Guitar Archeology

I got off the plane in Nashville looking for my guide, Earl Owens. After all the emphasis on Hendrix, the Who and Cream, the marketing department decided Sunn could use some exposure in Country music. Through a dealer in Nashville, Charlie Louvin, who owned a unit, expressed an interest in an endorsement agreement. Charlie had been a member of the Grand Ol’ Opry since 1955 and a hit recording act with his brother Ira, as the Louvin Brothers, on over a dozen Capitol albums. Ira had been killed three years before in an automobile accident and Charlie was building a solo career touring through the Opry circuits in the south and midwest. It was a rainy Friday night in Nashville and as we were driving in from the airport, the Grand Ol’ Opry came on the air. Earl Owens, Charlie Louvin’s manager, dialed WSM in on the radio, as we drove toward the Ryman Auditorium. “Charlie might be comin’ on any minute here,” and sure enough there was Charlie Louvin loud and clear on the radio, “Howdy ya’ll, some band introductions and then, “And I’d like to welcome Buck Munger to Nashville from the Sunn Amplifier Company up in Oregon.” It was a real shock to hear my name over a car radio on the Grand Ol’ Opry. Earl smiled. These guys really knew how to promote. My tour of the Ryman Auditorium and backstage look at the Grand Ol’ Opry was illuminating. This was a live radio show with a cast of many. You had to know when you were on, and nail it when you got there. There were no retakes. The audience was exuberant. The parking lot was filled with out of state license plates. I could see a dozen musicians mingling around in the wings, but unlike any major rock-n-roll concert I had ever attended, I detected absolutely no stress in either the artists or the crew. Every rock performance had backstage high drama about something but not here. These people were complete professionals. I enjoyed my few days in Nashville. Earl Owens steered me from dawn to dawn and on my last night got me called up on stage to sit-in on drums. These guys really knew how to promote. In the morning, as we ate breakfast in the airport, Earl said he had a present for me from “The Sheriff”, who knew of my stint with the Phoenix PD. He produced a .38 snub-nosed Smith & Wesson, a box of shells and a State of Tennessee Deputy Sheriff’s badge. “You are duly sworn,” he said. “Oh, and here, try these, they’re what all the bus drivers use to stay awake,” as he handed me a plastic bottle described only as “uppers”. Because this was 1968, I had no trouble flying back to LA with the gun, badge and uppers in my briefcase.

The Louvin Brothers Video here;

The Louvin Brothers

I was having trouble keeping all the Sunn artists happy. The relationship with the Jimi Hendrix Experience was up and down. Noel Redding loved his Sunn gear and rarely missed a chance to talk it up in the music press. Jimi however was up and down. Giving Sunn one of the biggest engineering tips in its history, he informe…d them that the Coliseum PA head, at 120 watts RMS was a better guitar amplifier than the 100S at 60 watts RMS. There was a lot of confusion about power ratings about this time because the English marketed their amplifiers using Peak Power ratings whereas American manufacturers used RMS Power ratings. So, a British amp that was rated at 200 watts might actually be less powerful than an American amp at 60 watts. The 60 watt Sunn amps had a peak power of 250 watts. Unfortunately, most players couldn’t get their heads around this problem and approached it by simply opening it up all the way to see how loud it was. Sunn took Jimi seriously and introduced a 1000S guitar amp and a 2000S bass amp, both essentially revamped Coliseum power heads. The Sunn engineers also tried to outsmart Jimi with a little internal tweaking. As noted, Jimi turned the volume all the way up to ten to play. When the engineers did this at the factory it was like fingernails across a very loud blackboard. They heard the thing audio engineers loathe most; noise. How could Hendrix stand all that distortion? They solved the problem by adjusting the volume knob to read 10 when the amp was only really at 8, which, is about where the distortion started. To the engineers this was brilliant. Jimi could twist that knob wide-open to 10 and the unit would deliver a cleaner, more acceptable sound. I was there when Jimi got his new 1000S set-up. It took him about 30 seconds to figure out what was happening. Cleaner was not what Jimi was looking for. Note to the factory: “distortion” is no longer a bad word. This incident was reported extensively in Guitar Player magazine and reprinted in the liner notes of The Essential Jimi Hendrix. As it says in the liner notes: “Soon thereafter, Jimi went back to Marshalls”. And Spinal Tap turned it up to eleven.

Eric and Buck

I had one last shot to get an exclusive deal with Cream. The gear demo was set up for an off day in Los Angeles. Sunn would set up a full backline for Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce at the Aquarius Theater on Sunset, across the parking lot from the Sunn offices. At Eric and Jack’s request all the speaker cabinets were loade…d with 12” Altec Lansing speakers rather than Sunn’s standard JB Lansing units. This was a huge engineering departure for Sunn since every Sunn unit built so far, had JB Lansing speakers. The word “Exclusive” was used in marketing. But Eric “thought” it was the Altecs he wanted, so it was Altecs he got. The Aquarius Theater had a giant stage and was the perfect venue for the Cream demo. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any real security and the curious passers by began to peek in to hear who was playing the lick from “Sunshine Of Your Love” over and over. Shortly, there was a good-sized crowd. Sunn had gone all out for this pitch and Bob Selby, Sunn’s marketing vice president flew in from Oregon to make sure Clapton knew we were serious. I saw several other LA area Sunn dealers, and two individuals that gave me a cold chill, the JBL engineers that had installed the stereo system in my office. How they found out about this demonstration I didn’t know, but I did know if they realized the speakers in those cabinets weren’t JBLs, Sunn would have a problem. Eric finished doodling after about ten minutes. There were no outbursts of joy or A-ha moments. It was obvious he wasn’t impressed. He huddled with Bob Adcock a moment and walked into the lobby. Adcock came over to me and shrugged “It’s a pass”. Jack Bruce came in and plugged his bass in. He opened the amp up wide and began a series of rapid runs. He played for a while at full volume then turned down low and put his ear close to the speaker, shaking his head “I’m afraid not,” he said. “It’s the speakers”. Bob Selby and the Sunn people were visibly frustrated. They were passing on us because of the custom speakers they had us put in. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the two JBL engineers had screwdrivers and were removing the backs of the speaker cabinets. There will be blood. Bob Adcock came over to me and said, “Say mate, would you know where we might be able to buy some Marshall gear?” I walked Adcock, Clapton and Bruce across the street to Wallach’s Music City, and watched them drop 15 thousand dollars on Marshall stacks.

Jack Bruce checking out a Sunn Amplifier

The Animals, which one has the wig?

Buck was left standing in the intersection next to his XKE watching Keith Moon run laughing into the hotel waving his car keys. John Entwistle sighed, and said he’d go try to retrieve them. It had been a wild night out. I had picked up John and Keith earlier and we all crammed into the E-Type to cruise out on the Sunset Str…ip. We rolled up to the Whisky and handed over the keys to the valet. Keith and John were wearing their stage clothes and if not instantly recognizable, certainly somebody out of the ordinary. We were escorted up to the VIP balcony overlooking the stage. On stage were Eric Burdon & The Animals, a group that Moon and Entwistle knew well back home. After several rounds and increasingly rowdy behavior Moon leaned over and yelled in my ear. “He’s bald you know, hasn’t got a hair on his head.” Who? “The guitar player!” I looked down and it seemed to me the guitarist had not only a full head of hair but flowing locks to boot. Huh? Moon was out of his seat, off like a shot, down the stairs, across the crowded room, up to the corner of the stage, on stage, behind the guitar player, “See!” he yelled, pulling off the wig. Holy shit! It was bedlam on stage. The bald guitarist turned and grabbed at Moon, who threw the wig into the crowd and jumped down. The guitar player dropped his instrument and took off in full pursuit across the room, catching Moon about half-way up the balcony stairs. Thankfully the Whisky bouncers arrived simultaneously and Moon was spared a beating, however we were informed our presence would no longer be tolerated and escorted to the door. Outside, waiting for the car Moonie bowed and smiled to the crowd of clapping patrons that followed us out.

Keith Moon

Check out what happened to the Voxmobile !!

See the Video Here;

voxmobile

Voxmobile

The Website

www.thevoxmobile.com

Howard Roberts

I met some interesting people passing through the Sunn office. Our policy of free amplifier loaners to professionals drew a wide variety of players including guitar giant, Howard Roberts. HR was already legendary in the Hollywood music business. Born in Phoenix, he started playing professionally at 15 and moved to Los An…geles at 20. A couple of years later Downbeat named him “Jazz Newcomer Star of The Year” and shortly thereafter he left the clubs and moved into Hollywood’s recording studios to help usher in Rock-n-Roll. HR played on Ricky Nelson’s “Bee-Bop Baby”, Eddie Cochran’s “Sittin’ In The Balcony” and Peggy Lee’s “Fever” He played the iconic opening notes to “The Twilight Zone” television theme and did albums with Chet Atkins and Duane Eddy. He had Top 20 hits with Elvis, Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Bobby Vee, Larry Williams, Gene McDaniels and a dozen others. He became the first-call guy for rock guitar in movies and TV and was a regular on the recordings of the Beachboys and the Monkees. He also had his own career as a Jazz Guitarist with four albums on Verve and nine on Capitol by the time he showed up in the Sunn office. Howard’s interest extended way past borrowing an amp. HR thought the only thing Sunn didn’t have in the line, was a small studio amp, and he had an innovative design that involved interchangeable equalizer modules. He and one of his students, Ron Benson, had built several dozen for HR’s studio contacts. Howard was also helping a friend up in Los Gatos named Bud Eastman start the first magazine specifically for guitarists called “Guitar Player”. Eastman joked that people asked “what are you going to write about after the first issue?” Howard also had an idea for a trade-school for professional guitarists that grew out of his seminars. He was working on that with another student of his named Pat Hicks. This was an active time in Howard’s career. He was tired of grinding out elevator-music jazz albums for Capitol and dazzled by my stories of the average album front-money deal for this new wave of guitar stars. Howard was ready to make his move. I’ll have to admit I was a little stunned when he asked me, would I consider being his personal manager?

Buck Munger

Yamaha SG-2C

Hey Mick,

This is Curt Anderson. I was friends and bandmate with Denny Hart (the
bands we were in together were "Your Square" and "The Broadcasters") who
frequented your shop in the 1980s. Around 1984-ish I traded a black
1970s Ibanez Les Paul and a Orange Yamaha SG-2C to you for a really cool
Custom made Fender Musiclander/Swinger styled guitar, British racing
green, Telecaster lead pickup, Vermillion neck, brass Telecaster bridge.
I love that guitar, and it has been on many records since I moved to LA
in 1988. I still have almost all of the instruments I have ever owned.
Every instrument that I have let go of I have regretted. I have been
thinking a lot about that orange Yamaha and now realize how rare it was.
I am wondering if you remember what ever became of the one I traded to
you so long ago.

I know that many amazing guitars have passed through your life since
then, but I just thought I'd ask and see if you knew anything about my
old guitar, or possibly if you know where I could find another.

Thanks for your time,

Curt Anderson

Curt,
Can't remember what happened to the guitar...  But, here is a pic of it for ya !

Wow! That's it! Brings back memories! Thanks. The search continues...
Curt

Curt

Billy Gibbons (white shirt-center) opens for Jimi

I spent the next few months bouncing around the country with the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience while Pete and Sheila ran the new Sunn offices on the corner of Sunset & Vine. The location quickly became a popular destination for local and touring acts. Neil Young was back in the Buffalo Springfield and now sporting …an all Sunn backline. Bands from the UK chose LA as the beachhead of the invasion and Hollywood was quickly becoming British territory. Headquarters for many was the Continental Hyatt (Riot) House on Sunset. Jimi Hendrix was still waiting for his 12” speaker cabinets and in the meantime had taken the horns out of the top of the 100S speaker cabinets. You couldn’t see the difference through the grille cloth and each night he’d ram his guitar into the empty hole. With the feedback and theatrics it looked like he was reaming the loudspeaker. The next night, new grille-cloth, new amplifier. About this time Jimi introduced me to a young guitar player from Texas that had opened for him and made a big impression. Jimi wanted to give several of his older Sunn units to the Moving Sidewalks guitarist Billy Gibbons. No problem. I noticed, the reports of Jimi trashing his gear didn’t go down well with Pete Townshend at all. By the time the Who landed in Los Angeles we were tight and I was excited to show them around. John Entwistle was amazed at the fruit salad at the Room At The Top and Keith Moon loved ordering beer down to the office, so we could close the inner door and do phone pranks. Pete Townshend kept urging me to cover his songs with American acts. The band bonded with everybody in the Sunn office. Peter Burke even volunteered his credit card when Wallach’s Music City wouldn’t take a check from Townshend for a new Les Paul.

Buck with Pete

I watched Pete get especially active with the solid body Gibson SG, chipping chunks out of the beautiful floor. Moon’s cymbals were digging nice scratches too. The school officials were going ballistic waving their arms trying to stop the performance but attracting no attention. Pete whirled and kicked over the PA-head, …which bounced off the floor and immediately started to hum loudly. The teachers may have been freaking out but the kids loved it. After a few more minutes of mayhem Pete threw his mangled guitar down and stomped off. The other band members followed. The Buckinghams’ roadies swarmed the PA, swearing. Bobby Pridden sprang into action rallying his volunteers to pack the stage and load the truck. The school officials were looking for an official representative of the band to complain to, and I seemed to be the only one not involved in the load-out. They asked me to follow them to a school office where they closed the door and informed me there had been extensive damage and the fire marshal had been called about the smoke machine. I assured them the band was fully insured and any damage would be covered. I then let them chew on me long enough for Bobby and the kids to get the truck loaded, handed them my Sunn card and excused myself. As I walked through the gym I could still hear the PA humming loudly. Back at the motel I was greeted like a hero when Bobby told the story.

Here are some pics of Mick’s Vintage Guitars.   Hard to believe it has been 30 years…

Mick's Vintage Guitars first location California Ave. in West Seattle

The next Location in West Seattle

2nd Location on California Ave. in West Seattle

Some of the old stock..

Mick's Vintage Guitars Inventory

Where are they now ??