If you think you are a kamikaze luthier, read on !
The Harmony afficionado may have noticed the Harmony inspiration on JJ Cale "Troubadour" LP cover. But there is more. On many of his most well known albums, JJ Cale used a "fifty dollar Harmony" in studio. This guitar, born as a Harmony H162, had been "a bit modified", check by yourself on the images and videos below...
"My favorite guitar is this old fifty dollar Harmony, now backless for easier access to the electronics. Originally it was a round hole acoustic, but I've added five pickups for making records and playing concerts. Four of the pickups are Gibson, two of which are low impedance for recording direct. The other bar type pickup came from a Sears Silvertone guitar, it was manufactured by Dano Electro. The guitar has three high impedance outs and one low."
From a JJ Cale's more recent interview, the modified guitar has seen a lot of use, and was damaged (!) during a plane trip. He said he still have it, somewhere in a closet...
For the images below, thanks to Guillaume ! These are scanned from a songbook. Visit Guillaume's site about JJCale, some details on each song, about instruments and recording.
Video samples below are from the DVD "JJ Cale, In session at The Paradise Studios, Los Angeles, 1979", featuring Leon Russell.
About the action...
"T-Bone backwards" (JJ's guitar in the left speaker)
