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Re: gear details



First of all, the guitar in question is a Gibson SG Special, not Custom.  The
biggest difference between these two guitars is the pickups-a Custom uses
humbuckers and a Special uses P-90 single coils.  This makes a TREMENDOUS
difference in sound.  I'm sorry, I don't know anything about "shaving off the
back", but it's possible that the Special is thinner than the Custom.  It's
important to note that Gibson marketed the Custom as a fancy, pro
feature-laden guitar, and the Special was considered a low-level, budget or
even beginner's guitar.

Regarding amps (and whether a French company did mods), one should keep in
mind that Pete was responsible for the invention of two of Rock's all-time
greatest amps-the HiWatt, and the Marshall 100-watt.  "They (Marshall
100-watters) had been designed to meet the demand from guitarists,
specifically Pete Townshend, for more power than the 50-watt could give"-from
THE HISTORY OF MARSHALL.  So Pete began using the earliest 100-Watt
Marshalls, but apparently the output transformers couldn't handle the power.
 This gave these amps their incredible tone, but also led them to blow up on
stage.  Enter HiWatt.  They built a 100-Watt amp that was nearly identical to
the Marshall in electronic design, but used higher qualty parts-specifically
the output transformer.  As a result, HiWatts are known for being louder and
cleaner than Marshalls, and they didn't blow up.  HiWatt's "first big
customer was Pete Townshend"-they "built several amps for Pete"-from THE TUBE
AMP BOOK (There's a photo of a HiWatt with THE WHO on the faceplate, and
another that says THE OX). So it's kind of hard to believe that someone would
build and design an amp specifically for Pete, and he would then take it to
France to have it modified.  But, you never know...

BTW, the other story on why Pete changed from Marshall to HiWatt is that the
Who had run up an incredible bill from Jim Marshall's store for guitars,
amps, drums, etc. m When Pete called to order another amp, Mr. Marshall
refused any more purchases until the bill was paid off-and Pete switched to
HiWatt! 

If anyone else has any info, I'd love to hear from you.  Sorry this is so
long!