GIBSON THUNDERBIRD BASS - Surely this needs no introduction. PIX: bass - body - neck - back of headstock - back of body
GIBSON BASS (no page yet) - Kim's newest bass was actually given to her by Mike Watt! Dig his name scratched into the back of the headstock. The Bigsby has been removed, otherwise it's basically the same as it was before. I wrote down 'CGDADG' but Eric's notes say 'CDGADG' - the gauges look like they'd make more sense for CGD, but apparently the high G is actually tuned higher than high E, so who knows! Of course, this is the one headstock I didn't get the back of. IBANEZ TALMAN - Been a few years since this was on the road, now it's being used in a weird tuning for 'Malibu Gas Station'. PIX: back of headstock - back - front - body - body - body I'm guessing this still gets retuned to standard if they decide to do 'Shaking Hell', but not sure. Possibly for 'Thunderclap' as well, though that seems to be out of the sets. JAGUAR (RED) - Kim is using this mostly for 'What We Know' (in CGDACD). PIX: body - neck - body - back of headstock She uses this one for DDAF#AD ("Calming the Snake" "No Way" "Walkin Blue" "Poison Arrow" "Anti-Orgasm"). It appears as 'New Jag' on set lists, though that's kind of misleading. JAZZMASTER (RED) - Okay, not so pink! Eric built this one for her, it has a Japanese reissue body, P-90 pickups, an Allparts neck, and a Mastery bridge (more on those later). PIX: body - neck - back of headstock - body Eric replaced the stock white pickguard covers, knob, and switch with black parts. GUITARS KIM JAZZMASTER (MASCIS) - This is a J Mascis signature Jazzmaster that Kim uses for DADABD ("Antenna" "Leaky Lifeboat" & "Massage the History"). As always, the pictures are comically oversized and I'd recommend opening them in a new window if you want to resize them. For now, I'll just stick them all together here, and add them into each guitar's page 'soon'. So, in short: here's a shitload of pix and as much corresponding information as I managed to scrawl down. Those two deserve a huge amount of credit for their enthusiasm and knowledge, not to mention the hard work they do on the side of the stage each night! I should also thank crew dudes Aaron and Jeremy for accomodating me while they were doing real work, and of course the band for letting me get this stuff out for y'all to see. Perhaps a separate photo session/conversation would've yielded better results, but fortunately the photos turned out well. I tried to write down as much info as I could to supplement the photographs but I have to admit I was fighting pretty hard with my camera and a lot of the hardware-specific details they threw at me probably did not make it to paper. My eternal thanks to sonic techs Eric and Matt, who demonstrated remarkable patience and provided me with more information than my mind could handle (literally!). As a result, you won't see every guitar in this update, but I assure you anything missing (mostly Thurston's stuff) has not changed much since 2006.
In the interest of efficiency (and at the mercy of a very poorly timed uncooperative camera), I chose to focus first on new gear and items not previously photographed, then capturing previously documented guitars as time allowed. Hello again! Here's part 2 of the great summer 2009 gear guide update, aka The Eternal Tour Equipment Exposé! I took about 200 pictures of SY's gear before soundcheck in Portland on July 28th, my first chance to do an in-depth photo session since July 2006.