The Who – Who's Next (Remastered 2022)

Music Radar talks about this guitar in this article saying "Townshend used the hollow-body on many of his post-Tommy Who recordings - Who’s Next and Quadrophenia are two stunning examples - and, after the instrument was repaired (only the neck was broken), he continued to employ it on both band and solo albums."

"Pete Townshend has used a Guild F-512-NT 12-string guitar on most solo and Who recordings beginning with 1971’s Who’s Next. He purchased this guitar from Manny’s in New York. Prior to 1971, he had used a Harmony Sovereign H1270 12-string. He continues to use this guitar for stage performances today. (It is unknown whether Pete owns more than one of these guitars.)"

In this picture Pete can be seen recording through a '59 3x10 Fender Bandmaster gifted him by Joe Walsh prior to the recording of "Who's Next."

From:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/joe-walsh-pete-townshend-guitar-tone/

In a recent interview with the San Diego Reader, Walsh confirmed a famous legendary tale that he had helped Who guitarist Pete Townshend to cement the sound of his now-famous guitar tone.

“Yes. That happened. The James Gang opened for the Who when they performed ‘Tommy’ in Europe. Pete and I are in the same zip code in terms of writing music and playing guitar. He had taken me under his wing as kind of a mentor. But during ‘Tommy,’ he’d locked into a certain amp/guitar setup for touring, and he got stuck there. It was time for him to move on and I sensed that.”

Walsh allows that many rock guitarists of the time were employing the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul as their primary instruments for creating musical destruction. He had a setup that in his mind provided an especially harmonic secret sauce to the guitar playing sound and he shared that with Townshend.

A bright orange ’57 Gretsch Chet Akins model guitar paired with a ’59 Fender Bandmaster amp, both gifts from Walsh, gave Townshend exactly the right sonic mojo that he needed to create the next Who album, ‘Who’s Next.’

Pete, on the organ sound for Won’t Get Fooled Again and Baba O’Riley: “I used gated Lowrey organ via EMS VCS3 gated filter. No sequencer. I got my ARP 2500 system (huge) just after I’d recorded the first few demos for Who’s Next. Baba O’Riley was a cheat. I couldn’t get the sequencers and mix-sequencers on the ARP under my fingers fast enough so I emulated sequencing and tape delays using the Marimba Arpeggiator effect on my Lowrey Berkshire.” https://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/lowrey.html

In this video on YouTube, Pete Townshend sits and plays his Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ and explains how he used his EMS VCS 3 synthesizer with the Lowrey TBO-1 to get the “Won’t Get Fooled Again” chord organ sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5voNyRmvXs

Pete Townshend is playing YAMAHA E-70 in this photo. He created the sound on Who's Net(Baba O'Riley, Won't get fooled again), Face Dances(You better you bet), It's Hard(Eminence Front) and others. Source : https://www.instagram.com/p/CjnyDQUuezq/?igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY=

John Entwistle is confirmed to use Rotosound RS66LDN Pure Nickel Bass Strings (45-105) as mentioned on the Rotosound page, specifically in the albums "Live at Leeds" and "Who's Next," according to Rotosound Music Strings.

“Frankenstein”

1965 sunburst (refinished in the mid-’70s to Fiesta Red/salmon pink) “Frankenstein” Fender Precision Bass with maple neck.

Assembled from various basses, including the chrome pickup cover from a Fender Jazz Bass; the neck pickups and circuitry from two of John’s three “dead” slab basses.

Serial no. 13081, stamped on neckplate.

Used beginning 1967.

[J.E.]: "I put this together in San Francisco on a day off part way through a Who tour. It’s the remains of five smashed basses hence the name ‘Frankenstein’. In the mid 70’s it was retired from stage work so I had it refinished from sunburst into its present pink colour. I used this baby from 1967 onwards through ‘Tommy’ and all the tours up to ‘Quadrophenia’... The neck, pickups and circuitry are from a ‘dead’ slab bass, the tailpiece from a Jazz bass, the pickguard from a black P bass and the machine heads from 2 white P basses...Two hours with a Phillips screwdriver and a soldering iron and I was ranting around my hotel room screaming 'It’s alive! it’s alive!'"

Quote from April 1994 Bassist interview:

[Q]: "Which sound was responsible for that amazing sound on ’Won’t Get Fooled Again’?"

[J.E.]: “That was Frankenstein, which I made from dead parts. I had a day off in San Francisco once and spent it screwing a bass together from five smashed Precisions including a couple of slab ones of which they only made about 20. I took the pickup and scratch plate from one of the slab Precisions, the neck from another, machineheads from a Jazz Bass, the body off a sunburst Precision and the tailpiece from another. The slab Precisions were like white, squared-off Telecasters, with a split pickup, a maple neck, black scratch plate and what looked like blue veins coming through the white paintwork. I don’t know what they used on them but those basses had a sound of their own, really raunchy with more of a growl than a regular Precision. I have about 35 Precisions, all with different colours and from different eras, but I always go back to Frankenstein."

[J.E.]: “I used Frankenstein through Hiwatts for the whole of ‘Tommy’, ‘Live At Leeds’ and ‘Who’s Next’ but by ‘Quadrophenia’ and ’Who By Numbers’ I was playing Gibson Thunderbirds. I felt I was getting stuck in a rut, using all the treble.

This Bass was sold in Sotheby’s May 2003 auction: estimated £5,000–£7,000; sold for £62,400.

In this video, John is playing his 64 Thunderbird IV. On Gibson's website they write "One definite fan, though, was The Who’s John Entwistle who used both “reverse” and “non-reverse” Thunderbird IVs in the early ‘70s. He told Guitar Player magazine in 1975, 'Once I realized the Thunderbird was the bass I was going to be playing for a few years, I panicked because (Gibson had) stopped making them. I went to Manny’s (NYC guitar store) and told them to buy up the whole stock, so consequently I got 10 two-pickup Thunderbirds.'"

Likely the same specification as the “Pictures of Lily” kit — in black. Used onstage beginning early 1970 until March 1973.