Q Neil Young is the only person I have seen who plugs into an acoustic guitar and still has it sounding like an acoustic guitar! What kind of pickups and EQ does he use? And how old is his main warhorse, the Martin D-28?
Todd Stuart Phillips
Brooklyn, New York
A Neil Young uses FRAP stereo three-dimensional transducers in his late '30s Martin D-28 and in all the acoustic guitars he plays on stage. The FRAPs differ from ordinary transducers in that they sense vibrations on all three axes. I installed them in the mid-'70s, mounting them on the bridge plate inside the guitar. The stereo image is split, with the top three strings on one side and the bottom three strings on the other. The acoustic tone is more real because you are sensing the vibrations of the top of the guitar instead of just those of the bridge saddle (as with typical bridge-saddle slot pickups). The EQ is fairly flat except for a few narrow notches that are rolled off. This varies with each venue depending on which frequencies are feeding back or otherwise resonating problematically. Unfortunately, the original FRAP transducer is not currently available.
--Larry Cragg
Q I read with interest the Gearbox reference to Jimmie Dale Gilmore's "pride and joy": his koa Gibson J-200 (November 1996). Can you give me some general information on American guitar makers' use of koa? In particular, how many J-200s did Gibson build with koa backs and sides?
John Thomas
Hamden, Connecticut
A The Hawaiian music craze hit North America around 1915, and the widespread use of Hawaiian koa for ukuleles and acoustic Hawaiian guitars, especially at Martin, followed shortly thereafter. Some makers of Hawaiian-style guitars, such as Weissenborn, used koa almost exclusively. The popularity of koa only lasted for about 20 years, however, and World War II essentially ended its availability.
Koa wasn't seen very often on production guitars of the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, but with the new builders of the 1970s it came around again. Brazilian rosewood was becoming very expensive, and guitar makers were looking for other handsome tropical hardwoods to offer as an alternative to mahogany and Indian rosewood. Since koa yields a tone somewhere between those two, it was a logical choice--different, but not too radical. Gurian, Santa Cruz, Larrivée, and other new companies like Taylor helped put koa back in the guitarist's vocabulary. By the mid-1980s, most guitar companies offered koa as an option, if not on a standard model.
Gibson's new flattop guitar factory in Bozeman, Montana, offered koa on J-200, J-185, and Nick Lucas models until quite recently. Though the wood is still available, its increased cost and sporadic availability have meant that companies with higher production, such as Martin, Gibson, and Taylor, generally offer it only in limited runs. Gibson made about 145 to 150 koa J-200s in 1991 and has issued some special runs since then. The total number to date is a little over 200.
--Richard Johnston
Q In the June 1996 Great Acoustics you featured a 1920s Sears Supertone guitar. Can you tell me how many of those guitars were made? What could I expect to pay for one?
Gary Wertenberger
Dundee, Michigan
A Supertone guitars, which were distributed by Sears, were produced by the tens of thousands. A wide variety of different models were made. In addition to the guitar, there were also Supertone-brand banjos and mandolins. In general, these instruments bring relatively low prices on the market today. Dig out your June 1996 issue of Acoustic Guitar for Michael Wright's detailed history of Sears and Montgomery Ward's catalogue guitars.
--George Gruhn
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