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Pete Townshend's gear

anorakDan

anorakDan

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I stumbled upon this the other afternoon and spent the whole evening checking out Pete's gear through the years.

http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/history.html

Townshend was one of my earliest guitar heroes (Keef RIchard the other) and I had a blast checking out all the pics.

It kinda makes me want a LP, goldtop, wine or cherry s/b, with an extra 'bucker in the middle and a big, white Letraset number!

Enjoy!
 
His definitive tone for me was on the Who's Next & Quadrophenia songs, which were done with a Gretch Chet Atkins guitar and an old Fender Bandmaster, gifts from Joe Walsh who called it the CSN&Y setup. But way too fragile for their live show. He's used it for recording off and on to this day - it's the same 1959-era Gretch 6120 model that Brian Setzer likes and based his signature Gretch on. I never met an old Gretch that I liked, but supposedly the new ones - Oriental-sourced - are really good guitars. I know somebody with an old White Falcon, like the one that Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers payed $80,000 for - but it's not set up right, just feels like a crappy guitar. Wierd, I know.
 
I agree StubHead. For Pete's studio sound, the Gretch/Bandmaster combo is THE Pete Townshend sound, and I agree that I never met an old Gretch that I liked. All those silly switches and knobs that don't seem to do squat.

There's just something that appeals to me to have that big number on it. Like, yeah, it's just another Les Paul, ready to be smashed. I like that cavallier attitude about an iconic instrument. Not that I would smash a guitar, unless it really pissed me off.
 
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