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on today's show we get to meet Gabe
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tonan who is a wonderful Nashville
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guitarist who's currently playing with
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Jake Worthington who's opening shows for
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Zack top we're going to get to learn
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about him and he's going to show off his
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three B Bender equipped vintage
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telecasters
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[Music]
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a
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[Music]
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m
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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hi y'all my name is Gabe tonin uh I grew
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up in Maine and uh when I was really
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young my mom used to sign me up for
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these uh talent shows to sing and uh my
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dad said he didn't want any karaoke
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singing son so uh he put up the money
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for me to pick an instrument and I
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picked the guitar and I took to it real
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quick when I was about 10 I started
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playing in bands around my hometown of
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Booth Bay Maine with my uncle and uh got
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this band playing uh across Canada and
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New England and the lady would cut her
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records down here and they would bring
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me down and leave me at Robert's Western
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World so at at a very very young age of
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probably 11 or 12 I got to hang out at
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Robert's Western World and really see
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what it meant to be a a hotpick and
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country guitar player and bands like uh
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the Don Kelly Band and Gary Gibson band
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and
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uh Rachel Hester and the Tennessee
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Walkers and things like that and uh I
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got to hang out there so much they start
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to let me sit in and so I was working
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shifts down on Broadway when I was
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really when I was unfortunately young my
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therapist says uh but uh and so I just
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you know learned how to play guitar on
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the Fly here in Nashville
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uh and when I was about 20 I got this
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idea I was going to be a regular person
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got me a job driving a truck went back
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to Maine I didn't pan out so I I hoop
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back down here and I've been back down
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here for probably 10 years now playing
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guitar for all kinds of people uh all
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kinds of Broadway hot picking bands one
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of my favorite bands I played with
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Rachel Hester and the Tennessee walkers
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got play with them got play with Gary
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Gibson band
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um there's so many of them them old old
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bands down there Mike Syler
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um yeah t tons of just the old old
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Broadway bands my buddy Josh Headley
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played with him for a long time um got
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to go out when top was was just going
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out on the road and I played a little
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bass for him and uh now I play guitar
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for a guy named Jake Worthington and uh
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if you like country singing he's he's
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he's got that voice if you like that
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George Jones Keith Whitley sound and
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stuff he's uh he's as close as you going
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to get without coming up with some weird
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sort of science to raise the
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dead tell us about the guitar well this
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guitar
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here uh is a
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55 Esquire that was all messed up and
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this body uh Mario Martin repainted it
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for me CU I always wanted a red 50s
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guitar cuz I like James Burton and uh
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then I sent it to my buddy Kevin skurla
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who has this company tone star pickups
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and I was like hey man can you make this
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thing have like the Clarence white Marty
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Stewart style Benders in it and he he
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built this whole this whole get up to do
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all the
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close
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[Music]
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enough and uh he built this pickup here
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that's in here it's a two-speed Bridge
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pick up just like the you the Clarence
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white guitar and then some of the James
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Burton guitars something like that red
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roads kind of idea of that but uh yeah
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if you like big big heavy guitars that
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do a lot of stuff this is this is about
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as good as it gets really
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what's in the ne uh this is a frin uh
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this is a frin I forget what they call
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it it's it's like half Strat half P90
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and it's it's pretty handy I like it for
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my Western swing
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[Music]
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licks I'm I'm a big fan there right
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whose signatures on there oh that's Jean
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Watson signature there uh I had this
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guitar with me and we were we were on
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his bus talking
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about country music and stuff and I was
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like Well jean I don't suppose
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you put your John Hancock on the old
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telecaster and he he obliged me so that
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that's Jean's signature down there love
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me some
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Jean oh yes we got all we got all kinds
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of toys around
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[Music]
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here which which one you figure either
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or well this this
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here this here is a guitar that
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uh about maybe eight or 10 years ago I
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was hanging out with James Mitchell one
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of the best guitar players you'll find
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anywhere these days but me and me and
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James was hanging out he was looking on
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reverb and he saw this guitar come
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up and I like to think that I helped
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goat him into buying it but uh 66
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September I think of' 66 uh
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and uh he he put his mini humbucker in
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here this a patent sticker mini
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humbucker and he he played it for a good
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long while and then one day he called me
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and said hey maybe you want to come and
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have this thing so uh we worked us out a
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deal and I got it it's got a big big old
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Maple cap neck on it this is the biggest
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Maple cap neck I ever seen but it's a
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good little ring
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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but uh it's got uh got James's fancy
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concentric pot set up here so this is a
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this bottom one is a volume for the neck
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pickup which is a 500K pot and this top
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one is the volume for the bridge pickup
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which is uh 250 so you can so both
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pickups see what they want to see and
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you can also kind of blend the bridge
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pickup and the neck pickup in different
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uh so you can have barely any
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you can have all all Bridge with a
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little bit of
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[Music]
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neck or you can have it the other way
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around where you can turn the bridge
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down have all
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[Music]
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neck so that's kind of Handy it's a fun
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little setup there and then I might need
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that uh and then this bridge pick up
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here uh when James had this guitar for a
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long time he had a uh Pete Florence te
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60 in it and then he had uh some
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different Duncan pickups in it and when
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I got it it had the Duncan pickup in it
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and I tried putting the t60 back in it
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and that didn't suit me so this is a a
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pickup that Kevin skura that made all
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those Benders and the pickup in my
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Bender guitar he made this pickup to be
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a copy of like my favorite Pete Florence
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pickups and it's kind of the best thing
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you can get by a guy that's alive in my
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opinion right now so
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so there's that but this is a and how
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how can they get the pickup uh well you
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look up Ton star pickups or look up
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Kevin skura and he'll uh he'd be glad to
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make you set they're called the gamp
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gamp set of pickups cuz you know I walk
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funny ask him for those and he'll he'll
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get you hooked up they're great I love
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them I'm so glad I can buy stuff I like
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from a guy that's
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alive why do you like Maple cap next
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H they're Snappy they're Snappy and
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they're clear
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uh and they're
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obtainable uh you know I suppose I might
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I might play a lot more 50s Telecaster
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next if I could afford to buy them but I
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can't afford to buy them and you know
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they these are getting hard to afford
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but you can still you can still find you
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some of these and they're great they're
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stable they're good for traveling you
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know they don't move around as much as
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maybe a one piece neck does and I just
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I've always liked them you know a lot of
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a lot of my favorite dudes have a have a
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maple cap neck James Mitchell
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so the that's a yeah this is a patent
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sticker one from probably like 65 or 66
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and this is kind of the best sound in
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one I've ever heard it's really it's
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really good and warm and perfect
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[Music]
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and it just sounds really nice I love
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it the last one ah the last one
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[Music]
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this last one here is my mother's
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favorite
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guitar everyone's favorite guitar except
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[Music]
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mine this is a this is all kinds of
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things uh this body is a Mario Martin
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body that was firem Miss silver and it's
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faded this kind of funky green color and
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the neck is a
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67 uh Maple cap neck that I stole from
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Aaron Curry it was a fine guitar player
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you should look up here in town but I
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stole this listn from Aaron Curry and
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uh it just it's it's a great sound and
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Jack all trades guitar and I just for
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some reason I don't like it I think I
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don't like the color it faded to or
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something but I love the guitar it's
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kind of my favorite guitar to play I
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just I love to hate it but
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[Music]
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it's got a Pete Florence old Pete
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Florence pickup in the bridge uh it's
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kind of the pickup that's always been in
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this guitar it's getting really rusty so
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I'm kind of scared uh but that's a te 59
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I think and then you got your Duncan
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what do they call this hot Strat stack
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it's a hot Strat stack in the middle uh
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and it's wir just the top coil which is
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a hit to uh to get
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[Music]
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your so you can get all your Reggie legs
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going on
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[Music]
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and then uh this this neck pickup is the
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pickup that came uh with that Pete
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Florence Bridge pickup
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uh what what did they say long neck it's
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a long neck it's a long long neck uh
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Telecaster neck pickup and it's it's
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real clear
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[Music]
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and doesn't get doesn't get muddy but
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you can still play Swing on it if you
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have to or you can make you know your
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Strat sounds if
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you I don't know it just it does it all
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it's got a new style Glazer Bender in it
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just like that last guitar every Telly I
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have has a bender in it at this point
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[Music]
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is talk about the the wiring cuz that's
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not the Glazer blender thing no no this
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is just this is just
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master volume and master tone and a
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five-way switch I've just got it you
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know just like that I'm a simple man
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this is almost too complicated for me
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there's so many options I don't like
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options that that guitar with the two
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volumes that James of James is there
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freaks me out too I don't I don't like
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options favorite James Burton solo
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Oh uh the Haggard version of little Wine
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Drinker
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Me that's it's it's
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[Music]
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off it's it's great it's I love
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it Roy Nichols oh picking a Roy one's
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hard man uh I'm such a student of Roy
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he's like my top guy and you know I like
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all my friends are going to be strangers
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the acoustic stuff he plays on that
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first hag record the whole record is
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just you can look at that or
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uh the stuff that he played on the all
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in the movies record those are like my
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two albums I tell everybody to look up
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if they're going to go after Roy Nichols
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look them up by album cuz all in the
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movies you know there's him playing a
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lot of electric guitar he's playing a
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lot of Swing on song like Stinger Cotton
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Patch blues and he gets the crazy
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Distortion going on the on those records
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too so yeah those those would be two
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records that I would say check out all
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my friends are going to be strangers and
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uh it's all in the movies for your Roy
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Nicholls greatness Grady
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Martin Grady Martin there's a Mel Tillis
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song called uh Same Girl brand new
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rapper and he plays this this intro that
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without the big red guitar and the
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Echoplex I won't I won't play it for you
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here but uh that that I mean it's just
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it's a great it's a great tune the great
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cool intro with his aiplex all cranked
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up and a thing of beauty all all the
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stuff off that
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uh what is that uh who will buy the wine
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is that the album or one more time I
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think is the album the melillis album
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there's just a ton of great stuff of
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both Grady and Pete Wade played on that
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album and it's hard to tell who's who
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but it's just that great you know 60s
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early' 70s Nashville big red 355
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Echoplex stuff that my dreams are made
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of regie
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young um
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you got to go you got to go for Rose in
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Paradise I think that's a great track
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like he plays you know he's he's layered
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on there he's you know he's doing some
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Rhythm work he's doing his lead work on
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there and it's all just kind of a
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masterpiece of Reggie young style stuff
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that or you know the ' 80s Haggard like
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makeup and Faded blue jeans it's it's
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great I I I love me some Reggie that's
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why I have to have this guitar so that I
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got a guitar that'll make Reggie
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sounds so you're out on the road with
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Jake this coming year yeah Jake
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Worthington yeah that's that's we'll be
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out there opening for Zack top and doing
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some of our own stuff honky toning with
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stereo amps and Loud steel guitars and
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and Country Music he lets me play My Roy
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Nichols licks live it's
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it's yeah strings picks in your in your
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road rig oh strings and pcks uh strings
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are just diodio 9 to 42 I've tried a lot
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of different stuff but I have 400 sets
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of these in my drawer they work uh for
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me I get I got I got arthritis so I I
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use tiny strings and I like the way they
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sound I get I get around on them all
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right uh picks I'm always in crisis uh I
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sometimes I use those little Gatten
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teardrop picks right now I've been using
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these tortex flow picks because they got
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kind of like a little round Edge that's
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a little sharp that you can use and then
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they got a really sharp edge if you got
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to go lickety split on something
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but I probably have like 10 different
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types of pigs in my pocket right now cuz
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I'm always in crisis always in crisis
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for pigs and then out on the road for
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amps I I usually have a blackface or
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silverface Twin Reverb or two when I
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want to scare everyone uh that's pretty
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fun and then uh yeah in town I might use
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like a couple of 67 Princeton reverbs I
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got in Stereo or my Vicks I've had a
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vibr that someone retro a 12in speaker
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into that I've used for i' I've had it
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for 20 almost 20 years that's terrifying
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but uh but yeah just a great sounding
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great sounding app where can people find
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you online uh I got an in I got that
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Instagram that the kids use uh uh G Gabe
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tonin my name spelled t o o n but it's
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Gabe ton on because some people have
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pronounced it that way and that works
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for me too so my handle is Gabe tone on
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on uh on Instagram you can find me on
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there and that may lead you to any
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places I might be playing in town or
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anything that might be going on besides
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the Jake dates out on the
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road so I'm not hard to find I'm around
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if I'm not if I'm not playing I'm out
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watching somebody else play I love me
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some country music
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so I'm tracking it down all the
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time all right well thanks for having me
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man yes I super appreciate it bye-bye