Always been a mystery. Where is Micawber normally? Where are all these famous guitars? Do they keep them at home and bring them every time they get together? Is Charlie´s Gretsch in his house or in a warehouse or deposit?
The amps, the cymbals, where are they kept? Who takes care of them?

I some warehouse, I believe. I think this has been discussed here before, so you could try the search function to find it (make sure to set the time for more than 30 days).

After a tour, they pawn everything.
Then Jagger collects a nice check, flies to Bermuda and handles the money to some shay investment fund that guarantees a 15% yearly interest rate.

It used to be a lock up in Bermondsey, sarf London for a long time.

The value of these instruments is astronomical. One because its vintage and two they are rock icons because of thier owners. It would make sense they warehouse them so they can have regular maintenance when not on the road and in order to carry enough insurance on them.

Go Dawgs!

If you look at pictures of Keith at home or lounging around the Caribbean, such as in "Life," or when he jumps up for quick spontaneous cameo performances on stage with other musicians, it's always different guitars from the main classic ones they use onstage, it's never his "normal" ones. I would think they go into storage when not in use.

Not nearly on the same level as the Stones, but I was just talking to a serious working musician about this same topic over this past weekend -- he is over 40, relatively established as a pro working musician, settling down with his longtime girlfriend, and now he no longer wants to have piles of amps and cables and guitars and stands laying all over his house, cluttering up whole rooms. He hates it. It becomes like "work" and the trappings of work, in spite of it being one of the greatest jobs ever. I bet Charlie has a nice small jazz kit somewhere in his house, and Keith probably has a nice acoustic or two at hand, always nearby. George Harrison used to sit around the house and mainly play ukelele all the time at home.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-02 17:14 by Turning To Gold.

A number of years ago, I seem to remember Charlie (talking about his love/hate relationship with touring) say that he can't play the drums at home, so if he wants to play, he has to go on the road.

One night at the Watts' estate:

"Oh bloody 'ell. Are ya banging on those bleedin' drums again Cholly? You're drivin' me right 'round the bend. When are ya gonna get a proper job?"

Earlier this year I've sent some questions for Andy Babiuk (author of The Rolling Stones Gear) for an interview, and here's what he told about it:

Q - Did the Stones gave you full access to their instruments and musical equipment?

A - Yes, Pierre de Beauport who is in charge of all the Stones gear was very helpful. Pierre was great in helping find and make sure that we got all the right instruments photographed for the book.

Q - Where do they keep their guitars and musical equipment on the break of the tours? Is there any special treatment, like a conditioned room or something like that?

A - That is really private information for obvious security reasons. All the equipment is well taken care of when not on the road.

during a radio 2 interview -2010 12 28; at home with-
richards revealed he owns about 3000 guitars.
they are gathering dust in a warehouse.



"the storage costs more than they're worth.
i don't even consider myself a guitar player. i am not a hendrix or clapton."
it’s a GAS, GAS, GAS [Guitar Acquisition Syndrome]

Warehouse 13 . .

area 51

Must be the hell of a tour, walking in that depo...
They could put them in display and sell tickets. I would pay

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varilla
Must be the hell of a tour, walking in that depo...
They could put them in display and sell tickets. I would pay

Your post got me thinking of an exhibit I saw at the Boston Museum of Art called "Dangerous Curves: Art of The Guitar". A Google search led me to: this website for the "Museum of Musical Instruments". I don't remember seeing any Stones guitars that day in Boston but thought you may enjoy poking around the website to see what you can find.

Peace,
Mr DJA

Quote
Cristiano Radtke
Earlier this year I've sent some questions for Andy Babiuk (author of The Rolling Stones Gear) for an interview, and here's what he told about it:

Q - Did the Stones gave you full access to their instruments and musical equipment?

A - Yes, Pierre de Beauport who is in charge of all the Stones gear was very helpful. Pierre was great in helping find and make sure that we got all the right instruments photographed for the book.

Q - Where do they keep their guitars and musical equipment on the break of the tours? Is there any special treatment, like a conditioned room or something like that?

A - That is really private information for obvious security reasons. All the equipment is well taken care of when not on the road.

I have the impression, and this is my personal opinion, that Babiuk didn't get any access to any instruments at all, except for an interview with Pierre and the opportunity to photograph all the current touring instruments. Fact is that about all actual instruments shown in the book are either from the current touring setup, or owned by the Hard Rock Cafe. Babiuk didn't get access to Wyman's collection of basses, or any collection from Wood or Richards other than the current touring instruments.

Concerning the amount of guitars owned by Richards -it has been stated he owns thousands of instruments. I bet he does, but it actually is striking if you look at the number of instruments he actually used live on stage. From 69 until 1989 he basically used 2 to 4 different instruments per show, and that was it.

Mathijs

Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

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TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

Really?

1969: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. As backup: ES-330, ES-355 and LP Bigsby (tuned to open G)

1970: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. Backups for both guitars

1971: Same as 1970

1972: Gibson LP for standard tuning, Fender Strat and Telecaster for open G, LP ’54 Custom as backup for standard tuning

1973: Gibson Les Paul Junior for standard tuning, Newman Jones and Tele for open G. SG Custom for MR during the Winter Tour

1975: Fender Tele Custom for open Tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. LP Junior for Midnight Rambler

1976: same as 1975

1978: Fender Tele Custom and Newman Jones Tele for standard tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. Ron Wood’s LP Special for BoB.

1981: Fender Tele Custom for standard tuning, 3 Fender Tele’s and 1 Schecter Tele for open G. Newman Jones Tele (now with Schecter body) for Let’s Spend, for which he used a LP Junior Double and Single cut for the first few gigs.

There’s the odd appearance here and there: the use of hired instruments in Vancouver and Seattle 1972, the Travis Bean in 1975, the LP Special with humbuckers in 1982 etc.

I might forgot a guitar here and there, but the list of used instruments is quite limited, IMO.

Mathijs

Quote
Mathijs
I have the impression, and this is my personal opinion, that Babiuk didn't get any access to any instruments at all, except for an interview with Pierre and the opportunity to photograph all the current touring instruments. Fact is that about all actual instruments shown in the book are either from the current touring setup, or owned by the Hard Rock Cafe. Babiuk didn't get access to Wyman's collection of basses, or any collection from Wood or Richards other than the current touring instruments.

Concerning the amount of guitars owned by Richards -it has been stated he owns thousands of instruments. I bet he does, but it actually is striking if you look at the number of instruments he actually used live on stage. From 69 until 1989 he basically used 2 to 4 different instruments per show, and that was it.

Mathijs

I understand what you're saying, but let's not forget that what the authors wanted to show with this book are the instruments used onstage and in studio. If their intention were to document all of the Stones' instruments, then they would need to write something similar to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

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Mathijs

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

Really?

1969: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. As backup: ES-330, ES-355 and LP Bigsby (tuned to open G)

1970: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. Backups for both guitars

1971: Same as 1970

1972: Gibson LP for standard tuning, Fender Strat and Telecaster for open G, LP ’54 Custom as backup for standard tuning

1973: Gibson Les Paul Junior for standard tuning, Newman Jones and Tele for open G. SG Custom for MR during the Winter Tour

1975: Fender Tele Custom for open Tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. LP Junior for Midnight Rambler

1976: same as 1975

1978: Fender Tele Custom and Newman Jones Tele for standard tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. Ron Wood’s LP Special for BoB.

1981: Fender Tele Custom for standard tuning, 3 Fender Tele’s and 1 Schecter Tele for open G. Newman Jones Tele (now with Schecter body) for Let’s Spend, for which he used a LP Junior Double and Single cut for the first few gigs.

There’s the odd appearance here and there: the use of hired instruments in Vancouver and Seattle 1972, the Travis Bean in 1975, the LP Special with humbuckers in 1982 etc.

I might forgot a guitar here and there, but the list of used instruments is quite limited, IMO.

Mathijs

by your own count is that not more than 2-4 instruments for Keith ? that was my whole point !

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

I noticed too about this person. seams to make things up all the time. I laugh when he talks about sending emails to Pierre.

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RockinJive

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

I noticed too about this person. seams to make things up all the time. I laugh when he talks about sending emails to Pierre.

very good observation . to use his own word about Pierre PURE BOLLOCKS . Send me your questions and i will forward them to Pierre and he will answer them for us . yeah right .what a laugh . dont make promises that will not be kept , after the question stuff when we never got answers i asked what about Pierre and our question , to which the above mentioned responded oh the stones are on tour and Pierre is BUSY . yeah okay .

Guys, don't diss a long-time valuable contributor to the board like this. No one here is even close to having the profound knowledge about guitars as he has.

Cool it. It's not his fault that Pierre hasn't replied to the pile of questions we had for him.

Quote
TheGreek

Quote
RockinJive

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

I noticed too about this person. seams to make things up all the time. I laugh when he talks about sending emails to Pierre.

very good observation . to use his own word about Pierre PURE BOLLOCKS . Send me your questions and i will forward them to Pierre and he will answer them for us . yeah right .what a laugh . dont make promises that will not be kept , after the question stuff when we never got answers i asked what about Pierre and our question , to which the above mentioned responded oh the stones are on tour and Pierre is BUSY . yeah okay .

He knows quite a lot about the Stones etc, more than you and me. I don't always agree on his 'Taylor's playing statements' though.

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DandelionPowderman
Guys, don't diss a long-time valuable contributor to the board like this. No one here is even close to having the profound knowledge about guitars as he has.
Cool it. It's not his fault that Pierre hasn't replied to the pile of questions we had for him.

I agree. Mathijs has provided great and accurate info about guitars, gear and the Stones using them and I am appreciative. peace

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DandelionPowderman
Guys, don't diss a long-time valuable contributor to the board like this. No one here is even close to having the profound knowledge about guitars as he has.

Cool it. It's not his fault that Pierre hasn't replied to the pile of questions we had for him.

very true-i've talked with mathijs via the net for years on a couple of different stones boards and he knows what he's talking about.

if you have a problem with something he said address that exact topic,dont just make a blanket statement that he "makes stuff up"

and by the way that was a valid point about keiths guitars on tour-his guitars are probably "working" guitars and "collection" guitars a small amount on tour vs a big difference in what he actually owns.

Quote
TheGreek

Quote
Mathijs

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

Really?

1969: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. As backup: ES-330, ES-355 and LP Bigsby (tuned to open G)

1970: Dan Armstrong for standard tuning, LP Custom for open G. Backups for both guitars

1971: Same as 1970

1972: Gibson LP for standard tuning, Fender Strat and Telecaster for open G, LP ’54 Custom as backup for standard tuning

1973: Gibson Les Paul Junior for standard tuning, Newman Jones and Tele for open G. SG Custom for MR during the Winter Tour

1975: Fender Tele Custom for open Tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. LP Junior for Midnight Rambler

1976: same as 1975

1978: Fender Tele Custom and Newman Jones Tele for standard tuning, Zemaitis and Tele for open G. Ron Wood’s LP Special for BoB.

1981: Fender Tele Custom for standard tuning, 3 Fender Tele’s and 1 Schecter Tele for open G. Newman Jones Tele (now with Schecter body) for Let’s Spend, for which he used a LP Junior Double and Single cut for the first few gigs.

There’s the odd appearance here and there: the use of hired instruments in Vancouver and Seattle 1972, the Travis Bean in 1975, the LP Special with humbuckers in 1982 etc.

I might forgot a guitar here and there, but the list of used instruments is quite limited, IMO.

Mathijs

by your own count is that not more than 2-4 instruments for Keith ? that was my whole point !

He said 2-4 instruments per show. Isn't that exactly what this list says? Do you have any contradictory evidence? Sounds spot on to me.

In the middle 80's I was sent to SIR in NYC to pick up Keith's white early 60's rosewood neck Tele for a recording session with Earl Slick. I believe I met world famous guitar roadie Alan Rogan there although he's usually associated with The Who, E.C. and AC DC, I vaguely recall it was him. Anyhow they had a big room there full of tweed, tan and brown guitar cases. I was told The Stones rarely buy guitars because they themselves had a full selection of every vintage model. I was blown away and the guitar tech whoever he was could see my reaction. For whatever reason I asked to see Mick Jagger's mid 60's SG and it was produced to me in an instant. I have no doubt guitars from Brian and all eras of the band were stored there, the inventory was astounding. In those days when the band was breaking up and Keith and Mick went solo both Stones were around NY all the time so I guess that's why the gear was there but I doubt they store at SIR these days.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-12-04 21:27 by DoomandGloom.

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TheGreek
by your own count is that not more than 2-4 instruments for Keith ? that was my whole point !

I think we are a bit lost in translation. I meant 2 to 4 guitars per show and even tour. I still find it amazing for example that he basically used 3 guitars for the entire 1972 tour, and 3 guitars for the 1973 European tour. From 1969 until date he basically selects one guitar for standard tuning and 2 or 3 for open tuning. I find that amazing, for a guitarist of his stature. Go to an Aerosmith or Black Crowes show and you'll see a new guitar for each of the 25 songs, and the next show another 25.

Mathijs

Quote
Cristiano Radtke

Quote
Mathijs
I have the impression, and this is my personal opinion, that Babiuk didn't get any access to any instruments at all, except for an interview with Pierre and the opportunity to photograph all the current touring instruments. Fact is that about all actual instruments shown in the book are either from the current touring setup, or owned by the Hard Rock Cafe. Babiuk didn't get access to Wyman's collection of basses, or any collection from Wood or Richards other than the current touring instruments.

Concerning the amount of guitars owned by Richards -it has been stated he owns thousands of instruments. I bet he does, but it actually is striking if you look at the number of instruments he actually used live on stage. From 69 until 1989 he basically used 2 to 4 different instruments per show, and that was it.

Mathijs

I understand what you're saying, but let's not forget that what the authors wanted to show with this book are the instruments used onstage and in studio. If their intention were to document all of the Stones' instruments, then they would need to write something similar to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

But they missed that point! I am really eager to know more about the Newman Jones guitars, and the Zemaitis guitars -what pickups, woods, and whatever more. But we don't get anything, and what we get is wrong information. There's no info about the 1973 Newman Jones, other than there were 2 guitars (there is only one). There's no info about the first metal top Zemaitis that was stolen in 1979, and about the Disc Zemaitis there's an erroneous statement that it is hollow and filled with cotton.

Mathijs

Quote
TheGreek

Quote
RockinJive

Quote
TheGreek
Mathijs totally wrong about Keith and the amount of instruments used live on stage between 69-89 . Keith used more than 2-4 instruments per show . sometimes i wonder how you make this stuff up .our eyes do not lie to us and i am sure there are others here that will verify this as FACT.

I noticed too about this person. seams to make things up all the time. I laugh when he talks about sending emails to Pierre.

very good observation . to use his own word about Pierre PURE BOLLOCKS . Send me your questions and i will forward them to Pierre and he will answer them for us . yeah right .what a laugh . dont make promises that will not be kept , after the question stuff when we never got answers i asked what about Pierre and our question , to which the above mentioned responded oh the stones are on tour and Pierre is BUSY . yeah okay .

It is very unfortunate Pierre chose not to answer the list of questions I sent him. I do not know why -maybe the list was too long, maybe he was not allowed too for whatever reason. I do not know the reason.

Mathijs

Quote
Mathijs

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TheGreek
by your own count is that not more than 2-4 instruments for Keith ? that was my whole point !

I think we are a bit lost in translation. I meant 2 to 4 guitars per show and even tour. I still find it amazing for example that he basically used 3 guitars for the entire 1972 tour, and 3 guitars for the 1973 European tour. From 1969 until date he basically selects one guitar for standard tuning and 2 or 3 for open tuning. I find that amazing, for a guitarist of his stature. Go to an Aerosmith or Black Crowes show and you'll see a new guitar for each of the 25 songs, and the next show another 25.

Mathijs

Yeah but to be fair you are talking about completely different eras. Back in 1972 and 1973 I doubt many bands used more than the minimum guitars they needed to get through the show. Starting in the late 70's and continuing to present day we see guitarists bringing more axes on the stage and changing them out more often.

I remember seeing a Cheap Trick show from the late 70's and counting about 20 guitars on stands on stage and thinking, why does he need so many of 'em?

peace