Gatton Gear
Reprinted from July 1993 Guitar Player magazine.

Although Gatton works on most of his equipment himself, Jay Monterose takes care of his gear on the road, fabricates stainless steel parts, and handles most of the electronic work. "Jay is the best welder in the world," Gatton comments. "He's made things that have gone on the space shuttle." One of Monterose's current projects is updating Gatton's Magic Dingus box, a guitar-mounted control device that operates an Echoplex, amp reverb and vibrato, phase shifters, and other effects. Monterose is working on a wireless version.

Danny's main guitar is a Danny Gatton Telecaster prototype built by Mike Stevens at Fender's Custom Shop. The guitar, serial number DG00001, features early-model Joe Barden pickups, a stainless steel bridge plate, heavily knurled stainless steel knobs, and a 1 meg tone pot with a .05 capacitor to create wah effects. "Originally that guitar came with a painstakingly applied butterscotch finish, " Monterose remarks. "Danny's brother refinished it with Ditzler sunshine yellow over a gold base to make it look like an ES-295. They had to do it over and over until it was perfect." Other modifications include James Burton's autograph scratched into the front and raccoon prints on the back. Gatton also plays the first production model of his signature Telecaster, which he had modified by adding a center pickup between the stock ones.

Gatton prefers to use a pair of late-'50s tweed Fender Twin amps. "One of those amps is serial number 40," says Monterose. "He's had that since the mid '60s, and he's been playing it since then." The other Twin has four 5881 tubes and a pair of SRO speakers. Gatton also owns a Super Reverb, two Bassman reissues, and three Vibroverb reissues that have been heavily modified.

Until Gatton revives his Magic Dingus box, the only effect he uses is a delay unit - either an old tube Echoplex or a Chandler digital echo. "He only uses it when we're doing the rockabilly stuff, " Monterose explains. "Other than that, it's just reverb and tremelo on the amp. Danny gets all his organ effects by turning his tone pot down and turning the volume up. With the Barden pickups, he can get three distinct organ tones by selecting pickups."

-CG

(Find out more about Jay Monterose and Vintique.)

1953 Fender Telecaster

The original '53 that all the Signature models were designed from. Danny played this instrument throughout most of the 1980's into the early '90's, up to the time his Signature model was built by Fender.

Certificate of Authenticity, signed by Danny.

Here's the back of that '53 Telecaster. Talk about wear and tear!

Fender Danny Gatton Signature Telecaster #0001

The first numbered prototype Signature model, built for Danny by Mike Steven of the Fender Custom Shop, shown here with original pickguard and Fender Certificate of Authenticity. Painted gold. Note Danny's handywork of the middle pickup addition and the "aged" pickguard.

Read it from Danny himself.

Fender Danny Gatton Signature
Telecaster #0002

The second numbered prototype Signature model, built for Danny. Natural blonde finish. Only played once.

Read it from Danny himself.

1992 Fender Custom Shop Bass

Built specifically for Danny. '54 Contour body, '59 Jazz Bass stacked pots, and the last '51 Fender P-bass reissue neck. More of these basses were built, but without the '51 necks.

Read Danny's description.

Randy Wood acoustic

Built for Danny by luthier Randy Wood. Danny had the cutaway added later. Notice the intricate pearl inlay in the neck.

View the photos below for close-ups of the pearl inlay in the fretboard, and the detailed woodwork of the neck heel.

Certificate of Authenticity.

photo © 1998 Steve Gorospe

1961 Gibson Les Paul Custom w/ Magic Dingus Box

Probably the most famous of Danny's guitars. A black triple-pickup with custom pinstriping and pickup configuration selection (wired by Danny himself). Stock PAF pickups. An added bridge plate held the Magic Dingus box (the original box shown here) that controlled several effects units, including a Leslie speaker cabinet.

Certificate of Authenticity.

The ORIGINAL Magic Dingus Box and Effects

Here is a piece of history, predating MIDI for multiple effects control. Pictured from top of photo to bottom: Echoplex tape, Magic Dingus Box and cable, Echoplex, MXR EQ. The Magic Dingus Box also controlled the speeds of the rotating horn in a Leslie speaker cabinet (not pictured). When not in use, the Magic Dingus Box is stored in this specially built box that houses what you see here. The box is vented, and has a small plaque on the front engraved
"D W GATTON".

Designed by Danny and his dad, Danny Sr.

Gold Telecaster, 1st unnumbered prototype Danny Gatton Signature model that Fender ever made

Mike Stevens, then of the Fender Custom Shop, personally built this guitar. Danny used this guitar to record 88 Elmira St., Cruisin' Deuces, and also used it some to record Relentless. Danny's favorite guitar and workhorse from the "88 Elmira St." sessions right up to the last tour.

Fender Custom Double-Neck Telecaster

Built in the Fender Custom Shop by Fred Stewart and delivered to Danny in early '94. The bottom neck is a Telecaster version of the 30" scale Fender 6-string bass. The top neck is a standard Telecaster neck. The top three pickups are Joe Barden Strat pickups, laid out under the scale length of the string length of where they would be located on a Telecaster. The top neck also has a tremelo tail piece, which is the only right AND left handed tailpiece that Fender has ever built. The tremelo arm (not shown) is a short arm that just fits under the palm of your hand. The bottom neck has Joe Barden Strat pickups in the neck and middle positions, and a Joe Barden Tele pickup in the bridge position. The pickups are placed in scale length Telecaster positions. Controls on the bottom consist of a standard Telcaster plate, a 5-position switch, and volume and tone controls that matched Danny's Telecaster. For the top, the volume and tone are one concentric control similar to a stacked-pot Jazz bass from the '60's. The center knob is the volume and the outer ring is the tone control. The pickup selector switch is also a 5-position switch. The body is made of two pieces of wood. The necks are ultra-curly 5A quality flamed maple. The hardware is gold. The finish is an extremely opaque blonde, and not much grain shows through.

Hear Danny briefly describe this guitar! (from In Concert 9/9/94)

1954 Gibson ES-295 with Bigsby tailpiece

This guitar was allegedly Scotty Moore's guitar that he used on early Elvis Preseley recordings (on the Sun label). Danny bought the guitar in Memphis from some folks who claimed to have bought it from Scotty. Due to certain characteristics of the guitar, Danny and Jay believed this guitar was the actual one.

Scotty had his manager contact me to verify that this guitar was NOT his.

Blue Strat

Danny got this guitar from Ed Eastridge of Big Mo Studios. During the recording sessions of Cruisin' Deuces (1993), Danny wanted to use a Strat for something not related to the album. Danny liked the way this Strat felt to him (he was not a Strat man because the middle pickup got in his way). He primarily wanted to use it live, but have it available in the studio also. It is a standard sea-foam green (Fender) Custom Shop Strat. Danny swapped the neck with another Strat, and added Joe Barden Strat pickups. Danny cut the headstock to match a design he liked from another brand of guitar.

Black-and-white Custom "Mother-of-Toilet-Seat" Fender Telecaster Guitar

Built by Fred Stewart of the Fender Custom Shop. Danny saw a similar guitar in the Custom Shop back in '91 or '92, except the color scheme was reversed. The body was base white and the pickguard was base black. The white and black marks on the neck were reverse of what Danny's guitar has. Danny told Fred that he wanted one just like the one he saw hanging in the Custom Shop. Fred told Danny that he could only build one guitar like that, due to the policies of the Custom Shop. Danny told Fred to reverse the color motif. So Fred built the one pictured here. The guitar at one time had Joe Barden pickups in it, but were replaced with stock pickups for the looks. This is the guitar partially pictured in the photo on the home page of the web site.

1956 Gibson ES-295

Danny bought this guitar when he was on tour in 1993 in St. Louis at a music store called J. Gravity Strings from Jimmy Gravity. This guitar is NOT a reproduction. Jay Monterose said that this guitar was the cleanest, all original '56 that he and Danny had ever seen. Danny bought himself a birthday present.

Vega F-hole

Originally owned by Pudgy of the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. Jay Monterose played this guitar while playing rhythm guitar backing Danny in the band between late '93 and early '94.

Gibson J-200

Danny bought this guitar from Phil Zavarella of Zavarella's Music, in Crystal City, Virginia, in late 1992. It is a J-200 reissue. This guitar was accidentally dropped from a workbench in Danny's garage and the back was split from the heel of the neck all the way to the strap pin. Danny brought this guitar on the road to play during his acoustic set between '92 and '94. Danny added an acoustic pickup under the bridge and punched a hole in the guitar's top (with a hammer and a screwdriver) to add the volume knob.

1956 Gibson ES-350

This was Danny's first Gibson guitar. The guitar is rare because it has a blonde finish and a spruce top (instead of maple). This guitar is pictured with Danny in the photo on the back of 88 Elmira St. and in the photo on the inside of the CD packaging for Untouchable.

One of Danny's long-time workhorse amps. It's an original tweed Fender Bassman. I once asked Danny about using the amp without any reverb. He said, "if I turn it all the way up...it doesn't need reverb!"

Note the photo below showing Danny's autograph that he wrote inside the Bassman.

For years, one of Danny's mainstay amps was an early 60's blackface Fender Vibrolux, heavily modified. When that amp finally retired itself from Danny's abuse, Danny managed to find another blackface all-original mint Vibrolux.

Jay Monterose rebuilt this amp for Danny to use in the studio to record Relentless (note the tape with knob settings written on it).

One of Danny's favorite amps, a late '50's (1956 I think) Fender Twin. This amp has a pair of 12" SRO speakers and is super-heavy...and LOUD. Despite its cosmetic appearance, this amp was in perfect working order.

Danny's gear, stored in the garage. Note the Leslie cabinet and Danny's stool he liked to use on-stage. Also, leaning against the back of a case is one of the unfinished doors from his '34 Ford panel truck.