Ray Monette

I accidentally left my guitar under the hotel bed. I had to quickly go to a local music store in Paducah and buy a guitar. This 1969 Stratocaster, that I purchased, became my favorite guitar for Rare Earth. It was used for all Rare Earth recordings. It's the guitar I used for one of the largest shows at the time, California Jam.

He Bought a new Strat*, but was not happy with the neck profile. I told him at that time that I would build him a guitar that would make him very happy. We sat down and planned out all the individual pieces, and all the electronics...and I went to work. The following photos will show the end result. Toad....Posted: Jun 06 2007 at 11:06am

It is a very special guitar in that it has big humbucker tone coming out of a Strat*. and the combination of woods, a hollowed out body, and those humbuckers make it a rare ax to say the least. I can fully understand why Ray couldn't let go of it. We called the ax "Pluto" because the sound out it was out of this world.

"I was taking guitar lessons at Wellesby House of Music in Farmington, Michigan. Word spread that Les Paul was coming in to demonstrate his new line of guitars. This was in 1961 and of course we all showed up to meet Les and see the event. Surprisingly not more than 25 people came and we had a good chance to meet and talk to Les. What a Gentleman. It seemed like we had all the time in the world to spend with him. At any rate, I loved the white custom and the red SG both, but the cost of the Custom was beyond our means. I was only 14, playing clubs and weddings. So my dad purchased the guitar for me and I was to repay him.... At that time I had a Les Paul Jr and it was traded for the SG.

Ray Monette owns and plays a ToadBuilt Ray Monette Custom ES-355 Clone. According to a post on the Bobbabbitt forum, the luthier, known as Toad, builds these custom guitars as a hobby during his retirement. He finds joy in crafting these instruments, which take several months to complete, and plans to build more in the future.