Hot Snakes – Jericho Sirens

Reis' touring machine for much of Hot Snakes' recent run has been a black, late-'70s Les Paul Pro. "That one has the lipstick pickup, a Curtis Novak lipstick in the neck position, and in the bridge … I had the Gibson [P90] that was originally in it put back in the guitar. It looks a bit strange, because it had been routed out for a different pickup. So it's still the same pickup, but with a wider box around it."

The guitar has also been subject to Reis' weight-relieving process, with several chunks carved out of the body from the back. When asked if he'd considered the less hefty Gibson SG, rather than carving apart numerous vintage Les Pauls, he replies, "I've had about four SGs over the years, and I can just look at a SG and break it. [The headstock design] is like a spring, it's just really tightly wound, and it's just ready to pop at any moment."

It is also wired up with stereo outputs like the Dragon Les Paul. The guitar not only features heavily on the initial tracking of Jericho Sirens, but, Reis says, "That was the guitar that I used on the first two Hot Snakes records."

"I don't know the year—it's somewhere between '69 and '71," Reis says. It originally belonged to Pen Rollings, guitarist from late-'80s hardcore's best-kept secret Honor Role and original math rock outfits Butterglove and Breadwinner. The guitar also spent some time in the hands of Superchunk's Mac McCaughan. Rollings had originally fitted the guitar with an EMG in the bridge position. In Speedo's hands, it received a Rio Grande Bastard P90 in the bridge and a Danelectro lipstick pickup in the neck.

This guitar was also used heavily on the first two Hot Snakes records. "Basically I would use the lipstick pickup that I had in the Telecaster and the P90 that I had in the Les Paul and double-track it," Reis says.

But the Telecaster is perhaps best represented on Sultans second LP, Shipwrecked. Combined with a DiPinto Mach IV, one of his battered Marshall JCM800s, and a Traynor 2x12 combo that he described as "super fucking take your head off, bright, clean." A lesser-known part of the Reis discography, this record is a masterclass in garage-rock guitar tones, melodic sensibility, and economical songwriting. Reis also used this guitar live with Sultans for some time.

This guitar was made for Speedo by luthier Brandon Madrid, with a body design based on his vintage Silvertones—guitars known for their raucous garage tone, but not for their reliability or longevity. The body is made from poplar and Masonite, and the neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. A Lollar overwound P90 pickup is in the neck position, and a pickup constructed by Curtis Novak in a vintage gold foil case with a new alnico 5 magnet in the neck. Both pickups were custom made for the guitar.

Madrid took an acoustic guitar builder's approach to the "box" design of the body, reflecting both the vintage Silvertone-style construction (and the sustain it produces) and trying to keep weight down on the guitar. Madrid has stated that to attempt to replicate the "junky, boxy tone" of the original Silvertone bodies, weight was a big issue, and the final, finished guitar came in at 6.3 pounds. To avoid neck dive, parts of the neck itself are also chambered.

Speedo used this guitar on the initial tracking for Jericho Sirens, particularly the title track. However, an incident with one of his Les Pauls led to his re-evaluating the gear choices for the record…

Sometime during Hot Snakes' run, he recorded with a '60s Vox AC30 head and fell in love, eventually acquiring his own '67 head. All the guitars on Jericho Sirens were recorded with this head and a closed-back cabinet.

[John] Reis tells us that, for Jericho Sirens, [Rick Froberg] used a 100-watt Marshall JMP, through a 4x12 cabinet with Celestion Greenbacks.