Frank Zappa – Roxy & Elsewhere

"This is the same guitar used and pictured on the 1974 Roxy & Elsewhere album. Though the two non-stock switches on the guitar’s lower horn were present in the Roxy era, the guitar has been augmented since those days with a mirrored top and various preamps, phasing switches, and active-filter circuits.

You can see the guitar in action in the preview below for the long-awaited concert film Roxy: The Movie. Shot over three nights in December 1973 at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, the project was shelved due to the expense and time required to edit the footage. It will finally be released on October 30 by Eagle Rock Entertainment and Zappa’s Honker Home Video. "

Part of Zappa's rack gear, as mentioned in this interview for the May-June 1979 issue of Guitar Player (as transcribed on Zappa Wiki Jawapa). It was restored by Charlie Bolois of Telefunken in cooperation with Dweezil Zappa, as specified in this July 2007 Telefunken article.

Guitar Player, May-June 1979, “Shut Up And Play Your Guitar”

What's in the large console you use on stage? It looks very complex.

Well, actually it's not all that complex. It's a little rough to maintain. Things can get broken where it's shipped around. It's got a pair of Dynaflangers, a pair of MXR Flangers. It's got one input and four outputs – two dirty outputs and two clean outputs, all stereo. There's also two Big Muffs, Systec Harmonic Energizer – all these things are in pairs – Oberheim ECF, Eventide Harmonizer, MXR DBL, Mutron, DBX 162 compressors, Gain Brains, Kepexes, a Theremin and a Biphase. That's about it, and there's about 24 switches on the floor. I add to it every year. The Dynaflangers are on the newest thing. Oh yes, there's a Mutron Octivider and a DBX Boom Box.

Telefunken, July 2007, “Telefunken USA Completes Restoration of Zappa Microphone Collection”

After the restoration of the microphone collection, Dweezil unearthed various family treasures, including the rare Systec Harmonic Energizer guitar pedal. The pedal, like so many of Frank’s other guitar stomp boxes,” Bolois explained, “was originally customized by installing the basic unit onto a circuit card and creating a module that could be plugged into a ‘lunch-box’ style stage box chassis. This kept the pedals off of the floor, out of harm’s way and closer to the amp, allowing a quieter and more reliable system. One power supply fed all of the effects units to eliminate battery worries and to insure reliability. The effects modules plugged into the main chassis and received power and I/O signals via an edge connector buss system. Of course, there was no documentation and no main chassis or power supply available for reference. A custom chassis was fabricated with a suitable external power supply.” Bolois restored the unit to working order and Dweezil identified it as one used by Frank in the 1970s “Roxy and Elsewhere” album period. He has incorporated it in his current “Zappa Plays Zappa” concert tour.

“There is just nothing like it, and it’s definitely a treat to have this for our performances of Frank’s music,” Dweezil remarked.” It is hoped that Telefunken | USA will be able to reverse engineer and recreate the unit, as they have done with numerous vintage microphones of the past.

Possibly used (along with a wah pedal) on the guitar solo for "Penguin In Bondage" from the live album, "Roxy & Elsewhere". Solo starts around the 3:10 mark.