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I have bought and sold at least 10 Princeton Reverb-style amps over the last 30 years. I want to love them, but I hate the way most of them sound really small when dialed in clean with a Telecaster's bridge pickup. And as much as I love my old 1965 Deluxe Reverb amp, there are many times when I wish I had an amp that would hit the sweet spot at a lower volume, and be a bit easier to tote around.

Earlier this year, I was at JD Simo's studio, and he encouraged me to play through his Headstrong Lil' King. I was blown away and ordered one the next day. It arrived a couple of weeks later, handbuilt by Wayne, and it was no less stellar than Simo's amp. I took the amp on a gig 2-days later, and I kept looking back at it during the gig. I played at least half the time on the bridge pickup with a cleaner tone, and the Lil' King produced wonderfully fat tones. After many years of searching, I found my Princeton.

Gear used:

2023 Headstrong Lil' King with 12" Eminence GA-SC64 speaker
https://headstrongamps.com/lil-king-amp

1957 Fender Esquire with a 1954 neck pickup, and original bridge pickup. Restoration and Aging on the Body by Dan "Danocaster" Strain. Refret by Nick at Glaser Instruments. Both pickups were rewound by Ron Ellis. Pickguard design by Jay & Kristi Smith of Juicebox Designs.

Strings:
D'Addarion NYXL 95-44

Pick:
Blue Chip TPR 35

#askzac #princetonreverb #headstrongamps

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The bane of most Telecaster players is getting both the neck and bridge pickups to sound their best. It seems when you get the neck pickup sounding right, the bridge is too bright, or if reversed, the bridge sounds great, and the neck pickup is just too dark to cut through. The bridge pickup needs the amp to be set darker, and the neck pickup requires a brighter amp tone. After struggling with this for years, I decided to try wiring the tone pot to only the bridge pickup on my Telecaster. This was a total game-changer. Now I could set my amp's tone controls for a clear yet fat tone on the neck pickup, then move to the bridge setting and tone down the treble, to get it sounding twangy yet without any icepick-like highs.

Wiring Schematic
https://www.askzac.com/post/no-tone-o...

Note on the Bill Carson book. Unfortunately, this is another title that has drifted out-of-print and is hard to find. Perhaps Willie Moseley, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and Hal Leonard will bring it back in some form.

#askzac #zacchilds #telecastermods

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Many know Merle Travis simply as the name behind "Travis Picking," yet are unaware of his influence as a performer and songwriter. Perhaps even less known, is how in the late 40s he was one of the architects of the solid body guitar. It seems almost a deep dark secret that his Bigsby-made guitar was borrowed by Leo Fender in 1948, and it set the course for the Telecaster and Stratocaster. Today, we seek to spotlight this overlooked contribution by Merle and Paul Bigsby and to spotlight the incredible musical works of the great Merle Travis.


Sixteen Tons: The Merle Travis Story - By Merle Travis & Deke Dickerson
https://amzn.to/3YtybBl

To buy a copy autographed by Deke
https://dekedickerson.com/merch/sixte...

The Merle Travis Guitar Album
https://open.spotify.com/album/6Nq6eD...

#askzac #merletravis #bigsbyguitar

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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Mike Eli LoPinto along with Derek Mixon, J.T. Cure, and Paul Franklin make up the stellar backing band for superstar Chris Stapleton. LoPinto stopped by for a hang, and he was kind enough to oblige me with a bit of playing and Q&A.

#askzac #mikelopinto #chrisstapleton

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Chris Scruggs is the host of his own WSM radio show that runs on Friday nights after the Grand Ole Opry, fronts his own band, The Stone Fox Five, and is a member of the white-hot group backing Marty Stuart, The Fabulous Superlatives. He is also a busy session man with everyone from up-and-comers to hitmakers Kacey Musgraves & Sierra Ferrell, and more recently, he was the youngest member inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame.  

In today's episode, Scruggs tells his own story, and along the way shares plenty of country music lore and spotlights 4 of his favorite guitars, a 1962 Telecaster, a 50s Fender double-neck steel, a 1959 Martin D-18, and a 1938 Gibson L5.

#askzac #chrisscruggs #martystuart

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

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The volume pedal was the first effect device created for the guitar. They were introduced in the mid-1930s, being offered by most major electric guitar makers, including Gibson & Rickenbacker, and pickup maker DeArmond. Although it was initially mainly used by steel guitarists from the 1930s-1960s, the 70s brought us 3 musicians that made it an important tool for guitarists, Reggie Young, Larry Carlton, and Mark Knopfler. These players used the volume pedal as an effect on numerous hit recordings, which caused it to finally take its place as a "must have" pedal. We also look at some important factors that one should consider when buying a volume pedal. Issues such as tone suck, buffers, pot taper, and more modern pot-less designs.

Spotify Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7Am...

Gear Used:
2008 R9 Les Paul

Amp:
1965 Deluxe Reverb with a GA-SC64 speaker

Effects used:
Amp reverb, Line 6 Echo Park, Dunlop Volume X

#askzac #volumepedal #zacchilds

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A visit to JD Simo's House of Grease to get a tweak done on my wah ends up leading him to demo his new fly board, talking about his love for StringJoy Broadway pure nickel strings, and us getting to hear his Headstrong Lil King (Princeton Reverb) amp that he has been relying on recently for shows and sessions. We also cover in-depth his Danocaster's wiring scheme, which features a Gibson humbucker, plus a Telecaster bridge, that has the tone control wired to only the bridge pickup.

No tone on the neck schematic
https://www.askzac.com/post/no-tone-o...

#stringjoy #jdsimo #headstrongamps

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I have loved the classic wah sound for years, but have never been able to find one I liked. Years of buying various models, and feeling like they had too wide of a tonal variance finally caused me to quit looking. Recently, a friend told me that old wahs had less travel and that 70s models were available for well under $200. I picked up a Thomas Organ Wah for $120 off reverb.com, and I was so pleasantly surprised to find out how much difference the lesser travel made. It was now more vocal sounding and more in the range of useability for me. Besides my wah journey, we also have Bill Keck modify the unit to be true bypass, and we follow up with our book nook segment.

Schematic to true bypass your old wah
https://www.wah-wah.co.uk/bypass.html

The proper switch for True Bypass Wah
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/produc...

Gibson Amp Book, which is unfortunately out of print:
https://amzn.to/3XG165R

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The low down on my 5 nights of gigging with @austinskinner  in Las Vegas. Being that the venue had a Boss Katana amp, I decided to leave the Strymon Iridium at home, and try it out. I also took a mid-70s Cry Baby Wah, and my 2008 R9 Les Paul to have more tonal offerings than just my '57 Esquire & my grab-and-go pedalboard. I also had a crazy adventure trying to visit J & E Guitars. I found out they were closed due to a robbery committed during business hours. The assailants used a crowd-control pepper spray device that coated all of the store's stock, rendering everything unsaleable.

#askzac #austinskinner #zacchilds

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Between my work with the Truetone Lounge and Vintage Guitar Magazine, I have interviewed many award-winning musicians with long and storied careers. It struck me recently that every one of them had a pivotal moment in their story where 3 important elements came together to launch their careers. These integral ingredients can be distilled down to hard work, risk-taking, and timing/luck. All 3 of these are incredibly important, and the house quickly falls if any one of these elements is absent. To illustrate, I share anecdotes from my interviews with John Jorgenson, Pete Anderson, and JD Simo showing how the elements of hard work, risk-taking, and luck played out in their careers.

Gear Used:

Baxendale Kay Mandocello

Pick:
Blue Chip TPR 35

Amp:
2021 Fender Handwired 64 Princeton Reverb with a Jensen Neo 10-100 speaker.

Effects:
Boss Analogman mod TR-2, MXR Reverb

#askzac #zacchilds

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