The Fuzzhound

This guitar was born to play garage.

This weekend past my band played a show in Melbourne at the Tote that involved boobs, blood, fire, sweat and there was some music in there as well. Great fun was had by all and it was great to get out of Brisbane for a day or so. The best thing was that I got to hang out with my Melbourne pals, The Jacknives (hi Kylie!) who I don’t get to see very often. One of my friends Luis just happens to play guitar in the kick ass Melbourne via Spain band – ‘Midnight Woolf’. As I was staying at his pad, I got to check out his weapon of choice…

Lluis bought this chrome beauty at a flea market. An old guy was packing up his stall and Lluis spotted the guitar. When he asked how much, the guy said, ‘Well I had 80 bucks on it, but you can have it for 50. Actually… make it 30.” That’s some pretty good bartering by Lluis there… he didn’t have to say a word!

Lluis’ brother fixed up the guitar for him to play it playable. The original bridge, which was pretty much just a piece of wood was replaced with a tunematic. The neck was set and the frets cleaned. He did a great job, it really plays like butter. The neck is ridiculously thick though. This makes a ’58 Les Paul feel like an Ibanez Wizard neck. The headstock has no branding, so Lluis is unsure of the make. It could be anything from an early Ibanez to a Guyatone. Someone out there might know…

The scratchplate is fantastic. It’s pressed steel and kind of looks like an inflated chrome balloon. The rust just adds to this guitars’ garage mojo.

The pickups are pretty insane looking. They’re either 3 humbuckers or 6 single coils or 3 single coils that look like humbuckers. Either way, Lluis plays with all of them ‘on’. He says this guitar has heaps of bottom end and is perfect for the type of music he plays. Also he says they’re not microphonic at all, which surprised me. I wasn’t exactly thinking these would be potted in wax.

The neck is made of that mysterious dark wood that most cheap 60’s japanese guitars are made of. It sort of looks like maple, but I’m not sure. The grain is maple-ish, anyway. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a truss rod in there. With how thick and sturdy the neck is, it doesn’t really need one. This is like a table leg sawed in half with frets. But again, it plays surprisingly well.

Lluis swears by this guitar and has toured Europe with it many times. Judging by the kick ass sound he makes with it, it just goes to show you don’t have to spend big bucks on an axe to play awesome rock ‘n roll.

Here’s Lluis in action with his chrome baby.

And check out Lluis’ website. He is an AMAZING artist…