it in 1979 from some guy (not the same guy as the Gibson) for $400. Haynes was a Boston luthier who made guitars for the earliest incarnations of the 19th Century Martin company and made some of his own as well. This one resembles a 1910 Martin. The gears were second-generation, albeit hand-wrought. The originals were probably some kind of peg assembly. The action was incredibly sweet for an acoustic guitar, mainly because the neck had been adjusted in some way years before, probably in an effort to correct some kind of warp or poor angle. This was also the loudest acoustic guitar ya ever heard, which was very surprising considering it was a parlor-style instrument. I played the hell out of it and tried to clean it up in 1981, when my mother got ahold of it. She really messed up the top, so I took it to some pros and had it fixed up a bit. In the years after WoG, I had >really< played the hell out of it, so I got it fixed up one more time and that's what the photo represents. Fearing that I would destroy it for good if I kept on playing it, I sold it in 2012 for $750.
The little acoustic guitar (H520) was a Haynes parlor style guitar, supposedly dating to the 1890s. I bought it in 1979 from some guy (not the same guy as the Gibson) for $400. Haynes was a Boston luthier who made guitars for the earliest incarnations of the 19th Century Martin company and made some of his own as well. This one resembles a 1910 Martin. The gears were second-generation, albeit hand-wrought. The originals were probably some kind of peg assembly. The action was incredibly sweet for an acoustic guitar, mainly because the neck had been adjusted in some way years before, probably in an effort to correct some kind of warp or poor angle. This was also the loudest acoustic guitar ya ever heard, which was very surprising considering it was a parlor-style instrument. I played the hell out of it and tried to clean it up in 1981, when my mother got ahold of it. She really messed up the top, so I took it to some pros and had it fixed up a bit. In the years after WoG, I had >really< played the hell out of it, so I got it fixed up one more time and that's what the photo represents. Fearing that I would destroy it for good if I kept on playing it, I sold it in 2012 for $750.
LF:
The guitar I used, to the degree I used it with WoG, was my Kalamazoo, just like Willy & the Poor Boys twanged their rhythm out on. I'd heard so many different stories over the years about what was up with this guitar as it's always flipped out guitar enthusiasts with its SG like body and its very Fender like head. Someone once told me it was made by a renegade who left Gibson to be an independent luthier and then Frankensteined this together from spare parts from both the Gibson and Fender factories. Wikipedia just says Gibson made it. The entry mentions the "headstock's" resemblance to a Fender Telecaster, but it doesn't explain why Gibson would do such a thing. It's the first electric I ever owned and my mother bought it for me for my 13th birthday, in December 1970. That's a DDAA sticker on it now. It also no longer has its original pickups as I was tired of the hum its single-coiled pickups always made. (I do have the original pickups saved, in case I want to sell it on my deathbed to keep the life support going another day!).
Below: Another (more recent) shot of my Kalamazoo guitar, held upside down in order to artistically compliment the (recent) photo of the Strat!
The guitar I used, to the degree I used it with WoG, was my Kalamazoo, just like Willy & the Poor Boys twanged their rhythm out on. I'd heard so many different stories over the years about what was up with this guitar as it's always flipped out guitar enthusiasts with its SG like body and its very Fender like head. Someone once told me it was made by a renegade who left Gibson to be an independent luthier and then Frankensteined this together from spare parts from both the Gibson and Fender factories. Wikipedia just says Gibson made it. The entry mentions the "headstock's" resemblance to a Fender Telecaster, but it doesn't explain why Gibson would do such a thing. It's the first electric I ever owned and my mother bought it for me for my 13th birthday, in December 1970. That's a DDAA sticker on it now. It also no longer has its original pickups as I was tired of the hum its single-coiled pickups always made. (I do have the original pickups saved, in case I want to sell it on my deathbed to keep the life support going another day!).
Below: Another (more recent) shot of my Kalamazoo guitar, held upside down in order to artistically compliment the (recent) photo of the Strat!
LF:
Here’s a bunch of little gizmos used for WoG. On top is the Graphic Equalizer I purchased and was used in all WoG mixdowns starting I think with Crazed To The Core. When Joel Haertling came over to complain about Evan using alternate packaging for Partitions, Joel pointed to this and said, “Is that why it sounds so good now?” to which Evan replied, “It’s ALWAYS sounded good!” Then they, um, got down to business… On the right is my Fuzz Wah, a combination fuzz box and wah-wah pedal I got when I was a kid. On the bottom is my Roland Drumatix, aka TR-606, drum machine that I purchased used for about $100 or $150 in time for our final (first go-round) release, Do Not Write Below This Line. On the left is the drum machine that I used prior to that, a Mattel Synsonics that I purchased new for something in that same range. It had programmable pads, but I didn’t like them much and mostly used the buttons. In the middle are my Boss Digital Delay (above) and my Boss Flanger. The latter I bought at the urging of Charlie Verrette when I was trying to form a band with him before my involvement with WoG because he wanted a less straight sounding guitar sound. The latter I got with my Grandmother’s money in time for Crazed.
Here’s a bunch of little gizmos used for WoG. On top is the Graphic Equalizer I purchased and was used in all WoG mixdowns starting I think with Crazed To The Core. When Joel Haertling came over to complain about Evan using alternate packaging for Partitions, Joel pointed to this and said, “Is that why it sounds so good now?” to which Evan replied, “It’s ALWAYS sounded good!” Then they, um, got down to business… On the right is my Fuzz Wah, a combination fuzz box and wah-wah pedal I got when I was a kid. On the bottom is my Roland Drumatix, aka TR-606, drum machine that I purchased used for about $100 or $150 in time for our final (first go-round) release, Do Not Write Below This Line. On the left is the drum machine that I used prior to that, a Mattel Synsonics that I purchased new for something in that same range. It had programmable pads, but I didn’t like them much and mostly used the buttons. In the middle are my Boss Digital Delay (above) and my Boss Flanger. The latter I bought at the urging of Charlie Verrette when I was trying to form a band with him before my involvement with WoG because he wanted a less straight sounding guitar sound. The latter I got with my Grandmother’s money in time for Crazed.
LF:
Here’s a bunch of doo-dads, mostly of the percussive type, used in WoG days. On the top left is Ed’s gong. To the right of that is the little drum that my parents bought for me for a dollar on a trip to Jamaica when I was a kid (bought more as a “souvenir” type gift than because of any serious idea of its musical potential). Sometimes I tapped the skin on top, but I more often I scratched the ridge on the side with something wooden, such as on "Amerika Futura". Below those two items are the bright sounding bongos I got midway through the original WoG project and I know I used on “My World is Empty Without You”. Standing up in front of those bongos is the instrument I’ve called a “three bell” throughout this archive for lack of a better. It’s since broken and only two of the bells remain! On the right hand side in front of the bongos is another percussion instrument that has broken since WoG days, a Latin instrument you could use to make high-pitched and wildly wavering sounds, very “spacey” sounding for a piece of percussion (probably heard on many Latin-themed 70’s records). The knocker on it has since broken off. In between those last two items, also right in front of the blue bongos, is a jar of stones decorated with swirls that was used as a shaker by the Miracle. In front of that is a typical slide whistle, surely not one used by WoG as slide whistles don’t stand up to use very well, they get sticky and stop sliding. Luckily they’re cheap, though they may also be getting harder to find. On the left front part of the chair is a school bell. I can’t recall if WoG had this before the Miracle or if it hails directly from Miracle days. It may have actually been part of the abandoned schoolhouse that housed the WoG and Miracle sessions, but I’m not sure. As you might imagine, it really rings out when you hit it right! Right below the chair are my older and duller or thuddier sounding bongos. I used these on “I Live for the Sun” and early WoG tapes. And finally on the floor is some kind of gas or oil can that was used as percussion in the schoolhouse by the Miracle. Oh, and in the back left, though I hadn’t actually intended for being shown in the picture, is the inner metal tub of a washing machine that also may have been used as percussion by the Miracle!
Here’s a bunch of doo-dads, mostly of the percussive type, used in WoG days. On the top left is Ed’s gong. To the right of that is the little drum that my parents bought for me for a dollar on a trip to Jamaica when I was a kid (bought more as a “souvenir” type gift than because of any serious idea of its musical potential). Sometimes I tapped the skin on top, but I more often I scratched the ridge on the side with something wooden, such as on "Amerika Futura". Below those two items are the bright sounding bongos I got midway through the original WoG project and I know I used on “My World is Empty Without You”. Standing up in front of those bongos is the instrument I’ve called a “three bell” throughout this archive for lack of a better. It’s since broken and only two of the bells remain! On the right hand side in front of the bongos is another percussion instrument that has broken since WoG days, a Latin instrument you could use to make high-pitched and wildly wavering sounds, very “spacey” sounding for a piece of percussion (probably heard on many Latin-themed 70’s records). The knocker on it has since broken off. In between those last two items, also right in front of the blue bongos, is a jar of stones decorated with swirls that was used as a shaker by the Miracle. In front of that is a typical slide whistle, surely not one used by WoG as slide whistles don’t stand up to use very well, they get sticky and stop sliding. Luckily they’re cheap, though they may also be getting harder to find. On the left front part of the chair is a school bell. I can’t recall if WoG had this before the Miracle or if it hails directly from Miracle days. It may have actually been part of the abandoned schoolhouse that housed the WoG and Miracle sessions, but I’m not sure. As you might imagine, it really rings out when you hit it right! Right below the chair are my older and duller or thuddier sounding bongos. I used these on “I Live for the Sun” and early WoG tapes. And finally on the floor is some kind of gas or oil can that was used as percussion in the schoolhouse by the Miracle. Oh, and in the back left, though I hadn’t actually intended for being shown in the picture, is the inner metal tub of a washing machine that also may have been used as percussion by the Miracle!
LF:
My Sequential Circuits Pro-One synthesizer, which I bought used for probably $150 from a suburban teenager in the south Denver suburb of Sheridan in time for Little Victor Meets Violent Vince. It’s made an appearance on every Little Fyodor release thus far, unless you count the upcoming one. I hardly ever hear anything about the town of Sheridan nowadays (or Pro-Ones!)….
My Sequential Circuits Pro-One synthesizer, which I bought used for probably $150 from a suburban teenager in the south Denver suburb of Sheridan in time for Little Victor Meets Violent Vince. It’s made an appearance on every Little Fyodor release thus far, unless you count the upcoming one. I hardly ever hear anything about the town of Sheridan nowadays (or Pro-Ones!)….
LF:
My Farfisa organ!! I don’t believe I’ve ever found anywhere on this thing where it says, “Farfisa”, but I’m confident that’s what it is. It only says “combo” and “compact” on the front-top. I bought it used at a yard sale for $150 or $200. There was one exactly like it selling at a music store for the same price or less, but I got this one cause it still had its volume pedal while the other one didn’t, though I’ve hardly ever made use of it. I put a sticker on it on the far left that says “Natural Cheese” which came in something mailed by Don Campau, who got it from the grocery store that he worked at…. (Also seen at right is a portion of my Roland Jazz-Chorus amp (see below) with the sticker they put on it at SXSW to identify which band it belonged to!).
My Farfisa organ!! I don’t believe I’ve ever found anywhere on this thing where it says, “Farfisa”, but I’m confident that’s what it is. It only says “combo” and “compact” on the front-top. I bought it used at a yard sale for $150 or $200. There was one exactly like it selling at a music store for the same price or less, but I got this one cause it still had its volume pedal while the other one didn’t, though I’ve hardly ever made use of it. I put a sticker on it on the far left that says “Natural Cheese” which came in something mailed by Don Campau, who got it from the grocery store that he worked at…. (Also seen at right is a portion of my Roland Jazz-Chorus amp (see below) with the sticker they put on it at SXSW to identify which band it belonged to!).
LF:
I must admit I’ve never been much of a Genius at gear, and so when I wanted a smaller amp than my big Roland (below) to fit into Evan’s Toyota for our California tour, I got the exact same thing Evan was playing guitar through, a Sunn Alpha 112pr. And why not, I liked how it sounded, and I still use it as my primary guitar amp (while Evan’s probably gone through several amps since). I don’t know how much I used it for WoG recordings, but Evan sure used his plenty at that time, and I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same thing (if mine’s a lot more beat up now than his was then!)…. (Also seen again is my Boss Flanger at its side).
I must admit I’ve never been much of a Genius at gear, and so when I wanted a smaller amp than my big Roland (below) to fit into Evan’s Toyota for our California tour, I got the exact same thing Evan was playing guitar through, a Sunn Alpha 112pr. And why not, I liked how it sounded, and I still use it as my primary guitar amp (while Evan’s probably gone through several amps since). I don’t know how much I used it for WoG recordings, but Evan sure used his plenty at that time, and I’m pretty sure it’s the exact same thing (if mine’s a lot more beat up now than his was then!)…. (Also seen again is my Boss Flanger at its side).
LF:
My big Roland Jazz-Chorus 120 amplifier. It’s a great amp though not necessarily ideal for getting the guitar sound I like. I got a terrific deal on it (new), and I was probably talked into buying it by how sincere the salesmen seemed (and probably were) in expressing just how great a deal it was (it was an inventory sale; reactions from others familiar with the amp confirm that it was, at the least, a very good deal, I think $350 or so). I don’t remember exactly what all I used it for with WoG except that I know I recorded "Everybody’s Fucking" with it (and got the reverb sound that friend Brian Kraft likened to Syd Barrett!). It gets most of its use nowadays from my bass player….
My big Roland Jazz-Chorus 120 amplifier. It’s a great amp though not necessarily ideal for getting the guitar sound I like. I got a terrific deal on it (new), and I was probably talked into buying it by how sincere the salesmen seemed (and probably were) in expressing just how great a deal it was (it was an inventory sale; reactions from others familiar with the amp confirm that it was, at the least, a very good deal, I think $350 or so). I don’t remember exactly what all I used it for with WoG except that I know I recorded "Everybody’s Fucking" with it (and got the reverb sound that friend Brian Kraft likened to Syd Barrett!). It gets most of its use nowadays from my bass player….
LF:
Above: This is some of the “trash” used as percussion by the Miracle. I believe the can on the left is the one George Stone would scrape the top of with a shoe horn to get hellacious screeching sounds….
Below: Another relic of the Miracle, this was one of the homemade instruments where someone (probably Jeanne Strzelewicz) actually fashioned something together from various “industrial” parts, as opposed to merely “re-purposing” something industrial as an instrument as it was as was done with trash cans and oil cans and salad bowls etc. I don’t know the original use of the big round piece of metal, but whatever it was, wires were attached through holes along its perimeter (don’t know if those holes were already there or drilled into it) and washers were attached to those wires in order to produce a great big metal -- RATTLE!
Above: This is some of the “trash” used as percussion by the Miracle. I believe the can on the left is the one George Stone would scrape the top of with a shoe horn to get hellacious screeching sounds….
Below: Another relic of the Miracle, this was one of the homemade instruments where someone (probably Jeanne Strzelewicz) actually fashioned something together from various “industrial” parts, as opposed to merely “re-purposing” something industrial as an instrument as it was as was done with trash cans and oil cans and salad bowls etc. I don’t know the original use of the big round piece of metal, but whatever it was, wires were attached through holes along its perimeter (don’t know if those holes were already there or drilled into it) and washers were attached to those wires in order to produce a great big metal -- RATTLE!
LF:
My flutophone! Used on at least “March Slob” which prompted Richie Unterberger to call it (based on what he heard) an “off-key recorder”. As described on the Before …And After page, it’s kind of a toy or kiddie’s version of a recorder (thus much easier to play, if cheesier sounding). I had always thought of this as something I’d had since I was a kid, but once when my (now deceased) older brother saw me play it during a Little Fyodor & Babushka performance, I heard him call out from the audience, “Hey, that’s my flutophone!” Tongue was in cheek, of course, but I guess it was his as a kid before it was mine! (Appears I’ve scrounged a bunch of crazy instruments that used to be others’!).
My flutophone! Used on at least “March Slob” which prompted Richie Unterberger to call it (based on what he heard) an “off-key recorder”. As described on the Before …And After page, it’s kind of a toy or kiddie’s version of a recorder (thus much easier to play, if cheesier sounding). I had always thought of this as something I’d had since I was a kid, but once when my (now deceased) older brother saw me play it during a Little Fyodor & Babushka performance, I heard him call out from the audience, “Hey, that’s my flutophone!” Tongue was in cheek, of course, but I guess it was his as a kid before it was mine! (Appears I’ve scrounged a bunch of crazy instruments that used to be others’!).