"Captain" Kirk Douglas

Excerpts from a Gibson video where "Captain" Kirk Douglas talks about his signature Gibson Kirk Douglas SG guitar:

“My original 1969 Custom SG came in a brown, and I think it's just the perfect update to have it come in this cherry red. Just seeing that guitar reimagined and brand new was a big treat.

Some other things that we collaborated on were just warning the three pickups. You're able to get so many total variations. Over time with my 69 Custom there's - you know, I talk to people at guitar shops about what to do to about that middle pickup - how to get that to function practically… Something that we thought of is to fade in the middle pickup by use of turning the toggle switch. So it's more than just a mere toggle switch. It's also an actual knob. So if you like to tweak, this is the guitar for you.

Another thing that we collaborated on was getting the lead pickup and the rhythm pickup to split. Right now I'm playing on an overdriven amp, and sometimes if you have your full on humbucker it can be a little bit too much guitar. Sometimes you want that more creamy sound sometimes wanna pull back to have a little bit less, so the amp is not so pushed. I like to think about these controls almost like a faucet, where you have like a little bit of water, a little bit of coolness. But you can just turn on then…

While playing on the Fallon show, every guitar player that I'm a fan of I try to have them sign the back of my headstock, and so with a guitar like this I thought it was a good opportunity to have a little signature of my own on the back of the headstock. I want whoever's playing it to really feel like it's theirs too, so that's why the signature is kinda small. But it's a signature guitar so why not put your signature on it?

I feel so incredibly proud that this is it, I am huge fan of Gibson guitars. But if I walked into a guitar shop and saw this there, I’d have a very difficult time walking out of the store all without it.”

In this Instagram pic, "Captain" Kirk Douglass explains: "To answer your question @fenerman, this is Bernadette. She suffered many torchings during the making of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCT9I1fFo7Q. My main LP to this day."

The video he's referring to is a Heineken commercial he did, where he plays a fast solo, then throws the guitar to the ground and sets it on fire. He then puts out the fire with a Heineken beer.

This tweet by GibsonGuitarNYC (https://twitter.com/GibsonGuitarNYC/status/13079664476) from 2010 reveals that it's a Gibson Les Paul Standard. The color most closely matches Desert Burst.

"Captain" Kirk Douglas posted a photo (June 2014) of his white Epiphone Crestwood Custom electric guitar. He captions the photo, "Miss June. #guitarporn #epiphone #crestwood"

At one point he loaned it to Prince so he could play it on the Late Night show, and at the end of the song "Bambi" Prince threw the guitar on the ground and cracked the headstock. According to an interview with Douglas, Prince apologized but refused to sign the guitar for Douglas. Prince replied, "No, I haven't signed anything since the 70s."

Kirk Douglas recalls that he bought the guitar around 2004, at 30th Street Guitars in New York.

Premier Guitar:

Yes. That’s the guitar on that song. I also used it on “Uma.” That guitar has a very distinctive sound. I’m playing the rhythm part through a Divided By 13 RSA 23 amp, and I just love the way they interact together. But yeah, that guitar is very dear to me, so when it was initially broken, I was just concerned that I wouldn’t get to play it again, you know? I was excited that Prince played it and everything, but I was really concerned about the prospect of him being the last person to have played it. Luckily it didn’t work out that way.

In 2019, Douglas [reported[(https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwmh0FvllAU/) that this guitar was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Premier Guitar on location at NBC Studio 6B, GE Building, in NYC, catching up with Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's the Roots' guitarist, "Captain" Kirk Douglas. Shown at 5:00 in this video is Douglas's Gibson Byrdland. He uses flatwound strings with it.

"Captain" Kirk Douglas uses a Gibson Custom Shop 356 w/ Bigsby Tremolo on The Tonight Show Staring Jimmy Fallon. It is shown [@ 3:57] in the video where he says "It's a slightly smaller body than the 355. So by using a smaller body it makes me look like a bigger human."

"Capitan" Kirk Douglas says in this Premier Guitar Rig Rundown video at 4:30 that he uses the custom shop Gibson Les Paul Pro guitar with P90 pickups.

Captain Kirk Douglas has used a Gibson Midtown P90 in fireburst for most of season 2 of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

Well, there’s a Rich Robinson ES-335 that I used a lot on the record. That’s on the title track.

Well, there’s a Rich Robinson ES-335 that I used a lot on the record. That’s on the title track. There’s also an acoustic on that song—a ’68 Gibson Hummingbird.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the Fender Telecaster Thinline from 1989.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the James Trussart Steel Top.

In this photo, posted by Douglas on his Instagram profile, he can be seen holding the Epiphone Joe Bonamassa signature guitar.

In this photo, Douglas can be seen playing the G-1275. It is possible that this guitar was given to him by Epiphone.

In this photo, Douglas can be seen with Ibanez Paul Stanley signature Iceman.

Gibson J-45 can be seen in this photo of Douglas and Sheryl Crow.

In this photo, Douglas is showing his Gibson Advanced Jumbo Pro, albeit with expanded and modified pickguard.

In this photo, Douglas can be seen playing the Grace Potter's Flying V signature model.

Around 3:19 in this video, "Captain" Kirk Douglas says that he uses the Mesa Boogie Stiletto guitar amp out on stage on the Jimmy Fallon show, "an EL34 based amp."

He describes it as Mesa Boogie's first foray into the British sounding amplifier. "It projects well, it's got a great natural distortion sound, it's like a Swiss army knife of amplifiers... very intuitive, easy to operate, and it looks pretty badass too."

The video has an upload date of November 2012.

"Captain" Kirk Douglas talks about his Mesa Boogie Royal Atlantic 100 [@ 1:29] where he says, "I love the sounds it gets at low volumes."

According to MESA/Boogie's official website, Douglas is listed as an used of the Lone Star combo amplifier.

Vintage Guitar, 2015

For Fallon, a Mesa Boogie Stiletto, Royal Atlantic, and a Lone Star Special. For my own thing, I like Divided By 13.

"Captain" Kirk Douglas talks about his Mesa Boogie Royal Atlantic 100 [@ 1:29] where he says, "I love the sounds it gets at low volumes."

Yes. That’s the guitar on that song. I also used it on “Uma.” That guitar has a very distinctive sound. I’m playing the rhythm part through a Divided By 13 RSA 23 amp, and I just love the way they interact together.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the Divided by 13 BTR 23 combo.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the 1978 Marshall JMP100.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the Supro Black Magick.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the Mesa Boogie TC-50 guitar head.

According to the 2019 Premier Guitar interview, Douglas uses the Mesa Boogie California Tweed.