Jorma Kaukonen

According to Kaukonen's blog post, he started using ES-345s between 1965 and 1966.

IN 1965 or ’66, I bought a Red ES-345 Stereo at Sherman and Clay in San Francisco for about $400. I bought it on time… it seemed like a lot of money back then. That guitar became the guitar I developed my sound in the JA on. I owned a number of ES-345’s and ES-355’s back in that day, but that first red one was always the one. I gave it to my friend Maj when I was flush with cash and buying a lot of guitars. It was stolen from him in London and has been gone for over forty years.

He mentioned the use of ES-345s in 2012 Guitar World interview.

When I play electric in Hot Tuna, I use two guitars: a Chet Atkins SST with acoustic strings for finger picking and a Gibson Les Paul Standard for rock and roll. Back in the day, the 345 and then the 335 defined my electric sound, but I stumbled onto this Les Paul and I just fell in love with it. It sounds great and it’s nice and light. I’m getting old, what can I tell you?

Kaukonen's gear website mentions 2016 Custom Shop ES-345, which is a replica of his red 1964 Gibson ES-345. The guitar was built by Gibson Memphis.

Photos of Kaukonen with ES-345: Unknown date/place.

Performances of Kaukonen with ES-345: Live at Capitol Theatre, 2nd December 2012.

J-50 is one of main guitars of Kaukonen. He used a 1958 J-50 for "Embryonic Journey".

I bought my 1958 Gibson J-50 in Dayton, Ohio at Pop’s Music Store in 1959. It cost a hundred bucks, and worth every penny. I learned to finger pick on that guitar… it’s the guitar I played Embryonic Journey on. Learned to pick, sing and write on that guitar. It was the musical story of my life for… well, a long time. When I’m gone it will belong to my son Zach.

Performances: Mann's Fate with Jack Casady, 1969.

In this photo, Kaukonen can be seen playing a Gibson Firebird V. Kaukonen's gear website also mentions a "1993 Gibson Firebird", which has Fralin pickups, and RS Guitar Works caps and pots. This could be the guitar in this photo. The guitar was used for Hot Tuna's Last Waltz tour in 2023, according to 2023 Guitar World interview.

Photos: Boulder, CA, 29th February 2020.

In this photo, Jorma can be seen playing a Fender Jazzmaster guitar.

In this youtube video Jorma can be seen playing a Gibson SG at 0:47 Live in Hamburg 05/10/68

"I love my Les Paul Gold Top. I was thinking while looking at a guitar that almost looked like a Les Paul, but wasn't. 'If you want a Les Paul, get one!' I have one and here it is." - Jorma Kaukonen

M-30 is Kaukonen's signature acoustic guitar, first released in 2010. Kaukonen was introduced to Martin guitars by David Bromberg, who had his own Martin signature model (M-42). He describes the M-30 in a 2010 Premier Guitar write-up, and is also mentioned as his signature guitar on his "Gear" page.

Kaukonen also mentioned the use of M-30 in a 2012 Guitar World interview, as well as used for recording Hot Tuna's 2011 album "Steady as She Goes", according to 2012 Vintage Guitar interview.

Live performances of Kaukonen with M-30: Genesis (Live at Fur Peace Ranch, 2011).

Photos of Kaukonen with M-30: Wilmington, DE, 21st January 2020.

"And the one that I play most of all is that J-35. But I have that Advanced Jumbo also and I just had a feeling that it would record record well. The J-35 is a mahogany guitar. It sounds like a mahogany guitar and the AJ is a rosewood, which has a little bit of a different sound. And so when I got down to the studio, I just realized that these are the two I want to use for the session. I may use them for the next one too."

Kaukonen has two Chet Atkins SST models; a 1993 blond, and a 1999 cherry burst. They are used mainly for Hot Tuna performances, according to a 2012 Guitar World interview.

When I play electric in Hot Tuna, I use two guitars: a Chet Atkins SST with acoustic strings for finger picking and a Gibson Les Paul Standard for rock and roll.

SST's were also used on Hot Tuna's 2011 album "Steady as She Goes", according to 2012 Vintage Guitar interview.

I have a Gibson LP-295 I used on the electric stuff where I was fingerpicking, I used a Gibson Chet Atkins SST I’ve had a long time. I have a ’67 Fender Deluxe – which is not vintage to me, because I bought it new; it’s just old. I also used a Louis Electric 2×12, which is what I use onstage. On “Angel Of Darkness” I used a ’50s Bogan PA amp that’s been made into a guitar amp, and on “Children Of Zion” I used my SST through a ’30s Oahu steel-guitar amp.

The guitar was used for Hot Tuna's Last Waltz tour in 2023, according to 2023 Guitar World interview.

I also use an Atkins SST for the fingerpicking Hot Tuna stuff. I’ve got a couple of them, but my favorite is a 1993 from the Custom Shop. It’s just a really, really good guitar.

"I’m a Gibson nut. In fact, Gibson is thinking about making a Jorma Kaukonen model J-35 right now that’s like the one I play on the album. When I was a kid, I started out playing a J-45 and then when I could afford it, I got a J-50."

According to Martin's website, Kaukonen uses Martin M-36.

https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=Jefferson_Airplane_and_the_Psychedelic_1960s

what I was using on Surrealistic Pillow is a Guild Thunderbird. Yeah, a Guild Thunderbird

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DujhH14XgAApoat.jpg

In the image captured during Takes Off session Jorma can be seen playing a Guild Thunderbird.

These two are probably two different guitars of the same model, see the headstocks.

In his autobiography "Been So Long: My Life and Music" he says: "I realized that my beautiful old L-5 was inadequate for rock and roll, so I sold it for $250 and bought a Guild T-Bird...We had seen the Lovin' Spoonful at some bar in North Beach earlier, and Zal Yanovsky was playing a Guild Thunderbird. He was a great guitar player so of course I checked out his gear. The T-Bird was one of the most different-looking guitars I had ever seen. It was a solid-body guitar with a shape like Mr. Tooth Decay. I had to have one ... and I got one. This was the six-string guitar I used on the Takes Off, as well as the Rickenbacker twelve-string...I also bought a Standel Super Imperial because Zal was playing through one...it's the gear I used for the solos on "Somebody to Love" as well as "White Rabbit". It worked out OK for me...Around the time of Pillow I was transitioning from the Guild Thunderbird guitar and the Standel amp to the Gibson and two Fender Twin Reverbs, but I was still waffling between two setups. The solos on "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love" were done with the Thunderbird and the Standel (minus the horns [he had added an upholstered box from Kustom with two high-frequency horns]). Saturating the sound with spring reverb was the deal. The other tracks were done with the Twins and the ES-345 Stereo.

https://books.google.by/books?id=TntJDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=ru#v=onepage&q&f=false

Jorma Kaukonen can be seen holding a Gibson L5-S.

Here's a Hot Tuna concert captured on video with Jorma playing this guitar until "I Wish You Would" performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiniZha6PQM

Jorma Kaukonen can be seen practicing with a Gibson Firebird I Non Reverse.

Here's the guitar in action, used for the last two songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiniZha6PQM

Here's a Hot Tuna concert recording.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ucti8H6cCZk

Jorma's playing two different Strats, both having custom finishes. It is really hard to tell what color the first one is, but the second one's got US flag finish and, given time, neck binding appeared to have been installed, see the image above.

Kaukonen mentions the backstory of the "American Flag" Stratocaster in an interview with Glide Magazine.

I do not. That guitar, I got it like that and that was a 1957 Strat that whoever owned it before me painted it like an American flag. You know, things come and go in life and you can’t have everything but I wouldn’t mind having that one back. That was a good one. But I got that in probably 1974, maybe 1975, but when I was disassembling my life with my ex-wife, we were getting ready to split up and stuff, we hocked a lot of stuff. We used to call it, putting it in storage, although I never went to get it back. So anyway, to make a long story short, I hocked it on a pawn shop on 5th Street in San Francisco and strangely enough one of my friends who didn’t even know it was mine bought it and he’s still got it in LA. That’s a nice guitar.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/jefferson-airplane-guitarist-sheds-rock-star-mask/

When Paul Kantner suggested he get a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar because Roger McGuinn of the Byrds played one, Kaukonen, who already took his guitar choices very seriously, dutifully cashed in enough of the Israeli savings bonds his grandparents had given him and bought one.

In his autobiograhy he says: "This was the six-string guitar [the Guild T-Bird] I used on the Takes Off, as well as the Rickenbacker twelve-string".

https://books.google.by/books?id=TntJDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=ru#v=onepage&q&f=false

In his autobiography "Been So Long: My Life and Music" he states: "...I got together with a couple of guys and we started an extremely short-Iived band. We called ourselves the Headstones, because we smoked pot and like the Rolling Stones. I had a 1937 Gibson L-5 and an early fifties Fender Princeton amp that I had bought from a fried a year or so before. The guitar had a DeArmond pickups and that was the axe I played in the Headstones. I can't remember if we played more than one gig. I rather doubt it. I don't think we were very good...I realized my beautiful old L-5 was inadequate for rock and roll, so I sold it for $250 and bought a Guild T-Bird. I remember thinking that I had made a killing selling the old L-5; I bought it and the Princeton amp for sixty bucks, so selling the guitar alone for $250 seemed like a killing. I remember briefly thinking I should have opened a music store. Such an instrument today would bring about $25.000. Remember, this was before some genius thought up the "vintage" concept. Back then secondhand meant cheap!"

I had my Fender Musicmaster guitar

Jorma Kaukonen played a Gibson ES-355 electric guitar, identifiable by its split diamond headstock, during the Altamont Speedway Free Festival on December 6, 1969, as shown in a user-uploaded photo.

In the image provided, Jorma Kaukonen is seen playing a 1964 Gibson ES-330 Cherry at the Monterey International Pop Festival with Jefferson Airplane.

Kaukonen acquired Flammang's J-35 in 2020, after one of his students brought the guitar. In an attached blog post, he mentioned that the guitar has a very similar sound to his 1968 Gibson J-50.

Kaukonen used Les Paul Standard in Hot Tuna, according to 2012 Guitar World interview.

When I play electric in Hot Tuna, I use two guitars: a Chet Atkins SST with acoustic strings for finger picking and a Gibson Les Paul Standard for rock and roll. Back in the day, the 345 and then the 335 defined my electric sound, but I stumbled onto this Les Paul and I just fell in love with it. It sounds great and it’s nice and light. I’m getting old, what can I tell you?

Used on recording Hot Tuna's 2011 album, "Steady as She Goes", according to 2012 Vintage Guitar interview.

I have a Gibson LP-295 I used on the electric stuff where I was fingerpicking, I used a Gibson Chet Atkins SST I’ve had a long time.

Mentioned in the 2001 interview with Puremusic.

I'm a Gibson nut. They gave me a factory second Advanced Jumbo a couple of years ago that I really like, and that's all I used for this session. It's a 1936 Advanced Jumbo model, a long scale guitar, which I don't normally play, but this particular guitar I love. This really is unplugged, just microphones, no pickups. Byron had a direct on his upright besides the mics, but that's it. The Gibson guys up in Montana have been talking about the possibility of doing a Jorma model acoustic, which I'm very excited about.

Mentioned in the 2001 interview with Puremusic.

I play the Gibson J-190 acoustic electric fusion guitars on the road. It's a J-185 soft cutaway, arch back, no bracing in the back, a Super 400 neck, but a short scale one. A transducer pickup under the bridge, and a single coil humbucker at the bottom of the neck, with a three way switch. Volume and tone for each pickup, you don't need to read the instructions to play this guitar. It's great for gigging, but we needed an acoustic for this record, of course.

Mentioned in the 2001 interview with Puremusic.

I play the Gibson J-190 acoustic electric fusion guitars on the road. It's a J-185 soft cutaway, arch back, no bracing in the back, a Super 400 neck, but a short scale one. A transducer pickup under the bridge, and a single coil humbucker at the bottom of the neck, with a three way switch. Volume and tone for each pickup, you don't need to read the instructions to play this guitar. It's great for gigging, but we needed an acoustic for this record, of course.

Kaukonen also used this guitar for Homespun's 2010 fingerpicking guitar instruction.

Kaukonen had his signature Epiphone Riviera released in 2002. It was also mentioned in the 2023 Guitar Player interview.

Kaukonen used blue Gibson Starburst Standard on "Embryonic Journey" live at Jefferson Airplane's induction in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Jorma Kaukonen confirms on his official website that he uses the David Flammang J-35 guitar.