Slide ace guitarist Sturgis Nikides (Low Society) lived in New York in 2007 and found a 60's Imperial in a trashcan. He took it home and brought it along with him to Memphis when he moved there a couple of years later. No it has been rsstored by The Memphis Guitar Spa, a small business working miracles at restoring vintage instruments. Kevin Ferner explains:
I may be biased cuz of how well we know each other, but I think Sturgis Nikides is the best slide player I've ever heard, and I'm including everyone. He's been waiting for this guitar for a while. Its a 60's Imperial - same model that Jimmy Vaughn plays - and Sturgis literally found it in a dumpster. It had been in his closet unstrung for so long, the neck had a back bow to it, and I put heavy gauge strings on it, over tuned it and let it sit for a while and it slowly came back to level. I made the bridge from scratch looking at old pictures, but added a touch I like to do for these types of guitars. Typically, on the floating bridge electrics that were cheaply made, the strings begin to cut into the wood bridge dampening the tone. Especially when you use 11's or 12's like Sturgy does for slide. So on the high E, B and G strings that are not wrapped, I inset a piece of bone, then hand compensate it. You would be surprised how good this thing sounds for something you could originally buy for $37!!!!!
The instrument will see action on stage and future Low Society albums.
No comments:
Post a Comment