00:00The reason we only stock D'Addario Strings is because D'Addario Strings are perfect.
00:04When people come in here, they think that we get them for free or something like that, but we don't.
00:08We have no other reason except for dependability and tone.
00:15Well, at the top of this tour, I guess in 2023, we approached Fender about coming back to them.
00:24He was with Gibson Forever with his 333 signature model that was really cool.
00:30And we had always discussed what he might do if he ever actually did go back to Fender, because the Strat is not really his thing anymore.
00:39And a number of us had the suggestion that the Starrcaster body would be kind of the closest fit to the 333.
00:47And he's a tall guy, so I think it's really about the proportions of what it looks like.
00:54And so Brian Thrasher made all of the guitars here.
00:58Yeah, he seems to be the Blink guy's first call.
01:03Yeah, he's great.
01:04He's a phenomenal guitar builder.
01:07And he kind of came up with this whole thing.
01:10And it's pretty standard to what Tom has always used.
01:14Single bridge pickup.
01:16Single volume knob.
01:18Now, in these, it's different because I know back in the Strat days and then even, I think,
01:22I know he had the Dirty Fingers with Gibson, but it's a different Duncan, right?
01:25Yes, so this is the HS5.
01:27Okay.
01:28Yeah.
01:28I think that's like a Duncan custom.
01:30It's a Duncan custom.
01:31Okay.
01:31That's right, yeah.
01:32And that's what's in all of these.
01:33Do you know if there's a reason why I didn't go with the Invader?
01:36You know, I don't actually know.
01:38I think that he maybe, like, wanted to, he maybe wanted to just tone it down or change it up.
01:45Because they're really hot.
01:47Yeah.
01:47Yeah, dude.
01:48And I think that really worked for him, you know, back in the day.
01:52But I think he just may have had these in a few of his guitars.
01:57Yeah.
01:57Thought that this would be a good idea, you know.
02:00So, yeah.
02:01But otherwise, pretty standard.
02:02I know, obviously, you've got the standard Fender scale length.
02:06One pickup.
02:07Yep.
02:07Trouble bleed circuit, or is it just straight volume?
02:10Straight volume.
02:10Yeah.
02:10And so, yep, good.
02:14Stop tail piece, two nomadic, ABR1, you know, Grover's on a few of them.
02:22The first four got Grover's, and then the rest have the Fender locking tuners.
02:27We got the Lumilay Dots, which is super convenient for him.
02:32It's convenient for anyone, really.
02:34It's practical.
02:34You can't really, you know, no one's ever going to know that unless, you know, you're standing over it.
02:38Yeah.
02:38This is one of my particular favorites.
02:41It's the Mystic Aztec Gold.
02:43Okay.
02:44It's rad.
02:45Yeah.
02:46When Brian first sent these, it was, he sent four, and he said that this was also maybe his favorite sounding one.
02:54Okay.
02:54They all kind of have the same sound, but for some reason, I think this one kind of just does a thing.
03:00Yeah.
03:00It's weird how wood works like that.
03:02Yeah.
03:02You've got the same tone woods and everything.
03:03Yeah.
03:04Same pickup, but sometimes guitars just speak in a different way.
03:06Different way.
03:07This one gets played for one song, too.
03:10Which one?
03:11Feeling This.
03:12Okay.
03:12Yeah.
03:13And who did that handiwork?
03:14The tape?
03:15So this is all Tom.
03:16You know, in true fashion for what he's into, you couldn't just have a plain guitar.
03:24No.
03:25So when we first got these four, I'll show you.
03:27I'll get into it later.
03:28Okay.
03:29But there's some stickers on some.
03:30And he was staring at this on my work box, and he just looked at me, and he's like, do you
03:35have any gaff tape?
03:36And he went, of course I do.
03:39Sure, but why?
03:39Well, what do you want?
03:40He goes, just give me.
03:42I'm like, okay.
03:43And then he just did this, and then wrote a little message on it, which is, only he knows
03:49what it's about.
03:51You know?
03:52And, you know, over the last several years, it's really started to come undone in a kind
03:58of a cool way, actually.
03:59You know?
04:00Starting to relic.
04:01Yeah.
04:02For a while, too, I think that people actually thought it was painted.
04:06You know, because from the audience, it's hard to tell from pretty far away that this
04:09was actually just white gaff tape.
04:12Now, I know he's been a long-time Ernie Ball guy, so what strings is he currently running
04:16on all these?
04:17Ooh, we use a custom gauge set, actually.
04:20Um, we use 52 to 11 with a wound G.
04:24Okay.
04:24Uh, Paradigm.
04:26Oh, all right.
04:26Ernie Ball.
04:27Um, shout out Tim Dove.
04:30Oh, there you go.
04:30Yeah.
04:31And, um, yeah, so I just send him the set that we want that kind of fits for keeping him
04:38in tune.
04:39Yeah.
04:39Yeah.
04:40What's the reason with the custom wound G, then?
04:43Keeping him in tune.
04:44Literally.
04:45Yeah.
04:45Intonation.
04:46Yeah.
04:46Yeah.
04:46Yeah.
04:47Yeah.
04:47Just anything to give it.
04:48He, he, he's not really doing a lot of bending, as you may know.
04:52Yeah.
04:53You know?
04:53Um, and so he didn't really need to, the wound G just kind of makes the guitar sit a little
04:59bit more in tune for him.
05:00Okay.
05:01Cool.
05:01Well, let's, uh, meet some of these other friends.
05:03All right.
05:04Um, this guy, this one is maybe my particular favorite.
05:09Um, Sam Larson is a longtime friend of Tom.
05:15Um, I think, uh, they used to work together at Macbeth.
05:19Okay.
05:20Uh, and he's an artist and we sent him a blank body and he painted this all by hand and sent
05:28it back.
05:29Oh, right.
05:29Yeah.
05:29And it's got this really nice matte finish.
05:32It feels really nice.
05:34Um, yeah.
05:35You see a lot of replicas of this one on the internet, which is pretty fun.
05:40You know, a lot of people, yeah, have just, um, tried to do the same thing.
05:46And it's really cool.
05:47This is the, I miss you guitar.
05:49All right.
05:50Um, it gets played on a few other songs down.
05:53Um, is there a specific tune?
05:55You see you pull it out of the C slot?
05:56This is a standard Capo 2.
05:59Okay.
05:59Uh, Feeling This is Drop D Capo 2.
06:02Okay.
06:03Um, but yeah, this one's really special.
06:06And, um, it gets a special spot every night.
06:10It's a cool Tom, you know, all the things that Tom does.
06:12Yeah, there's a lot of little things in here that, you know, Loch Ness and I don't know
06:18what this one's all about, but maybe he can tell you later.
06:23Aliens exist.
06:25I've heard it in a song.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Let's see what else we got here.
06:30Um, this one is the main, this is his main guitar.
06:35So.
06:35That's Milo then, right?
06:36Yeah, this is Milo.
06:37Okay.
06:37So when he, when we first got the first four, um, like, they had nothing on it, like I was
06:44saying.
06:45And he sent me a picture like a day later and he had done all of this.
06:49And, you know, it's pretty cool because a lot of the, the Sharpie, it's just Sharpie.
06:56Yeah.
06:57Uh, it's not sealed.
06:58It's not, you know, and it's just kind of coming off.
07:01Yeah.
07:01You know, I love the juxtaposition between Mark's beautifully crafted artwork.
07:06Yes.
07:06Sealed by the Fender team.
07:08And then these ones are just stickers and Sharpie.
07:10Yeah.
07:10And this guy.
07:11Yeah.
07:11Uh, but yeah, this thing gets a lot of stage time.
07:15Yep.
07:15This is the main standard guitar and the bulk of the sets played on this.
07:19Any reason?
07:20Just, just the body?
07:21I think he likes it the most.
07:22Okay.
07:22I think that he thinks, also, I think this is like a big homage to his original boxcar
07:29335.
07:31Okay.
07:31The red one.
07:32Yeah.
07:32That was covered in stickers and kind of drawn over, which was, I think the blueprint for
07:37his signature Gibson.
07:40With the Gibson.
07:41Yeah.
07:41333.
07:42Yeah.
07:44And so this is kind of, yeah, like a tip of the cap to that one.
07:47Do you have any issues?
07:48And I know you guys are running fractals.
07:50We'll get into that.
07:51And then obviously, uh, in-ear monitors, there's, I don't know how much stage volume, but is having
07:55any issues with feedback?
07:56No.
07:57Yeah.
07:57Imagine with that set up, none.
07:59No, there's no stage volume.
08:01So occasionally if he leaves it wide open at the, uh, downstage edge, the PA might catch
08:09a little bit of something and have it resonate, but, um, for the most part, it's rock solid.
08:14Yeah.
08:15Yeah.
08:15Which is kind of nice.
08:16It doesn't make it very fun to watch from the side of the stage if you don't have in-ears
08:20in.
08:20Yeah.
08:21But, yeah, yeah, they've, they've performed very well.
08:26Even when we were, um, when we were doing the stadiums last year, the stage was actually
08:32out in front of the PA and no issues whatsoever.
08:35Really?
08:35Yeah.
08:36Huh.
08:37Well, that's a testament to the, you know, everything that's working together in the ingredients.
08:41Yeah.
08:42What else do we got here?
08:43Let's see.
08:43This one's pretty fun too.
08:45This is his, uh, spare to the, to the main.
08:49So this also gets played a lot.
08:50The other main standard guitar, uh, Daphne Blue with the almost like Burberry plaid underneath.
08:59Do we have a name for this one?
09:00Yeah.
09:00I call it Plaid Pantry.
09:02That makes sense.
09:03Yeah.
09:04You know, a lot of the names.
09:06Yeah.
09:06Who, you come up with them or is it Tom?
09:08Tom comes up with some of them.
09:09Plaid Pantry is definitely something I just call it.
09:12Yeah.
09:12Cause I think it's funny and stupid.
09:15I'm a fan of alliteration.
09:16So you had me.
09:17Yeah.
09:17And yeah, one day he just was like, give me a Sharpie.
09:20And so, yeah, it's pretty cool.
09:24This is the only one with the matching headstock too.
09:28And it matches quite the bit.
09:29Like Plaid does.
09:30Yeah, it does.
09:31Now, were any of these last two part of the original four batch or no?
09:36Um, so that, the Plaid Pantry was not.
09:40Okay.
09:41Milo was.
09:41Okay.
09:42This surf green one was.
09:44The Mystic Aztec gold one is.
09:46Okay.
09:47I call this one gold member.
09:49Makes sense.
09:50Creative.
09:51Um.
09:53And.
09:55There's an Olympic white one that he uses in his dressing room.
09:58Okay.
09:59That is one of the originals.
10:01Let's see.
10:03I see two more down there.
10:05Yeah.
10:05With some fantastic artwork.
10:06This one's pretty fun.
10:07Yeah.
10:07We'll go with this one.
10:08The Canary Yellow.
10:09What's this one's name?
10:11I think I just call this one Smiley.
10:13You know?
10:14Yeah.
10:15Um.
10:15The entitled, yeah.
10:17This is what, this is Half Step Down.
10:19And currently on this leg of the tour, it's not being played at all.
10:25Okay.
10:25There's only a handful of songs.
10:26I mean, the bulk of the set is standard.
10:28You know?
10:30Um.
10:30But.
10:31All right.
10:32This is Paint Pen and Sharpie.
10:36I can see how.
10:37You can see, at one point it looked pretty rock solid, and then through the gigs, it's starting
10:45to really come undone.
10:46Yeah.
10:47But actually from a distance, I think it looks really cool.
10:50It looks almost intentional.
10:51Yeah.
10:52Yeah.
10:53And you can't, you can't buy that kind of relicking these days.
10:56No, you can't.
10:57Not even from the Murphy Lab.
10:59No.
10:59Yeah.
10:59Get out of here with that.
11:00Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, one day, all it had was the, uh, the alien here.
11:07This also glows in the dark, which is kind of fun.
11:09Yeah.
11:10Um, but he, of course, thought it needed more.
11:13And so, um, I brought it into the dressing room and held it up while it was being projected
11:21on with the image.
11:23And our, uh, Tom's day-to-day guy, Jeff Pereira, just outlined it with Sharpie.
11:28And then our photographer, uh, Daniel Rojas, just colored it in with paint then.
11:34It's a teamwork.
11:36Which is really, really funny.
11:37I had to stand here for about 15 minutes and try not to move.
11:41Because if I moved either way.
11:43Screw it.
11:43Yeah.
11:44Screw it up.
11:45Which, you know, probably wouldn't have mattered.
11:47No one would have noticed it.
11:49Let's see.
11:50Now I see a pair of, uh, long necks down here.
11:53Yeah.
11:54So that was an afterthought.
11:55Um.
11:58We added a song, Obvious, into, I think, the second leg of the U.S. run.
12:04Okay.
12:05And it was tuned pretty low for what I was comfortable with on the rest of these.
12:15And so we had Thrasher build a baritone scale neck for these guys.
12:22And with the reverse headstock.
12:24Which is cool.
12:25It looks slick.
12:26Yeah.
12:26They're really fun to play.
12:28And they're, you know, obviously with that low of a tuning through the rig, it just feels
12:33like there's a lot of weight behind it.
12:35So what is the tuning?
12:36Because I think we talked off camera, it's kind of a...
12:38It's C standard.
12:40Okay.
12:40So it's not really...
12:41For what they're doing, it's...
12:42It's their baritone.
12:43I guess in the, uh...
12:44Oh, yeah, yeah.
12:45You're right.
12:46It's a blink baritone.
12:46It's a blink baritone.
12:48So it's baritone tuned up a step.
12:50Okay.
12:51Which is, uh...
12:52Just something I guess they'd always done, you know?
12:56Um.
12:57But yeah, this thing is really cool.
12:59And it's sad that it's not going to get played for quite a while.
13:02Yeah.
13:03Yeah.
13:03Yeah.
13:03Also, Adam's song gets played on this, which...
13:09And then would that be the C standard tuning too?
13:11Okay.
13:12Yeah.
13:12I don't know if that's what it is on the record, but...
13:15But where it sits now.
13:16Yeah.
13:17And so that one's a pretty heavy song for the guys, so...
13:21Understandably.
13:22They don't always play it.
13:24Yeah.
13:24Understandably.
13:25Yeah.
13:28Man, C.
13:31C standard isn't really that heavy in the...
13:33In the scope of things, no, but compared to what they normally would play, yeah.
13:37Absolutely, yeah.
13:39So that's kind of it.
13:40Everything's kind of, like you said, the same.
13:42Yeah.
13:42Maple necks, rosewood fretboards.
13:44The roasted maple neck too is one of my favorite touches on all of it.
13:48Let's see.
13:50Is that gotta be just more of a aesthetic?
13:54Yeah.
13:55Or do you think it changes how it feels, tone?
13:56I don't think so.
13:57Yeah.
13:58I mean, I'm sure that there are people out there that would probably claim that it does.
14:02It's...
14:02I just think that it looks beautiful.
14:04Yeah.
14:05And the, you know...
14:06Looks like caramel.
14:08Yeah.
14:08Yeah.
14:09It's really, really a beautiful finish on the neck here.
14:14Sounds like some weather's moving into beautiful Huntsville.
14:16Yeah.
14:17Yeah.
14:17Yeah.
14:19This one, it's kind of the same deal here where, um...
14:23Professional artwork?
14:24Tom asked for gaff tape, and I said, which color do you want?
14:29And he said, to give me all of the ones that you have.
14:34But, yeah.
14:35He seems like an interesting guy to work for.
14:38Yeah.
14:38Like, no two days are the same.
14:41Uh, no.
14:41He's...
14:42He's an absolute sweetheart.
14:44And so, it's a pleasure working with him.
14:46Yeah.
14:47These guys make me laugh.
14:49As anyone...
14:50I don't know, man.
14:51They seem pretty serious.
14:52I know.
14:53I don't know.
14:54Yeah.
14:54There's a lot of laughs.
14:55There's a lot of laughs.
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