Imagine Dragons’ Wayne Sermon: “I’m not a purist or a snob – most vintage guitars are clunkers”
The debate over vintage versus new gear is a longstanding one, with passionate arguments on both sides. Pink Floyd legend David Gilmour recently weighed in, asserting that, like fine wine, guitars get “better with age” and that older instruments possess a certain je ne sais quoi that newer ones simply can’t replicate. Even ‘new gear’ enthusiast Marty Friedman has admitted to “seeing the light” on the hype surrounding vintage gear.
Imagine Dragons’ Wayne Sermon, meanwhile, argues that besides the occasional “diamond in the rough”, the majority of aged guitars are “clunkers”.
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Speaking about the gear used in the making of Imagine Dragons’ latest album Loom, Sermon tells Guitar World that the entire record was recorded with a ‘64 Strat, a ‘58 Les Paul Goldtop and a ‘55 Fender Tweed.
“The Goldtop is so special and plays so, so nice,” he says. “I haven’t bought another guitar since. It rings for days, just like Nigel from Spinal Tap says. It doesn’t go to 11, but it’s such a special guitar, and I’m so lucky to play it every day.”
“I’m not highbrow about that stuff, but the Goldtop is kind of nuts! I don’t know what was happening between ’57 and ’60 at the Gibson factory… I don’t know if it was the luthiers or the wood, but all the hype around those guitars is real.”
While he was sceptical about the whole “vintage thing” at first, Sermon says that he got into old gear because of his longtime guitar tech.
“The guitar tech that I’ve had for over a decade, Shane Johnson, lives in Austin, Texas, where there’s tons of vintage gear. He’s super-into it and he’ll give me a heads-up on things that come in.”
The guitarist also acknowledges that while some vintage guitars are exceptional, the majority fall short in terms of performance and consistency.
“I was reticent to do the vintage thing because, in my experience, it seems like 60 or 70 percent of vintage guitars are clunkers – a new guitar will beat their sound and how they play,” he says. “I’m not a purist or a snob about it; if you do get that diamond in the rough, that special guitar, it really is next-level.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
