Gemma Thompson

In this photo posted to the fenderartists Instagram account, Gemma Thompson can be seen playing a Fender Classic Series '65 Mustang Electric Guitar, in Daphne Blue finish. The photo is captioned, "Savages. #fender #guitars Photo by Sandra Dahdah" (posted May 2014).

"I have a 1966 Fender Duo-Sonic in Daphne Blue. I was playing a show with John and Jehn in France, in their hometown. We had a few days before this show, and John took me to this guitar shop where he’d bought a lot of his instruments. He knew the guy, and he said he’d lend me this guitar for two days. He didn’t tell me how much it was. So I sat round the fireplace in France for two days before the show just playing this guitar, and I completely fell in love with it. I gave it back, and I came back to the UK. But I couldn’t stop thinking about this guitar.

By then he’d told me the price, and I just thought, no way. But I did everything I could in my power to get hold of this guitar, and I ended up picking it up from a French lorry driver on an industrial estate in east London. He held up all the traffic. I’m in the corner of this industrial park looking out for a specific French lorry, getting some weird looks. But eventually he came, stopped all the traffic coming off this A road, got out of his cab and gave me this guitar and off he went."

This picture shows Gemma palying this white jaguar.

From The Line of Best Fit, 12 June 2012: "Well, I have a 1966 Fender Duo-Sonic in Daphne Blue. I was playing a show with John and Jehn in France, in their hometown. We had a few days before this show, and John took me to this guitar shop where he’d bought a lot of his instruments. He knew the guy, and he said he’d lend me this guitar for two days. He didn’t tell me how much it was. So I sat round the fireplace in France for two days before the show just playing this guitar, and I completely fell in love with it. I gave it back, and I came back to the UK. But I couldn’t stop thinking about this guitar.

By then he’d told me the price, and I just thought, no way. But I did everything I could in my power to get hold of this guitar, and I ended up picking it up from a French lorry driver on an industrial estate in east London. He held up all the traffic. I’m in the corner of this industrial park looking out for a specific French lorry, getting some weird looks. But eventually he came, stopped all the traffic coming off this A road, got out of his cab and gave me this guitar and off he went."

From Wikipedia entry for Fender Duo-Sonic: "Third version – Duo-Sonic II (1964–1968) In 1964 the Duo-Sonic was redesigned based on the Fender Mustang that had recently been added to the student model line but without the vibrato tail-piece. The student guitars now all featured larger and slightly offset bodies, necks with larger headstocks and rosewood fingerboards and plastic pickguards with the volume and tone controls mounted on a separate metal plate. Pickup selection was moved above the pickups on both the Duo-Sonic and the Mustang and utilized two 3-position on-off-on switches that allowed for in and out-of-phase sounds. The pickups were also reverse-wound/reverse-polarity, which made them into a functional humbucker when both pickups were used simultaneously. Also added in this redesign was the option of a 24 inch scale neck in addition to the 22.5 inch scale. This re-designed model was renamed Duo-Sonic II although decals with and without the II designation were used occasionally. In addition to white, Daphne Blue and Dakota Red colors added.

The Duo-Sonic lasted until 1969 when it was dropped most likely because the Mustang with its tremolo tail piece was far more popular.

The Duo-Sonic I and II are both considered rare and have displayed growing collector value. The Duo-Sonic II in particular is often seen as a desirable alternative to the more popular Mustang, since it lacks the difficult-to-maintain tremolo bridge."

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, Thompson indicates that she played a vintage ES-125 during the recording of Savages' album Adore Life. "It was a Gibson ES-125 from 1960. It created some really beautiful low-end feedback, which was interesting. An MXR Blue Box on that instrument was quite an interesting sound."

From this live picture on flickr, it can be seen that Gemma playing a Fender Mustang candy apple red. Shot by Stefano Masselli.

She's using one in this video.

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, Thompson explains that she uses an AC-30HW2X because she prefers vintage sounds, and feels it best approximates older Vox units. "It’s the handwired reissue with the Celestion Blue alnico speakers," she says. "It’s the closest modern Vox AC-30 I’ve found to the original sound of the ’60s ones."

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, the sidebar lists the MF Drive among Thompson's effects used during the recording of Savages' album Adore Life.

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, the sidebar lists the MF Delay among Thompson's effects used during the recording of Savages' album Adore Life.

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, the sidebar lists the Hotcake among Thompson's effects used during the recording of Savages' album Adore Life.

In the final image from this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, we can clearly see the Pedal Power 2 Plus on Thompson's board.

In > Boss RE-20 Space Echo (A/Mono In > B Out) > Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner > Moog MF Boost > MXR Distortion + > Fulltone OCD > Maxon OD808 ReIssue > MXR Blue Box Octave Fuzz > Flux Liquid Ambience > Morley ABC IN > Morley A and B out > Boss DD-20 Giga Delay > Red Custom Box Signal Kill Switch > Stereo Out to Amps

In this interview with Premier Guitar magazine, the sidebar lists the .73 mm Dunlop as Thompson's plectrum of choice.