U2 & Guitar Gear: Q & A

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:QUESTION: What do Bono, The Edge and I have in common?
ANSWER: Each of us have played "One" on a Gretsch Country Club.

I had an opportunity to play "One" with The Joshua Tree, last weekend. Great fun & quite the honor to be asked to play a song with such a great band! And I got to play a fantastic Gretsch Country Club.

Here's a pic:
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JT put on a great show. They are super nice folks. Always a joy to see them play. If you ever have the chance to see them - GO! You will not be disappointed. They do play lots of tunes that U2 no longer play (or have not played live) - like The Unforgettable Fire, Hallelujah Here She Comes, All Along The Watchtower, Sweetest Thing, Helter Skelter, UltraViolet... plus tons of other great songs.

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:QUESTION: What do Bono, The Edge and I have in common?
ANSWER: Each of us have played "One" on a Gretsch Country Club.

I had an opportunity to play "One" with The Joshua Tree, last weekend. Great fun & quite the honor to be asked to play a song with such a great band! And I got to play a fantastic Gretsch Country Club.

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]By the way, did you really attend and played in a U2-tribute concert with a The Police t-shirt? Hhahahahahahaahahhahaahhaa XDDDD

Originally posted by AAV711:Nice. Always though the Country Club was one of the best-looking guitars out there. So it played well? What'd you think of the sound? You used an AC30 for amplification I take it...?

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:[..]

I was playing through a Valvetronix. It sounded pretty great. I liked it alot. If I had the spare change I'd have a Cadillac Green Country Club, like that one, in a New York second.

Not that a Country Gentleman wouldn't be bad either... or a White Falcon...

Yes... I know... I'm a guitar whore.

Originally posted by anstratdubh1979:Say what you might about Bono's guitar playing... and many have unfairly mocked it... He's got some nice acoustics AND electrics.\

How about this lovely Gibson Les Paul?
[image]

[image]

Bono played this guitar for "Last Night On Earth" at various shows during the 1997-98 PopMart tour.

The Edmonton YouTube footage (left) also shows him playing this guitar.
[YouTube Video]

Foxboro, MA "Last Night On Earth" with hologram finish
[YouTube Video]

Judging by the video shots from behind Bono during the Edmonton footage, it seems that this guitar might actually his Black Les Paul with the hologram sticker affixed to it. You can see black on the back of the hologram model, later pics of this guitar show that it is all hologram (the rest of the finish / sticker finally applied?

Here's the Black LP I am referring to
[image]

As for the hologram / metallic finish model... It was used for "Last Night On Earth" at the Rotterdam show, opening night of the European Pop Mart tour. Bono was also using his black Les Paul Custom during the opening shows of PopMart.

Whether it was the weight of the guitar or merely preference of tone, both Les Paul's seemed to be set aside in favor of his Gretch Tennessean and the two sparkle finish ES-175's.

Perhaps the Les Paul's were being used because the ES-175's hadn't arrived from the Gibson Custom Shop yet? Or merely experiementation that led him from the Les Pauls to the Tennessean, blue Gibson ES-175 and red Gibson ES175.

Originally posted by thechicken:Hey, talking about Rickenbakers...the early Beatles guitar sound...is it humubckers or singles??
I think that George is humbucker and John is single. Does anyone know about this?