By Matt Owen, Contributions from Jeff Slate-Source GuitarWorld
The Stratocaster loyalist decided it was time to branch into more metal territory with his latest six-string purchase – and he was pleasantly surprised with what he discovered
Throughout his decades-long career, Pete Townshend has been associated with a handful of electric guitar templates.
Over time, The Who legend has dabbled with a select range of conventional and vintage guitar formats, ranging from Rickenbackers, Gibson’s Les Paul and SG models to – perhaps most notably – the Fender Stratocaster. Indeed, it is the Strat that has accommodated much of Townshend’s playing across the decades.
But, as the guitar hero explains in the new issue of Guitarist, Townshend recently ventured into new, more progressive-leaning territory, and found himself seeking out a guitar from a completely different corner of the market.
As Townshend puts it, he deemed it time to try “one of these sort of heavy metal guitars”, and found himself purchasing a flashy new speed machine – an instrument that apparently had an immediate impact on his playing.
The other day, I thought, ‘It’s time for me to try a Charvel, or one of these sort of heavy metal guitars,’” Townshend mused when asked about his latest gear discovery. “I’ve stuck with Eric Clapton-style Strats for such a long time now, though I do pick up Les Pauls and SGs and I love them, but they don’t allow me enough scope and change on stage.
“So I’ve always thought, ‘If I buy a Charvel or a PRS or any of those super-fast new jazz guitars, I’m going to have one sound and it’s going to be finger memory.’
“But the other day, I thought, ‘Fuck it. I’ll try one out.’” His guitar of choice? A Jackson.
“I didn’t know that they were owned by Charvel and that Charvel are now owned by Fender, but I bought a Jackson,” he went on. “I got it out of the box and it’s got very light strings on and a notch where the strings are locked down, and it’s got the strings locked at the other end, too, and you tune them with little buttons. And so, the whammy bar is extraordinary!”
But Townshend didn’t just appreciate the guitar for its fine-tuned functionality and alien specifications – which no doubt were unlike anything any of his Fender Strats had offered before. Instead, he also admired the fact the guitar literally made him play faster.
“I was playing faster. No question,” he asserted. “I was playing at three times the speed that I normally play at. And when I did fingering, drumming, it didn’t stop. It didn’t go thunk; it went ding. Because these guitars are built for a particular kind of thing. So I’m still learning and I’m still having fun with guitars.”
To read the full interview with Townshend, head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitarist, which also includes an in-depth look at Mark Knopfler’s upcoming mammoth guitar auction.
