The strangest guitar I own / When It’s Time To Sell Guitars / 

Strangest guitar I have is a 1935 Supro Electric Spanish, made by National/Dobro. A monster heavy clunker magnetic pickup, dark burst archtop, no F-holes (to reduce feedback), big fat V neck, volume control only. It's got these eerie overtones even when you play it un-amplified. Used to belong to Ray Wylie Hubbard. As a boomer, my favorite guitarists are Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Carlos Santana, Jerry Garcia and Johnny Winter. There are many more but that's a great start. All came of age in the 60's ahead of me but not too far.

It blows my mind that you only have 392k subscribers. I've been watching you for a long time and can't believe it's not much higher.

Your taste in guitar solo is same as I. When I was young, I impressed by any guitarist who could play fast. The older I'm, the more I enjoy slower solo that gives me certain feeling when I listen to it.

Rory Gallagher used to rent Pete Townsends electric sitar and one day Rory asked Pete to rent it again and he just gave it to Rory and he played it until his death in 1995 from a MRSA infection.

Thank you for serving our country, sir

I'm sorry I missed the live show. I must say that the electric sitar was great - those have sprung up on a surprising amount of recordings I think. My favourite is Robert Smith's use over the years - on a few tracks one probably wouldn't have thought - Pictures of You, If Only Tonight and Fascination Street to start

Thank you once again, Phil! I appreciate both your boldness in featuring "different-strokes-for-different-folks" topics, coupled with the sincere respect you show for differing points-of-view! I AM very much in agreement with your views on the importance of "Unique" when it comes to gear (esp. Guitars); and DO believe that taking a "holistic" approach to one's "Musical Journey" (incl. "Tone") will yield the most satisfying result, all things considered! 🖖🙂

"Come and Get Your Love" by the Native American band REDBONE has the coolest sitar ...great song, great sound.

Great show! We appreciate your time and efforts! Also thank you for serving our County! 🎸🇺🇲

Superb 👌🏻 show as always even considering the issues. I tune in every Friday night in Scotland. Thanks again to everyone connected to the running of this production. 👍🏻

We admire & appreciate your dogged determination Mr Phil - the show must go on....

Pat Metheny plays “Last Train Home” live on that electric sitar. Great stuff! 😃

great solo Maggot Brain

My favorite solo is Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song. It just pulls everything together perfectly for that song. Just my opinion. Also, former Forward Observer checking in. The A10 is an incredible air support platform. Brrrrrrrt!

Looks almost exactly like the Coral Sitar. You can see that used by Robert Smith in the Fascination Street film clip (it was used throughout the disintegration album).

Great show. Drove from Tampa to Orlando and ended right on time. Guitars sounded better today if helps. Sometimes they are very quiet. Thanks Phil, have a great weekend everyone!

A10 goes BRRRRTTT!!!! The sound of freedom...love that you mentioned that made me laugh a bit hadn't heard it in a while. The hog is such a great aircraft!

A10 humor received loud and clear. Zip that zipper.

Thanks for the show, Phil!🙏🏻

Vinnie Bell created the Electric Sitar for Danelectro. There is also a simpler version without the sympathetic strings that was sold under the Coral brand. The bridge is what gives it that sound I don’t own one, but I have played them Cool guitars

@8:30 that's so true Phil! that music will always hold a special place for inspiring a teenage me to play, but older me just prefers really well written songs that happen to have great guitar parts.

I have a 1968 goldtop that I inherited from my father, he bought it new from the states in 1968 while attending a family wedding (we are from England|) I learned to play on this guitar, people are wowed by this guitar when they see and play it, I don't get the vintage guitar thing, yes it is a good sounding guitar but so are my '80s Les Pauls but I don't consider the goldtop any better just because it is older, although I do like its larger fatter neck and fretboard as I have sausage fingers, to me the vintage guitar thing is like The Emporer Wears No Clothes. Or is it because I take this guitar for granted? When I was young and learning on this guitar I did not even know about guitar companies and their history, to me it was just an electric guitar.

Musicality is that because it transcends technical prowess to the point the listener only becomes aware of its difficulty to cover when attempting. Its only the musicality of a solo within a piece that impresses.

That Danelectro sitar sounds really cool! Much nicer than I expected.

That Dan electro is amazing to have around on some solo's when you write songs. Just like all the weird things a percussionist has.

I did TDY (Temp Duty) at Davis-Monthan AFB. I loved Tucson!

Man, that Dano sitar is cool! (and yes, strange) ... I can't believe you didn't realize you had a strange (and super cool) guitar!

Good Show

I have the Danelectro electric sitar in red crackle finish and I really enjoy playing it. Don’t use it all the time but it’s great when I do play it.

If you want a pedal with small amp to big stage authenticity and mojo galore then pick up a SUPRO TREMOLO! I found a used one in great shape with the box, and it's the cool anodized blueberry color with the black knobs with silver inserts. I love how it looks more than the newer light blue look with off white knobs. The transformer inside isn't snake oil at all, it really does do a great job of matching the impedance and seamlessly integrating the Supro Tremolo into the amp you're playing through. With that Drive knob it sounds like you've just have a great amp mod. Although I have a pedal assortment that covers the gamut, I love the Supro Tremolo pedal just straight into my Egnater Tweaker 30 head ( with 2- EL34's) into a Marshall 4 x12 cab. Playing my Guild Bluesbird with Seymour Duncan's humbuckers- 1959 and JB in HB mode and I made both switchable single coil. I actually like the syncopated shwaka shwaka heavy handed light handed grooves. Although I thought it might just be a cliche' groove, but it's actually so responsive that coming up with totally new feels and it sounds as up front or laid back as I want. Especially by plugging an expression pedal into the Expression Input to control the Speed control on the fly.

I've discovered that 80dB plus or minus 5-7 dB satisfies home practice and live performance loudness requirements. I have a 15 Watt tube amp which has sufficient headroom to work well with pedals. A comparable solid State amp would be around 40 Watts. In that power range a 10" inch speaker is the usual. Since I prefer a 12" speaker, i also have a solid state 60 watt amp. These allow me more than enough to play with a drummer and un-mic'd horns.

….and Bob Schneider!!

100% correct on the Reese's take. Loved them as a kid but can't eat as an adult. Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups on the other hand are fantastic.

When I found out that BFG and his guitar tech duplicated the Pearly Gates tone with a rack setup so that he gets that tone from any of the guitars he uses I realized most of us have no idea what we're talking about. I was hanging out on a few guitar forums 15 years back, Seymour Duncan and MyLesPaul mostly, when I came up with my own tone chasing breakdown where my ears were the only criteria. And it was basically 80% amp and speakers, 15% pickups and 5% split between all of the other components. So all of those other things were basically sweeteners. If you didn't have that 80-95% base tone already, making a 5%-20% change was mostly wasted money. Thankfully, lunchbox/mini amps have made the amp portion less painfully pricey. But until you get that amp/speaker combo down as YOUR tone, you're just throwing money away.

If you want a better combo amp to move up to, just get a Peavey Bandit. They're everywhere, they're dirt cheap, they're simple, they sound good, and they're very loud so you can gig with them.

Whenever people talk about expensive guitars they all bring up the same stuff; Shur, Anderson, etc. no one ever talks about David McNaught. I think as far as semi custom goes his guitars look like they are worth the money. They do unique amazing stains and paints and inlays as well as options, pretty much whatever you want or need but I have never heard mention of him at all. I have never played one but I feel they would play great but in the end of course its how you jive with it.

Thanks!

It was originally called a "Coral sitar" and came out in the 60's. You may have heard it in Eric Burdon's "Monterey" from the time period. It was also on Joe South's "Games People Play" That thing got played to death in the 70's. After the original went away, Jerry Jones made some nicer versions of it.

the knobs are volume and tone for each pickup, we sold those at music brokers, there is a baby sitar model which is cooler. i used to play real sitar and we sold those at music brokers also

I love my late ‘70s Jazz bass. It weighs a ton but the neck is the best I’ve ever played. I got it for very little money though, back when noone wanted them.

If I had that Danelectro Sitar/guitar I believe I would learn the solo to "Do it Again" by Steely Dan- I love that solo. I have no idea who played guitar on that one- of if that's even a guitar- but I think it is, sounds like a guitar using the old Danelectro sitar pedal. Parts of it sound like a synth but then you start hearing slides and stuff- gotta be a guitar- is it Larry Carlton? I'm fixing to Google it.

It's an age thing. Young man gotta shake the earth, gotta FEEL the roar, etc. Older man wants to hear child's cry & Grankids giggle & he's lost so much of his hearing through the years....

I think one of the reasons 60's and 70's music now is that the songs sound so much better than they used to sound on those cheap radios they used to have in cars. I'm old, and I like a lot of songs that I didn't like earlier because they sound so much better now.

Damn I *love* the A-10!

1970’s Bunker ProStar. Might be earlier but we bought it from a pawn shop in the late 70’s.

train by day, Know your Gear podcast by night..., all day!

Thank you.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra uses a very similar one from Jerry Jones sitar on two of their psychedelic songs. You can see it in action in his Premier Guitar Rig Rundown.

Agreed, Nuno is my fav current shredder. For the same reasons, Randy Rhodes is number 2, and Jason Becker is number 3.

Nice guitar of the week.

Welcome to adulthood, Guitar Cable Amp maybe Mic. How I play it after 40 years old. Im 54 now. add effects in post. Except for a vibe part. Love the show.

"Chinatown Chasing that old dragon down" That's what's perhaps animating the Tone Dragon riffing. 😎

Solo, live forever Noel Gallagher, simple effective limited and serves the song,

I think the Danelectro is cool and amazing. I'd like to know how they were able to get a sitar sound out of a guitar. I am guessing it is more than the mini harp with pickup and hollow body. that creates the sitar sound. You can use it to play Hooked on a Feeling by B. J. Thomas.

Great to see the Danelectro - I have a 'Gator Red' Jerry Jones - identical set-up, lovely instrument. Used it on a few Bollywood Remix things I did for EMI / Abbey Road a few years back but mainly I've found it's a terrific guitar for sketching out / writing vocal melodies for singers because it just doesn't lend itself to you automatically slipping into 'guitar mode' and falling back on blues licks or whatever, similar to picking up a Nylon String Classical Guitar - just makes you play more politely 😅 It's my 'lyrical guitar', and a lot of fun. I notice a couple on Reverb both going for USD 3K or so - wonder what your original Danelectro would fetch?

I was stationed at Sembach AB in Germany we had a fleet of A10s and OV10s and some CH53s and we had Lear jet reconnaissance aircraft that were like target planes or something for exercises and whatever their mission was. Thank you for your service btw. I’m a boomer my birthday is Sunday 64, and I have to agree that the Clapton, Page, Harrison,Beck,Richardson era did stick cause the songs were good and for the most part they still hold up. That’s the British part but the American side was just as relevant, the Allman bros, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, ZZTop, Three Dog Night, Elvin Bishop Ten Years After, CCR, Rush, Hendrix,and on and on. All that stuff still holds up today and will continue to carry its weight. In my opinion. Take care…

I didn't make the live show but my favorite solo's are simple ones like Dead Memories by Slipknot or even Nirvana's Smells like Teen spirit solo is perfect for the song.

cashew butter phil, that with a simple milk chocolate is amazing

On the subject of tone chassing one thing I've learned on tiktok is that the sound guys absolutely HATE that guitarists chase tone so much, especially if there's a bigger pedalboard. It was wild to see that the sort of hate between the two out there that had never really been a thing I encountered as a weekend warrior type of player.

Perhaps the Fishman technologies could be widened to include the entire electronic component system. And also, become more user tweakable, without swapping components.

Most Excellent

Neal Schon's solo in "Anytime."

I liked the sound of the sitar guitar personally.

If you want somthing like Bassman that sounds great at bedroom levels, try the Roland Blues Cube Hot.

i have old 60s jensens c126 they are 3 ohm they came out of an old organ i have two together comes out to 6.8 ohm i think it was i run in a 8 ohm load

At the time (whenever they were on the market). I was only interested in conventional-looking guitars, including a V. I loved the build specs, but had no need, or desire, complex electronics. In a nutshell, too high-techie looking, too expensive, too weird looking. Nowadays? My feelings haven't changed much. FWIW, I would see Mark Farner playing a Parker and it really bugged me. It just looked 'off'. I also thought his tone was the worst I'd ever heard.

Two of my favorite solos: Mick Jone's on "Hot Blooded" Springsteen on "Streets of Fire" Ned Flanders😆

Forever Man.... Clapton

Favorite solo(s): The Sleep - Pantera

I have a Marshall DSL1 head, I have to attenuate it. I love it, but it has to be attenuated. I have an Origin 20, I run it at half and attenuated, without volume, they won’t sound good unless attenuated. Attenuation is a godsend….

My strangest guitar is my first one. Its a 1988 Korean made HSS Strat copy my parents bought from Sears. The body is made of plywood.

Seems to me back in the 60's this guitar was called the Coral Sitar, kind of playing off some of the Beatles tunes after their trip to India?

?? Phil, how do you use the sympathetic strings on the Sitar? I bet that’s a popular guitar in India and Asia. Would be great for recording as interesting sounds … yeah! Beatles!

I missed the "comeback". Watching rerun

I love dark chocolate. What are the dark chocolate/peanut butter Reese’s type things you found? I want to try them, that sounds awesome.

Re unloading guitars/gear: In general, is it more likely one will get decent value on trade-ins from box stores (GC) or a local shop?? I don't want to pinch local operators or play hardball with their bottom line. GC can take it lol

The guy who founded Danelectro was Nathan DANiel. He was from New Jersey, not Copenhagen.

On the topic of best solo. Testament-Return to Serenity Alex is sadly under rated. That solo has speed and soul.

Justin Johnson has the same strange sitar guitar hanging on his wall.

Gen-X finger tapping. (I agree, 60s and 70s the best, but like the others too)

cannot find your May 24 podcast, not presented by youtube on may 25, just all your previous which I have seen , real manipulation by yt, ads ads ads, no podcast.

“When it’s time to sell guitars” Four years ago when guitars were selling for twice as much as they were actually worth.

Great solos: 1) Love hurts (Nazareth) 2) Tougher than the rest (Bruce Springsteen) Great Channels: 1) Philipp McKnight

A10s FTW!

Wandre guitars are the strangest yet practical solid electrics. Ever play a Vox guitorgan ?

A10's are very cool... they appear to fly in a slow mode, then they'll peal off in a different direction up and over. Getting back to guitars wĥeñ I ETS'ed out of the army earĺy '⁷70's, I found a 1967 Custom Esquire (during a blizzard on a farm in Upstate NY, for $110.00). Buying it, not knowing it would go skyrocket in value. Immaculate condition sunburst and original case. My guitar of the century!!! Sorry for long spiel, forgive me you all, seriously.

Did I miss something No live show today May 24th 2024

You don't play on stage for 20,000 people. push the air . .... put ear plugs inn LOL .love the show!

Used to work on the GAUs they made the A10s go burrr…

My fav guitar reviewer

Ned Flanders? I'll have to get his album.

Different people like different sounds, and that's how each company survives. If everyone thought the same, you would only need one supplier from everyone.

Never call them symphathic strings. The harp strings. A true sitar does have symphathic strings that work!

Great episode as always Phil!!

Is it the Dana Scoop? 🤣

Didn't the Tone King name his Dragonburst Carvin the Tone Dragon? :)

The "Strange Guitar" looks like the Millennium Falcon

Guitar guys not knowing about the Coral/Danelectro sitar? Oh, brother. And how can you not just launch into "Cry Like A Baby" (Boxtops), "Hooked On A Feelin'" (B.J. Thomas), "Don't Come Around Here No More" (Tom Petty), among other exemplars? By the way, The Beatles employed actual sitars, not these.

Send that DanElectro to Paul Simon…

NGD Gibson Songwriter! I can't put it down.