Randy Bachman

“I got it from Bob Heil, who developed the Heil Talk Box,” Bachman says. “This is the guitar I played on ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet’ and ‘Lookin Out for #1.’ People ask me if I played a Les Paul on those tracks, but it’s this Strat on the neck position. It used to have a Canadian flag sticker on it, and if you look at the back of the neck, you’ll see that I took off the finish and sanded the neck like a violin, because violin was the first instrument I played. I’ve done this to several of my Strats, because I do a lot of sliding and find the stock finishes to be a bit too tacky sometimes.”

Bachman endorsed the Garnet amplifiers back in 60's-70's. In this advert, we can see him with Garnet Herzog.

"I play jazz licks once in a while. So I want those to be pretty clean. And then I've got an OCD that overdrives and cleans just a little bit. And I’ve got the two Roland Blues Drivers that I absolutely love. And a wah pedal, and that's it."

In this 2011 photo of Bachman performing, we can see him holding the Epiphone Emperor Regent.

“This is one of the only Gretsches that Fred Gretsch didn’t get when he bought my collection,” Bachman says. “Chet Atkins had read in Rolling Stone magazine about my 6120 being stolen and decided to call me. The first two times he called, I was out in the backyard, building a tree house for my kids. My daughter came out and said what sounded like, ‘Chad is on the phone and wants to talk to you,’ I thought she was talking about Chad Allen from the Guess Who and told her to say I’d call back. The third time the phone rang, she came back and said, ‘He really, really, really wants to talk to you. He’s calling from Tennessee and he’s got a weird accent.’ So I went to the phone, and he said, ‘Howdy, this is Chet.’ I could barely speak, because this was my idol. He asked me, ‘Did you ever get back the 6120?’ I said, ‘No, I’m never gonna get it back.’ And he said, ‘Okay, what’s your address?’ Four days later, this Super Axe shows up. The string tree was a mod that Chet did himself, because the strings kept popping out of the nut.”

“Around 1974, I walked into a store in Westchester, Pennsylvania, and saw this and another Custom with P-90s hanging on the wall and asked if I could play them. Phenomenal! I asked if they were for sale, and the guy said, ‘Not really. Keith Richards’ roadie brought them in for fret jobs about two years ago and no one ever came to pick them up.’ I told the guy that since the work was not paid for, he could invoke a mechanic’s lien, where you send the owner a letter saying that you’re entitled to be paid for your work, and that if you’re not, you can sell the instruments. I asked the guy to send a registered letter to the Stones’ label, which he did, and then a few months later he sent another one, neither of which they responded to. So the guy was free to sell the instruments. I once had to take a pickup out to fix something, and out came a matchbook from the Bag O’ Nails in London, which is a club where the Stones used to play.”

In this 2015 advert for "Rock Out with Randy Bachman", he is seen playing the Epiphone Slash signature Les Paul model. Bachman can also see be using this guitar in 2015 performance of "Takin' Care of Business".

"The only pedal I used was a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver to push the front end of the amps for solos."

“Roger guitars were made by the German luthier Wenzel Rossmeisl,” Bachman explains. “His son’s name was Roger. This was Wenzel’s top-of-the-line instrument, and it’s absolutely a work of art. The lamination of the woods on the neck is just stunning, as is the carving of the top. Roger moved to the United States in the mid Fifties and worked at Rickenbacker. He then went to Fender in the late Sixties and designed the LTD, which, as you can see, also features that distinctive German carve on the top. They made 12 of these before Fender decided that they were too expensive and stopped production. Mine, which I got from J. Geils, is the 12th. Roger then designed the less-expensive Fender Montego, which also failed, as well as the Coronado.”

“The first time I saw a Hoyer Bianka, I thought, Those sound holes look exactly like the lightning bolt painted on David Bowie’s face on the cover of Aladdin Sane!” Bachman recalls. “The back of this guitar is scalloped, just like the top, which like most of these guitars features a ‘German carve’ that goes in on the edges. This compresses the sound inside, and it makes for a really unique tone that cuts through on any track I’m recording. It’s like it’s got its own built-in EQ—tight but crisp, with a lot of upper midrange.”

I a-a-a-absolutely love the Tonebone pedals. I have tried them out extensively and will be incorporating them into my stage setup. They are truly toneful, expressive and totally rock.

At 4:08 minute mark, Bachman shows his Gretsch White Penguin. He estimated the value to "couple of hundred thousand dollars".

In this 2014 photo, Bachman can be seen holding the Epiphone Les Paul Standard.

At 3:43 minute mark, in his Gretsch collection, there is Gretsch G6040MCSS synchromatic cutaway visible to the left.

"Totally full blast. I had two of them, and I had an old Roland Chorus, that's the metal one that you put on the floor, that you plugged into a wall -- there's not a wall wart -- it's a real AC plug." - furthermore, in the article there is Boss CE-1 pictured.

In this photo, Bachman can be seen playing the Yamaha Pacifica 912J.

Randy Bachman received this guitar from Brian May himself, as said on the official Brian May website.

"Randy Bachman played the Headline Stage at Winterfest in Ottawa, Ontario on Friday, February 2nd with his Epiphone Les Paul Ultra."

Randy With Dick Clark on Bandstand in 1978 with a green Gretsch 6120. His original 59 orange one was stolen in 1976 at his hotel.

According to Radial's website, Bachman is a user of Radial JD7 System.

“Roger guitars were made by the German luthier Wenzel Rossmeisl,” Bachman explains. “His son’s name was Roger. This was Wenzel’s top-of-the-line instrument, and it’s absolutely a work of art. The lamination of the woods on the neck is just stunning, as is the carving of the top. Roger moved to the United States in the mid Fifties and worked at Rickenbacker. He then went to Fender in the late Sixties and designed the LTD, which, as you can see, also features that distinctive German carve on the top. They made 12 of these before Fender decided that they were too expensive and stopped production. Mine, which I got from J. Geils, is the 12th. Roger then designed the less-expensive Fender Montego, which also failed, as well as the Coronado.”

According to Yamaha's website, Bachman uses the Yamaha AES-FG guitar.

“My Scharpach Vienna guitar was well worth the wait. With merging of the old wood and modern technology Theo has created a guitar that for me is a one of a kind. What I noticed when I played my Vienna for the first time was that the acoustic tone is totally balanced across every string in every register and part of the neck. Then when I plugged it in and heard the same deep, clear, resonant sound from the pickup that Theo designed and had made, I realized what a special instrument it really was. The craftsmanship, the design, the body, the finish. the engraved headstock and tailpiece are not only beautiful but add so much to the sound of the guitar. I look forward to playing this instrument forever.“

At 4:05 minute mark, there is Isana Jazz guitar visible at the bottom, judging by the inlays and the headstock.

"I took dozens of guitars to Metal Works Studio, but ended up using the same black Supro Val-Trol because it has amazing pickups that gave me quite a different sound than I’ve ever had.”

Definitely a 375. Accent vibrato isn’t clearly visible in this picture, but its arm is.

Mr. Bachman is holding a Country Gent in this picture.

Custom made for Bachman at his request, a third besides the original two made for Chet Atkins. Bachman featured it in this December 1, 2020 Facebook post and it was ultimately auctioned via Julien's on May 30, 2024.

Facebook, Randy Bachman, December 1, 2020

My Gibson Super 4000 custom made and only the 3rd one in the world. Chet Atkins had Gibson make him 2 copies of Merle Travis' Gibson Super 400 but with narrower sides like a Byrdland. The guitar is much easier on the right arm when playing because of the shallower depth.

Julien's listing

A 2012 Gibson Custom Shop Super 400 RB, serial #10202001 in natural finish. Owned and played by Randy Bachman, who has sold 40 million records worldwide as a member of The Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and as a solo artist. Custom made for Randy by Gibson and delivered to Randy at that year’s Summer NAMM show.

Randy’s love affair with the Super 400 model began by way of Merle Travis, the country music super star that Randy was fortunate enough to play with as part of a televised performance on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired in the late 1970s. As Bachman and Travis rehearsed for the show, along with Canadian jazz and swing guitarist Ed Bickert, Travis took a liking to Bachman, calling him “My Guitar Buddy.” Randy helped carry Travis’ twin, identical Gibson Super 400 guitars –– one a spare in the event of a broken string –– and as a token of thanks, Travis gifted the spare to Randy at the end of their time together.

"After the show I have my picture taken with him, with the guitar, I take the guitars back to the four seasons, the show’s over, and when I get to my room he says, ‘You’re my little guitar buddy, I want to give you my spare guitar.’ He gives it to me, and I sit in my room at the Four Seasons just looking at this guitar. I take it out and play it. It’s phenomenal.”

Unfortunately, Randy wasn’t able to keep the guitar once Merle’s wife came looking for it. “Oh, darn it,” she signed. “He’s always giving that thing away to anyone who helps him.” Bachman did the right thing and relinquished the Gibson, but the seeds of desire had already been planted.

Years later, Randy’s personal friend Chet Atkins had Gibson fashion two Super 4000s –– a Super 400 model, but with a much thinner body to save wear and tear on the shoulder from reaching your strumming arm across a deep jazz box guitar. A short while later, Gibson invited Randy to Summer NAMM and offered to make him whatever he wanted, and his request was a thin-bodied Super 4000 just like Chet’s. Sure enough, upon arrival this guitar was waiting for him courtesy of Gibson’s famous and now defunct Memphis factory.

A 25.5 inch scale length five piece flame maple neck with stinger, a bound 20 fret ebony fretboard with split block inlays, mother of pearl split diamond and Gibson logo inlays on the headstock, and “RB” for Randy Bachman on the truss rod cover. The body has an arched spruce top, flame maple back and sides, and multi-ply binding throughout. Gold hardware includes a Bigsby B6 vibrato, an no-wire ABR-1 bridge, and humbucker pickups. Three-way toggle switch, volume and tone controls for each pickup. Bound plastic tortoise shell pickguard.

Includes original black hardshell case with green crushed velvet interior.

Listed on Reverb.com via House of Stone Instruments in 2020.

From the Randy Bachman Private Collection.

In the confusion of slight differences in models, this is indeed a BX-10.

Another Amazing piece of audio history and a truly incredible sounding Reverb. And yes, it can hold it's own against the mighty EMT-250 albeit with alot less flexibility, and more narrow focus of sound. A truly beautiful piece. Lush stereo or mono Spring Reverb. There is a bit of tape residue on the front as you can see. Other than that, it's in excellent condition.

R. Bachman in 2010 : “I recently added some Seymour Duncan pedals to my stage and studio arsenal and I have to say that SD has done it again. The Twin-Tube Overdrive, the Lava Box and the Power Grid really rock. They are made like tanks and make rock and roll sound like it should. “