The B-52's – Whammy!

Here's Ricky Wilson with the rest of the band playing a custom Guild Thunderbird style guitar utilizing early 80's components.

Not much is known about this guitar as it does not show up in any Guild literature from the 1980's nor does it turn up anywhere else where there's info on Ricky or his guitar gear. I had to cobble the graphic together from what was visible in photographs and music videos on youtube.

The guitar appears to be either a custom luthier job special made for Ricky quite possibly, or maybe a one-off from Guild as sometime in the late 1960's they had to alter this body design - possibly with some retaliation from Fender because 3/4ths of it is very close to their Jaguar and Jazzmaster body designs. The body is based on a 1962-1967 Guild S-200 Thunderbird by body shape, but with a modern six-in-line headstock. It has 80's Guild Hardware including a pair of Guild single coil plain-top pickups, and a Guild single-piece tailpiece bridge, and it has what appears to be standard Gibson Les Paul wiring. Not quite sure what this guitar was, there's also no discernable logo on the headstock. Considering the modifications some of Ricky's guitars had, it may even be a parts mutt Ricky or Cindy's Husband (Ricky's first guitar tech, or whoever came after him cobbled together for Ricky. It never appeared after the 1983-1984 tour in support of Whammy and I'm not sure if it's on display anywhere.

Typically, Ricky used this guitar on the 1983 tour for "Big Bird" tuned to probably the most wacky tuning he ever used - D#AC#xBD# - kind of funny since it's a "Thunderbird". Wonder's don't cease if Ricky had this made with that song in mind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lijGzY4A5gc

There's a better view of it in the music video for "Legal Tender" - the guitar appears on the spinning show rack at 1:42 - You can kind of see how wacky the tuning had to be on this thing so it's probably in Thunderbird Tuning here as well- https://youtu.be/mBRr_TqLDf4?t=1m43s

Ricky is seen playing an Octave Kitten II throughout this 1983 performance of Butterbean. It likely appears on the Whammy! album version as well.

During the Meso-America tour in 1982, Kate switched from using her Farfisa organ and her separate synth bass to using the Jupiter-8 to reproduce the bass and organ parts simultaneously, as well as the more advanced sounds from the Mesopotamia EP, on one sophisticated keyboard. During the Whammy! tour from 1983-1985, she shared this instrument with fellow band member Keith Strickland, who on some songs would come down from the drum kit to play guitars and bass and synth parts on this instrument while drum machines from the Whammy! songs played, allowing Kate to focus on vocals and simple choreography.

In a comment on her page showcasing her Farfisa organ, Kate mentioned that Keith now has the instrument. Keith mentioned on a comment on his Facebook post that he has had it retrofitted with MIDI and uses it as a sound source for his compositions.

Keith began using the DMX in 1982. It can be seen in the B-52's performance at the US Festival during September of that year. It's not easy to hear during the songs themselves, but it can be heard briefly on its own here: https://youtu.be/sNw_fWEj8aw?t=1057

The DMX can also be heard on all songs on the B-52's 1983 album, "Whammy!". Strickland was likely the one that programmed it, although it's not explicitly stated in the liner notes.