Dave Mail 62: '58 Gretsch White Falcon rigs

At the end of the Californication tour, John Frusciante stopped using the Fender Silverface Dual Showman head (that in some concerts in 1999 was replaced by a Fender Blackface Showman head) with the Gretsch. Why did you stop using those heads? What led you to use the White Falcon with the main rig? The sound of that guitar is so different from the others used on that rig, what did you do to correct that?

Dave Lee: "The Fender head wasn't very reliable, and he didn't like the back up for it. So we tried the [Silver Jubillee from] Marshall and liked it. So we stayed with it [for some time. After that, the Gretsch White Falcon started being used on the "main rig", with the full pedal chain and the Major, alongside the Silver Jubilee that already belonged to that rig.]

We didn't have to do anything to correct it. The different sound of the Gretsch fit well on the songs he used it on. [And the second Silver Jubilee - the one we used with that guitar for some time - became the "Slash's Rig" with the Les Paul]"

Question by:

- Bruno Emilio - Varginha, MG - Brazil
- Olly Green - Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire - UK

Check out our interview with Dave Lee: Português | English