Having your hero play your guitar

[Harvey Gerst]

This was my guitar, and one of my heros playing it.

 

[kojdogg]

This was my guitar, and one of my heros playing it.

that's is awesome!

 

[timboZ]

Cool. Was that in a magazine or something?

Your my hero, can I send you one one of my mics and have you sing into it and have someone take a photo.

Or better yet just send me one of your mics.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Cool. Was that in a magazine or something?

No, it was actually from an auction on eBay, where somebody was selling the right-handed version of the Black Widow. This was shot in October of 1968 at TTG Studios in Los Angeles.

The photograper was the late Chuck Boyd, and he also took a photo of me and Jimi standing togrether, Jimi playing my Black Widow, and me playing one of Jimi's 4 original white Strats.

I'm still trying to find a copy of that photo.

 

[jabulani jonny]

Harv,
Is that a custom axe? I don't recognize it.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Harv,
Is that a custom axe? I don't recognize it.

I designed it while I was at Acoustic Control; it was called the Black Widow. Other players that bought it included Jeff Baxter, Frank Zappa, Larry Coryell, and a few other I don't remember.

It had a number of unique features and was very well regarded at the time. Only about 1,000 were made and it's a pretty collectible guitar today. AFAIK, there were only 3 left-handed guitars made; 2 to Jimi (including my original Black Widow, shown here), and a 3rd, made for me to replace this one.

 

[Texsunburst59]

That's awesome. I don't have a pic of it but in Austin in Dec. 05' at Austin Vintage Guitar, I ran into Eric Johnson while I was in the back jamming on my Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic. At the time I was trying out a early 70's Deluxe Reverb with a bunch of stomp boxes to see how it sounded. Anyway, he heard me jamming and came into the back room. Of course I stopped playing immediately and he asked what kind of pedals I had. I said here's my guitar why don't you try some of the pedals out. He took my guitar and jammed while I went through all the different OD's I had. Boy that guy was just ripping on my guitar. He commented how light the guitar was and said he liked the Loverpedal FAB 50's tone. I also got him to sign the pickguard which was a mistake cause it rubbed off. I've run into him 2 more times and the 2nd time he signed the back of the neck to it won't rub off.Another cool thing is the 2nd time I ran into him, I
gave him the Fab 50 pedal and a copy of my son's songs on a CD.I put my e-mail address and told him to e-mail me to tell me what he thought of the songs. About a month later he e-mailed me and said he really liked one of my son's acoustic based songs alot. The 3rd time both my son and I ran into him again at AVG and he asked my son what the name of the song was that he liked. I didn't have a name so my son asked him to name it and Eric named it
"Starcrest". Here's the song on my son's soundclick page and a Pic of my son with Eric Johnson.

https://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/Texsunburst59/Photo0015.jpg

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=453803

 

[SilverCarvin]

That's awesome. I don't have a pic of it but in Austin in Dec. 05' at Austin Vintage Guitar, I ran into Eric Johnson while I was in the back jamming on my Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic. At the time I was trying out a early 70's Deluxe Reverb with a bunch of stomp boxes to see how it sounded. Anyway, he heard me jamming and came into the back room. Of course I stopped playing immediately and he asked what kind of pedals I had. I said here's my guitar why don't you try some of the pedals out. He took my guitar and jammed while I went through all the different OD's I had. Boy that guy was just ripping on my guitar. He commented how light the guitar was and said he liked the Loverpedal FAB 50's tone. I also got him to sign the pickguard which was a mistake cause it rubbed off. I've run into him 2 more times and the 2nd time he signed the back of the neck to it won't rub off.Another cool thing is the 2nd time I ran into him, I
gave him the Fab 50 pedal and a copy of my son's songs on a CD.I put my e-mail address and told him to e-mail me to tell me what he thought of the songs. About a month later he e-mailed me and said he really liked one of my son's acoustic based songs alot. The 3rd time both my son and I ran into him again at AVG and he asked my son what the name of the song was that he liked. I didn't have a name so my son asked him to name it and Eric named it
"Starcrest". Here's the song on my son's soundclick page and a Pic of my son with Eric Johnson.

https://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/Texsunburst59/Photo0015.jpg

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=453803

Wow, that's really something! I didn't see the song on soundclick, perhaps it was taken down?

That was very nice of Eric to write you back like that, I can't imagine he has a lot of time. Seems like a nice guy, your son must have been in heaven!

 

[mshilarious]

My dream is to have Brian Wilson sign my Fender So-Cal Featuring Brian Wilson Presents Smile! Sticker guitar. But I would probably have to put it up for a charity auction or something . . .

 

[c7sus]

My kid has a t-shirt with that image on it.

You should sue PRS, Harvey!

 

[Lt. Bob]

cool ...... Jimi's my hero too so that's awesome.
One question ... are you left handed? That's a left handed git.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

cool ...... Jimi's my hero too so that's awesome.
One question ... are you left handed? That's a left handed git.

Yup, I'm left-handed, too.

 

[guitarmonkus]

I doubt Adam Jones or Rob Crowe would touch my Mexican Strat with it's missing bridge single coil pickup...... but a guy can dream.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

On the flip side, I got to play Joe Walsh's Les Paul, Jerry Garcia's Alembic, Merle Travis' Gibson Super 400, Albert King's Flying V, Earle Scruggs' Mastertone banjo, and of course, Jimi's "Burns of England Strat".

I played them all equally bad, but at least I got to play them.

 

[notCardio]

I remember asking you a long time ago

if you still had a black widow around.

That was one heavy sonofabitch. It was like playing a rock. I didn't realize Jimi had every played one. Why didn't they use it in their marketing campaign? It might have sold a heckuva lot better.

 

[notCardio]

Ya know, Tex,

That's awesome. I don't have a pic of it but in Austin in Dec. 05' at Austin Vintage Guitar, I ran into Eric Johnson while I was in the back jamming on my Tom Anderson Hollow Drop Top Classic. At the time I was trying out a early 70's Deluxe Reverb with a bunch of stomp boxes to see how it sounded. Anyway, he heard me jamming and came into the back room. Of course I stopped playing immediately and he asked what kind of pedals I had. I said here's my guitar why don't you try some of the pedals out. He took my guitar and jammed while I went through all the different OD's I had. Boy that guy was just ripping on my guitar. He commented how light the guitar was and said he liked the Loverpedal FAB 50's tone. I also got him to sign the pickguard which was a mistake cause it rubbed off. I've run into him 2 more times and the 2nd time he signed the back of the neck to it won't rub off.Another cool thing is the 2nd time I ran into him, I
gave him the Fab 50 pedal and a copy of my son's songs on a CD.I put my e-mail address and told him to e-mail me to tell me what he thought of the songs. About a month later he e-mailed me and said he really liked one of my son's acoustic based songs alot. The 3rd time both my son and I ran into him again at AVG and he asked my son what the name of the song was that he liked. I didn't have a name so my son asked him to name it and Eric named it
"Starcrest". Here's the song on my son's soundclick page and a Pic of my son with Eric Johnson.

https://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7/Texsunburst59/Photo0015.jpg

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=453803

You ought to think about getting a Fender amp. I hear they're nice.

 

[SilverCarvin]

On the flip side, I got to play Joe Walsh's Les Paul, Jerry Garcia's Alembic, Merle Travis' Gibson Super 400, Albert King's Flying V, Earle Scruggs' Mastertone banjo, and of course, Jimi's "Burns of England Strat".

I played them all equally bad, but at least I got to play them.

Question: HOW?!?!

More importantly, how can I??

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Question: HOW?!?!

More importantly, how can I??

When I ran sound at the Ash Grove in L.A. I got to play Albert King, Merle Travis, and Earle Scruggs instruments. The rest of them was during my days at Acoustic Control, when I explained our stuff to some of the groups who bought our amps.

 

[SilverCarvin]

Cool, Merle Travis was amazing.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Merle was even more so, in person.