J.D. Simo

"A 62, it did have a Bigsby...I lucked out right out of the gate because to this day this is one of the best Gibson guitars period that I've played," says J.D. Simo, at 26:20.

"This guitar has changed my life. I've been touring with this for many months and it's just an honor to get to play an instrument like this," says J.D. Simo, at 1:10 in this video, about his 1960 Les Paul.

At 34:32, J.D. Simo shows his RS Guitarworks Slab '59, which he has custom painted himself.

JD seen playing his 1963 Fender Telecaster

Around 32:33, JD is seen holding a 59 Les Paul replica. This is a prototype of gibson's "redeye" Les Paul Re-issue.

In the video by Les Paul Forum, J.D. Simo mentions at 11:01 that he uses the Epiphone Futura amplifier alongside Fender Deluxe Reverb amps. He humorously describes it as one of the worst-sounding amps ever.

Despite his temporary fling with Duane’s guitar, he wasn’t sad to see it go and pick up his ES-335 again. “This is my guitar, y’know?” he insists. “At this point it’s insane, I’ve gotten to play 130 to 140 Bursts, dozens of old Strats and Telecasters, real Gibson Flying Vs, prewar Martins, D’Angelicos… I’ve got some incredible friends.

Despite his temporary fling with Duane’s guitar, he wasn’t sad to see it go and pick up his ES-335 again. “This is my guitar, y’know?” he insists. “At this point it’s insane, I’ve gotten to play 130 to 140 Bursts, dozens of old Strats and Telecasters, real Gibson Flying Vs, prewar Martins, D’Angelicos… I’ve got some incredible friends.

Despite his temporary fling with Duane’s guitar, he wasn’t sad to see it go and pick up his ES-335 again. “This is my guitar, y’know?” he insists. “At this point it’s insane, I’ve gotten to play 130 to 140 Bursts, dozens of old Strats and Telecasters, real Gibson Flying Vs, prewar Martins, D’Angelicos… I’ve got some incredible friends.

in the photos below the description the Collings SoCo is seen with JD, also stated in an interview this was a guitar collings custom made for JD, with the parralellogram inlays, jet black finish and B7 bigsby

The guitar is from 1957 and was owned by the Duane Allman.

I used Duane’s guitar for pretty much all of the album,” he recalls. “I’ve gotten to use it at a bunch of gigs. That guitar has been played by a lot of different people. We made the record in two days, that guitar was there so I used it. It was a great honour obviously, but what I keep trying to tell people is that it’s a great instrument, it’s inspiring to play, and it was an honour to use it in that circumstance but it’s not gonna make you play great. It certainly didn’t help me or hurt me, but it made the experience more fun.”

In this interview with Guitar, he discusses his Echopark Tavares:

“I don’t know how to quantify it – it’s got vibe and it’s got soul,” he says. “Gabriel is a crazy person in the best way possible. I love him. Some guitars are inspiring. It doesn’t take long to tell whether or not a guitar feels good in your hands. Actually The Devil Is Always Watching I wrote that song with that guitar the first day I got it, like within the first couple hours of having it. So that was a good sign. It’s really the only new guitar that I own and its genuinely funky and inspiring. It’s got some spirit in it.”