The pickups are DiMarzio Classic PAFs.

Blackie Pagano, my amp repair guy, found a '58 Flying V schematic that listed 300K pots...instead of 500K. So we put those in.

I replaced the plastic nut with a bone nut, and the tuners with Kluson repros.

I put Graph Tech saddles in place of the Epiphone razor blades.

The toggle switch was changed, as was the pickguard and pickup mounts (the Epiphone ones were those ugly, oversized rings).

I named the guitar "Lucy" as a tribute to Albert King and his Lucy, which was an original '58 Flying V. The decal was made by Carl Lorentzen (the bassist on my upcoming second CD "Moan & Cry"").

It is strung up in standard tuning with .013 to .056 gauge strings.

"Lucy" is a very warm and sweet sounding guitar. She is able to go from Albert King to B.B. King just by flipping a switch or turning a knob.

Most of the time it's my Elviscaster, which I built using an ESP tele alder body and maple neck finished in Elvis stamps. There are over 200 stamps on the guitar.

The chunky neck sports 6105 Dunlop frets (tall & narrow).

The pickups are DiMarzio Twang Kings. The name says it all.

The vintage style bridge has 3 Graph Tech barrel saddles. The intonation screw for the middle saddle was set at an angle to help the intonation of the D and G strings.

The tone pot is a push-pull. I have a special capacitor wired to it. When I pull the knob up, it cuts the really high end and brings out a mid boost. The tone control continues to function in both positions.

My teles are reserved for open G tuning... as I use my Flying V for my main guitar. In other situations, my teles get a real workout...especially Elvis.

Mister Redd has an All Parts semi-hollow ash body with a mid '80's Fender "vintage" rosewood board neck. The frets are 6105 Dunlop with a bone nut. The f hole body has no contours, so it feels more like a tele.

I stained it antique cherry with a tung oil finish.

The tremolo bridge is blocked to facillitate tuning down and up.

The saddles are Graph Tech.

The pickups in the neck and middle position are DiMarzio VirtuAL Vintage DP 408's. The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage 54 Bridge DP 406.

It has a 5 way switch wired with a push-pull tone pot that enables me to get 7 different pickup combinations. Along with the standard 5 combinations, I can also get neck and bridge in parallel, and all 3 pickups in parallel.

I removed the volume knob, and then I made the other two knobs, master volume and master tone.

The neck shape, the compensated radius of the fingerboard, and fret work is impeccable, which is, in part, due to Bob Jones, who does all my refretting.

Again, my strats are reserved for open G tuning. But, like the teles, they get plenty of use in other situations.

Mister Redd is an extremely versatile guitar.

It started out as a Fernandez vintage style strat. I replaced everything but the body. The neck, electronics, hardware and pickguard are all Fender.

The pickups are DiMarzio VirtuALl Vintage DP 408 - in the neck and middle positions, and a DP 409 in the bridge positon .

The 5 way switch and the master volume and tone controls are set up the same as the ones in Mister Redd.

The tremolo bridge is blocked as it is in Mister Redd.

The frets are also Dunlop 6105's.

This guitar appears as if it's from the 50's due to the fingerboard wear. The reason for this is that the neck is "Fender replacement neck" - from the early 1980's, and it did not have a heavy finish on it - hence, the aged look.

I keep it in open G tuning and capo the second fret, so as to play in the key of A.

I've added a Schatten contact pickup, model RG-03. It's attached to the underside of the resonator cone with a screw which connects it to the biscuit bridge. Schatten Design is located in Canada.

I use Elixir Acoustic guitar strings. The guage from low to high is .056, .045, .035, .026, .017, .015.

I usually use a glass slide, preferrably, one that I cut from a large bottle of red wine. The guitar is chrome coated brass. The headstock was severely cracked (due to the airlines), but Bob Jones did an excellent repair job. The guitar is now sounding better than ever.