Bruce Kulick

A legend of rock guitar takes a classic reissue out for a spin, and we all win! The mighty Bruce Kulick (KISS, Grand Funk Railroad), one of ESP's most longterm artist endorsees, tries out the LTD M-1 Custom '87 in Dark Metallic Blue finish (also available in Candy Apple Red and Black). This guitar is part of the LTD '87 Series... faithful recreations of the set of iconic instruments that made up ESP’s 1987 catalog. The LTD M-1 Custom ’87, based on the legendary original ESP M-1 model, offers neck-thru body construction for fast access to the highest frets. Its comfortable alder body and three-piece extra thin U-shaped maple neck are designed for speed and smooth playability. The M-1 Custom ’87 features a Floyd Rose 1000 bridge without a recess route and a single Seymour Duncan Distortion TB-6 pickup with a push-pull control for coil splitting, and an EMG PA-2 boost switch for when you need that extra push of raw power. More info: https://www.espguitars.com/products/21864-m-i-custom-87?category_id=1969670-87-series-guitars

I upgraded the pickups to Dimarzio’s, DP 154, and 162 DLX Plus, both great sounding mini humbuckers. I added gold bonnet knobs and pickup toggle tip add contrast. I don’t know when I sold the original, but this one is very close in features, tone and vibe.

Seen on Tears are Falling video, the guitar had a graphic designed by Bruce Kulick, it was stolen in the Kiss Warehouse according to Bruce.

"...This Fender Super Champ sounds great especially this one without a blinking bottom. Super Champ XD, it's got a preset sound and i like to preform in this one with my wife Lisa..."

Here you can see Bruce Kulick with his black ESP Custom Shop M-II

"GOTW is a Barney Kessel Gibson model from 1968. Super cherry Sunburst! Flames in the maple back and sides too! #gibson #jazzguitar #barneykessel"

Bruce Kulick prominently used the B.C. Rich Gunslinger Bruce Kulick '87 Radioactive guitar during the Crazy Nights era. A user-uploaded photo provides evidence of this iconic instrument's association with him.

According to Maxon's website, Kulick uses the Maxon OD-9 overdrive pedal.

"So we came up with some cool harmony guitar lines, that was done at one in the morning that late night, with my PRS McCarty in silver through my Orange Tiny Terror and Marshall cabinet. "

"The bass was my Fender P Bass from 1966 and I let Jeremy do the honors as he has been practicing quite a bit of bass playing lately. We also plugged in his new Line 6 bass amp that sounded very cool with that vintage Precision."

"So we came up with some cool harmony guitar lines, that was done at one in the morning that late night, with my PRS McCarty in silver through my Orange Tiny Terror and Marshall cabinet."

"We also plugged in his new Line 6 bass amp that sounded very cool with that vintage Precision. I used my Gibson Elvis Dove and a Martin D-18 from 1970 for the acoustic parts, and all the other performances on the track were left intact."

"To complete the fun that day, I just got an original 1979 Paul Stanley IBANEZ guitar in great shape. I had to show it off to everyone, and I know I will record with this guitar."

"Also pulled into the studio one of my Marshall 4 X 12 cabs which hasn't seen a gig since the UNION days! But it is loaded with Vintage 30 Celestions which are my favorite."

"I brought my ancient EchoPlex, made by Maestro, and it is an old tube one. Got it when KISS was doing Revenge, as a studio called AMIGO was going out of business and they had a fire sale. Great find, as it is such a cool sound. Tubes make things warm and fuzzy we say, and it just gave that track a great tone."

"Went back to the rhythm part and had a double with the PRS Silver McCarty axe through the big Marshall from the REVENGE days. Great sound now that we had the two big rhythms recorded."

"We jumped back to the rhythm track and did the Les Paul again to make it perfect now that the bass and ESP tele were done right. We had a picking part to capture which we used some old Ibanez Phase pedal and a BOSS CH-1. Good tone from that combination."

" We used my new amp, the ORANGE Tiny Terror. We ticked it a bit by putting a Creation Audio MK.4.23 line boost pedal before the amp, and thanks to the MK AUDIO company for hooking me up with this great device last October at the Arlington Guitar show. Made the Tiny Terror really nice in tone."

In this photo (source), the ancient EHX Small Stone pedal is visible.

In this photo (source), Boss CE-2 chorus pedal is visible.

"Hooked it up with the Marshall head I love, and picked the Captain Coconut pedal that has a great Univibe tone in it. The pedal has three sections, Fuzz Face, and Octavia sounds but the only one I used was the Univibe. The guitar sounded perfect and that swirly tone of the pedal created was the perfect vibe for the song."

" I used an Epiphone Riviera from 1967, and played it through a MXR phase 100, with the Orange Tiny Terror amp, giving me a classic British tone. I tried some riffs on the demo for this song, so that was our starting point. The solo will be one of the best on the CD for sure. I love that Epiphone. I used it on the Butchering The Beatles song "Drive My Car" with Kip Winger singing a few years back. It screams in a great way."

In this photo (source), ancient Electro-Harmonix Memory Man can be visible.

"First up was a '56 Gibson LP Goldtop with P90 pickups that are super sweet. We plugged in a type of rotovibe pedal that was at the studio and we got a sweet swirly tone, plugged into a Fender Blackface Deluxe that was at George's studio. We then needed the other guitar part, for which we used the Boss CH2 chorus pedal and the Creative Labs boost pedal with another new guitar."

"We went through the VOX AC 30 for that guitar. Some more rhythm parts were done with the ES 345 as well before the day was over."

"We pulled out each bass not sure what would work. We had a '66 Fender P-Bass, '65 Jazz Bass, '71 Jazz Bass, '72 P-Bass in Black, 2006 Custom Shop P-Bass, Gibson EB-3 from 1967 and a Hofner Beatles bass from 1965 that my friend Peter brought for me to check out."

"I went for a melodic nasty tone, which will remind you all of Revenge era KISS. Used my Gold Peavey Wolfgang and my Red ESP Vintage Plus."

In this photo (source), the Ibanez DCF-10 chorus/flanger pedal can be seen.

"Still in the Orange amp. We also plugged the guitar DIRECT to the console and distorted the track in a way I watched Bob Ezrin do... called the CANADIAN method by some, which is basically cranking the gain on a Teletronix LA2A compressor/limiter, to the max, and you get some VERY interesting distortion."

In this photo (source), the Boss DS-1 distortion pedal can be seen.