So there's this guy named Brad.....

[BCRGreg]

He plays music. He has a lot of guitars. He is one of the most underrated guitarists of our time, but he doesn't care. He knows tone, and tone is the thing for him, not having his picture in People magazine. So he has this guy Bobby that works for him. Bobby has a friend that works on guitars and designs stuff. Bobby talked to Brad about his buddy, and Brad and Bobby decided that their buddy could help Brad.

Sooooo.....

Oh, I don't have the patience to keep this up!

I met up with Bobby Saturday night after leaving the KIX show(another thread), and crashed at the Westin on Aerosmith's dime. They know what they are doing, those Aerosmith boys. Sunday morning bus call was 11 am, and off to the Nissan Pavilian we went. Local crew had rolled all the boxes by the time that we got there, so we set up the backline and guitar world and got down to business. I had Will at WB Custom Pickups wind me up some pickups to my exact specs (GregWinds) and I brought a set for Brad, since he's been a big influence on my playing. Brad has a Hamer Korina Standard that he hasn't used a lot recently(the stock Duncans sounded kind of flat to him), and Bobby had told him that I was going to mod it a bit.

Before...



I leved a couple of high frets, cleaned up the board and dropped the GregWinds (zebras instead of those boring gold covers) in where the Duncans had been...



So, Bobby and I spent a few hours playing with this......



Brad's rig consists of a Greg Howard head on a 4x12 in the center and two Divided By 13 heads on 4x12s for the stereo signals. A TC Electronics G System controls the rig, with a Klon and a few modded TS9s are in there for a little hair. Since the G System is new, Bobby and I played around with tones...



I wish I had asked Bobby to grab a shot of me playing Brad's rig. The rest of the crew went to catering and we had the whole place(stage and venue) all to ourselves. There is a very special magic standing on Aerosmith's full stage playing Brad's rig at HUGE volumes to an empty ampitheater the size of an airport. I was 15 again, and it was BAD ASS. Soon enough, Joan Jett's crew started setting up her backline so Bobby and I had to be quiet. Bobby started grabbing guitars out of these....





...and had me restring a set up the main ones. Pics later.

When Brad arrived, we took him through the changes to the rig and gave him the hotrodded Hamer for him to wring out the rig. He liked it so much, he opened the show with it and played it for several songs!



A couple songs into, he turned and mouthed the word "COOL!", and looked down at the Hamer.

I'm still grinning.

[GuitarGal]

Cool~

[MIDNIGHT]

*sigh*

that'll be the day when i have that many guitars

[FrankiePRS]

Great report Greg!! What a cool night. Thanks very much for sharing that, so we can all live vicariously through you.

I'm not surprised Brad dug the WBs -- I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Will's got the magic. Now if my box from WB would just get here... The mail-lady's starting to look at me funny, since I salivate uncontrollably when I see her coming.

Hey, did Ronnie show up at Aerosmith with the Lester for you?

[loneguitar]

Congrats on a chance of a lifetime, many thanks for sharing it with us, Rock On

[Red Baron]

Very cool Greg... you lucky bastard!

[BCRGreg]

Joe's rig......

[TheMrsWB]

Well that's great Greg! So Brad liked the pickups? Awesome pictures!

[lp junior freak]

cool pics man lucky guy !!!!

[BCRGreg]

From an Aerosmith fan site...

[Tone Seeker]

That's a great shot. Congrats Will and Laura!!

Terry.

[BCRGreg]

WB Custom Pickups: guitar pickups wound by hand

Congrats to Will and Laura, they have a cool business and the personalized service is extraordinary! I've been at this a long time, rarely do I get this much support and friendship from a vendor.

Let it be known, Brad has Burstbuckers in the majority of his guitars(I peeked under a few hoods while setting them all up, One guitar had Holmes pickups in it), and if he sticks with these pickups in this guitar, that will be enough for me. Just seeing one of my idols playing something that I designed and grinning while doing it was enough for me.

Now, if I can just get Joe to sit still long enough to tell HIM about these pickups.......

[WBPickups]

Greg, I am still in shock myself. I still remember jamming along to "Rocks" as kid thinking how cool they are. I am jazzed and thanks for hooking it up!

[Tone Seeker]

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

WB Custom Pickups: guitar pickups wound by hand
Let it be known, Brad has Burstbuckers in the majority of his guitars(I peeked under a few hoods while setting them all up, One guitar had Holmes pickups in it), and if he sticks with these pickups in this guitar, that will be enough for me. Just seeing one of my idols playing something that I designed and grinning while doing it was enough for me.

Interesting. . . I know of at least one other custom pickup winder who sold a set to Brad, although that was a few years ago.

In a mass market world it's very encouraging to see that individual craftsmanship still has a place. I always prefer buying from someone who pours their heart into a product over a mass produced item. It does make a difference, especially in the tone search we're on. A true craftsman is usually more about the joy they bring others and about excellence, than they are about fame or fortune. And if that is the focus the other may happen anyway.

Terry.

[GeeJay]

Cool story, must have been a great experience....Thanks for sharing the story and the shots..

[basschick22]

wow. That's really cool! Thank you for sharing!

[BOBBO]

Brad is so underated and in Joe Perry's shadow !! He rocks !!! That was a great post Greg !!!!!! Thanks alot !!!!!

[WildeStarr]

Damn, I thought this was going to be about Brad Gillis.

[Spicoli]

Wow, thats cool!

[Markster]

Brad is like the anchor of the band that always flies under the radar.
He's a great musician.

[BCRGreg]

Originally Posted by Tone Seeker

Interesting. . . I know of at least one other custom pickup winder who sold a set to Brad, although that was a few years ago.

In a mass market world it's very encouraging to see that individual craftsmanship still has a place. I always prefer buying from someone who pours their heart into a product over a mass produced item. It does make a difference, especially in the tone search we're on. A true craftsman is usually more about the joy they bring others and about excellence, than they are about fame or fortune. And if that is the focus the other may happen anyway.

Terry.

I saw a whole drawer full of fancy pickups that were barely used or never installed. When Brad agreed to try mine, I was thrilled. Next time, I will get to dig a little deeper into his guitar stash, now that he trusts me.

Just for fun, here's some of the guitars I worked on for Brad(and yes, they are real)....









Some days, I have the best damn job.

[BOBBO]

Brad is a regular gear nut !! He loves trying out new amps,effects ,guitars, pickups etc to get great tones !! Some evidence of this can be seen on Brad's pedalboard !! Please take notice to the slot marked pedal of the week !

[BCRGreg]

That board is retired. We made it obsolete.

[Harpozep]

Great post and story
Aerosmith has always been my favorite rock group. Likely because I'm a Boston boy and constantly saw teh band members while growing up on the South Shore. Brad and Joe would sometimes show up at Music Unlimited at the Hanover Mall, much to our delight and Barry , the store owner's too!

One day in the late '80's Joe Perry was wailing and a youngster at the store kinda sneered and said " Who does he think he is, Slash?" Or so the story goes. I was not there for that one.

Still, I cut my teeth on their riffs and still to this day tend to play entire albums on guitar when I get in the mood. It was always a blast listening to LPs and digging through the layers of sound to find the right guitar parts. Everyone I knew had slightly different approaches to a lot of the backing chords and even some of the riffs. It didn't matter though, we all played and really dug having an international rock group in our neighborhoods.

My friend's wife watched Joe Perry's children we all saw Steven Tyler at MR Donuts, I even caught him at Long Pond in Plymouth playing Frisbee and in New Hampshire in my old dormitory , where he was helping a friend move.

I came down to get my mail once in my dorm at Umass Amherst and there was Joe Perry leaning on my mail box! ( Need a Joe Perry sneering face, but I guess Slash will do in the context! ). I asked him "What are you doing here" ' Radio" was all he replied and pointed towards the basement where a student radio station was run. A man of few words in those days of The Joe Perry Project.

I'm glad to see the pics from that stage show and thank you for sharing them. It brought forth a lot of fine memories

[BOBBO]

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

That board is retired. We made it obsolete.

That rig may have been from a little while back ! I think he has his pedal effects in a rack drawer now !

Here's my rig .. Kinda based on Brads board !! Very similar !

[coldsteal2]

Thats pretty cool

[BCRGreg]

New album in the works, maybe I will be up to the studio to take more more shots....

[Stowburst]

WOW Greg, amazing!

The photos are great, Joe's rig looks fantastic!

[arcanis494]

WOW great thread, I'm happy it was bumped so I could see!


That must have been a blast playing through his stage rig!

[GNR4EVR]

You have a magical life, Greg... Congrats!