ToneQuest Report: December 2022 – Vol. 24, No. 2

What's Inside This Issue:

Timeless Rivers and Riffs: Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono of The Mother Hips – The Mother Hips may be the unintentional best-kept band secret on the planet, although they have been on bills with Lucinda Williams, Wilco and Johnny Cash, so not entirely under the radar by any stretch. Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono have been creating California-infused, surfy vibe rock for thirty years now going back to their days at Chico State where they first met and started writing, gigging and recording. Influenced by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch and Clarence White, their songs don’t fall into a specific genre. When the question is asked by a new and curious fan looking for an association as to who The Mother Hips sound like, there are no obvious answers, which is quite a compliment and duly appropriate for these artists.

Jay Jay Tales From The Twisted Road Part Two – Following the weekend show at the Sahara Club in Adams Massachusetts, Twisted Sister had to drive back home to Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. The big problem was that this trip was in the middle of the gas crisis of 1973, and not only could you only buy gas six days a week (odd or even days were determined by the last digit of your license plate number), but all the gas stations were officially closed on Sundays. Remember from our last November 2022 issue that the story began with Twisted Sister driving to the Sahara club and the truck transmission blowing up on the New York State Thruway. Could this weekend get any worse…? Well, read on…

The Pickup Line – Lollar on Single Coils – The day we don’t get the biggest smile on our faces understanding the miracle of what wood, wire, and magnets through a tube amp can create, is the day we are no longer roaming the earth. We love this stuff. Even when we aren’t playing, we think about it endlessly. We have to admit, that most of the Strat sets we get from various builders just don’t have it. Not even close. There is no bloom, and everything is so damn two-dimensional it takes the joy out of playing. When you know, you know. And ToneQuest readers KNOW. Jason Lollar is a wizard and savant who has walked the walk for countless decades. We decided to get him on the horn to share some wisdom regarding his sets and how they relate to the changes the Fender shop went through as things evolved. Let alone how each wind gets you in the zones of certain tried and true recordings we all know and revere. The Blonde Special and Sixty-Four sets cranked up!

Falsifuzz – A Cautionary Tale – “I should have known better, but the relatively low price on Reverb got the best of me and I pulled the trigger in early September. For $360 shipped, I would be the new owner of a used Dunlop Eric Johnson EJF1 Fuzz. I was all in, let alone how Riverhorse has a pair of them he feels are gonzo and David Wilson, too. I had confirmed ahead of time, all inherent factors when negotiating a price. The post-sale communication with the seller was typical as he informed me of his plans to ship it quickly and UPS had it on my doorstep in the late afternoon just five days later…” TQ’s Scott Ulrichs discovers the occasional silver lining as he finds himself wasting precious time on this hassle of a situation and shares specific lessons learned.

The Birth of a Custom Collings – A new guitar held in your arms brings both hope and unbridled joy. Especially when it is a custom ordered Collings acoustic you’ve gotten to select the woods and everything else for, and it has been months in the works. Our amigo Cory lives just down the road. Everything he does is A game. We know him from fishing adventures together, but he has also been there to save our tails when we’ve negotiated movie contracts with high-powered lawyer teams from big companies, to protect both our music and words. So yes, when Cory gets a guitar made by Collings, we roll over to crank it up as soon as the sawdust has settled. Here is the story of how it was built, from “Nully” Nalle, at Collings, along with how custom orders like these roll out.