My (other) guitars

Besides my main guitars you saw on the previous page, I also use these guitars quite a lot. I thought I show the guitars which are featured on my recordings

Tyler Studio Elite USA

Whenever a song is not finished or has not started on a dedicated instrument, I use this guitar to gather ideas, to demo/finish the song. It is indeed a "one-guitar-does-it-all instrument". Besides the Lang Tele I use this guitar to produce that 80s clean tone, I use this guitar whenever I go straight into the "board" meaning direct w/o an amplifier. I use this guitar for fat leadlines. Again this instrument has chambers so it is light weight and has a quick response on picking which makes it ideal for funk riffing. It also can stand its ground for rock rhythms. I did quite a few jobs using this guitar and nothing else. Sure it does not do the 100% authentic Strat thing, nor does it sound like a LP - but you do not always need a Porsche to get from A to B, do you?

Vintage guitars

I am not a collector of vintage guitars, I would be if I had the budget, but to be honest as I am bitten by the "vintage bug",  I do own a few "oldies" though.

This is the picture that made the cover for "Hank&Ralf".

In this picture you can see my Gibson LPC from 70/71, there is a 58 Goldtop, on the left you see the 57 Strat with Gold Hardware which made it to the cover of "My Life Above the 12th Fret". That black Tele is a Nocaster from the Fender Customshop and finally on the right you see my 63 Strat leaning into the picture. I also own a 55 Goldtop LP with P90 - which is along with the 63 Fiesta Red Stratocaster the guitar I have owned the longest...I paid Deutsch Marks still for those...actually I paid Rand as they are both from Johannesburg/SA.

I am not one of those guys who locks these guitars away, I use them - not as often as the luthier guitars - but almost daily. In my last days with digitech around 2014/15 I travelled with the 63 Strat w/o a problem. These instruments need to get played in my eyes....and yes there are DiMarzio strap-locks on them!

Ricks&Gretsches

A job I had early on - probably around 1997 - was to run a small guitarshop in Mannheim/Germany - Guitar Kiosk. Well, I did not manage that store I just sat behind the counter,  practised all day and waited for customers. The expertise of that shop was replacement parts and guitar services of all sort. Selling vintage Gretsches which almost all came from the collection of the owner of the store - Gaggy Mrozek - a guitar hero! This is where I first heard and played Gretsches. Whenever Gaggy showed me a Chet Atkins hybrid picking lick I was devastated as I felt like a total beginner - being able to play Paganinis 5th and 16th Caprice but totally lost it on a simple A7 chord! Since then I am fascinated by Gretsch guitars. The same guy turned me on Rickenbacker guitars btw

Some "unusuals".....

I love being inspired by playing an instrument I am not proficiant on. There is a creative source in trying to play a theme or chords on instruments you do not really know - it is where instinct and ears take over the brain! When I am in a rut with a song I often change over to the piano or bass or some "unusual" stringed instrument. I own some Ukes, a Bajo Sexto, Banjos, a Saz, a Santoor, some Mandolines, an octave gutstring guitar (by Anton Sandner), a six string Mini Fender, Nashville tuned guitars, a 8-string Martin Baritone acoustic, a Cuattro, a violin and a few more which you see in the picture. Playing an alternative tuning has the same effect btw.

Among these "unusuals" is a nylonstring guitar I bought used from Wolfgang Ilsy Terne who played the hell out of it before he sold it to me. It is a guitar made by Magnus - again a German luthier who passed away a few years back. His instrument is still massively appreciated! You can hear this guitar on "Schönberg" and "Tel Aviv" on Hank&Ralf btw. Another guitar I use quite often, is a Sitar custom made by Guenther Eyb (not in the picture). It is actually a guitar with a special bridge on it that turns it into a sitar. That guitar is also with me since the 90s.