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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

15:57

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

16:16

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

16:49

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

16:58

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

17:11

great sounding app where can people find

17:14

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

17:37

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

17:56

man yes I super appreciate it bye-bye