After playing in my surf band, The Aquatudes, for a year or so, I decided I wanted a Fender Jaguar to get the authentic surf twang. I found a nice MIJ '96 sunburst model online. It had a RED tortoiseshell pickguard, but I quickly replaced that with a nicer-looking (to me) black pearloid guard, which I think lets the sunburst show through better.

I've strung it with flatwound 11's for the plunky surf sound. The guitar sounds fantastic through the tube reverb and the Ampeg Gemini II! I've also found that I prefer the gentler vibrato action on the Jag over the more sensitive Strat-style units. I can get that Bob Bogle wiggly sound without developing tennis elbow. The only thing that bugs me about this guitar is that the pickups squeal at higher volumes, so I'll need to either wax-pot them or replace them with potted units. Stay tuned.

This is my Electra X-145 from about 1982. It's a fraternal twin of my X-140 (see below), but has gone through a major pickup reconfiguration during the summer of 2010. It was originally set up like a strat, but I decided I'd rather have a faux-Jazzmaster and made the conversion over several months.

The 145 has a maple body, a Gotoh trem, and two Jazzmaster pickups that I mounted myself. What a job - routing for the pickups, finding the right pickguard blank, and then plotting, cutting, and fitting the pickguard. Then I had to make sure I wired it all the correct way. It was all worth it, though, since I think it sounds and looks great and is now my alternate number-one guitar.

Here's a page with the three incarnations of this guitar. Someday, if I get the time, I'll lay out the reconstruction process with all the in-progress photos I took.

Here's my circa-1975 Univox Hi-Flyer. It's a so-called "phase 4" model with the different-looking but sweet-sounding Univox humbucking pickups and a stop bridge/tailpiece (like my old Gibson Melody Maker had) instead of the Jazzmaster-Jaguar-like vibrato (I wish it had the vibrato, but I couldn't pass it up). It has a 24-1/2" scale length. Of course, this guitar is a loose copy of the Mosrite guitars made popular by the Ventures.

One day I walked into a cool guitar shop in Westerly, Rhode Island, called Frets and found this pristine original Univox waiting for me. I later replaced the original black pickguard with a white one for a more correct Mosrite-like effect. I think I might put a Bigsby on it someday.

The photo at the right was taken at the Webster Theatre in Hartford, CT n in January of 2006. Photo by Mark Delorenzo.

This was my main machine for a long time- my Electra X140. I've owned this guitar since 1980, when I found it at a guitar store in NYC.

I've made some minor modifications to this guitar over the years. Early on, I decided I didn't like the little point projecting off the right side of the headstock, so I reshaped it. I also didn't like the Electra "peace sign" logo, so I sanded that off and replaced it with a "VOID" stamp from a stationery store. All my friends know this guitar as my VOID. I also replaced the control knobs with the original gold-colored knobs from my 1964 Gibson Melody Maker (which was long gone by the time I acquired the Electra).

Here's a photo of me in 1983 with my pre-mod Electra on a cable-access show called "Hartford Dead or Alive." This was with my trio called "Nice Young Men," which included my brother Dave on bass and vocals.

After many years of trouble-free service, I've given this guitar to my son.

This is my Kalamazoo archtop acoustic from the 1930's. I bought this at Melody Music in Hartford around 1985 for $25. It was a mess - pieces hanging off, a couple of big open cracks in the body, and internal braces rattling loose inside. I applied some TLC (and glue!), strung it up, and found myself with the inspiration for a whole bunch of my favorite original tunes. I've recorded some songs with this guitar, although it sounds a bit stiff when miked.

I later added a Barcus-Berry pickup, but otherwise this old guitar is all original. I also acquired a suitably beat hardshell case.

Here's my 1960's Harmony-built Silvertone Jupiter, bought in 1979 for about $50 at a guitar store in Naugatuck, Conn. - I couldn't leave without it. It's been my backup guitar at gigs for years and has also graced some of my instrumental recordings with it's characteristically twangy DeArmond sound, including the lead parts on "Venture This," "Shim Jambs (Before Cutting Bands)," and "Bongo-Shmongo."

Although it has no visible holes, it's a hollow-body guitar with a nice resonant sound to it, although it sometimes has problems with squeaky-high feedback if things get too loud. Maybe that has more to do with the pickups...

This is my Hagstrom I bass from the mid-60's with a clear Plexiglas back-painted front-piece and a red vinyl-covered back. It has four slider switches and a (currently nonfunctioning) volume knob. It also features a wooden bridge - not the best thing in the intonation department. This is the bass on all DNB tracks.

I recently changed to flat-would strings on this bass. Wow! I don't think I'll ever change back. The tone is amazing and I like the way my fingers glide up and down the fingerboard. I'd recommend flatwounds to anyone with an old, borderline-cheapo instrument like this.

This is a Magnatone Artist Series Mark VII from around 1960. I found it at Melody Music in Hartford in around 1993 or so. It has one pickup with Alnico #5 magnets, volume and tone knobs and what appears to be a "loud-soft" switch. The body is hollow-core with birch front and back panels. The neck has a rosewood fingerboard and uses a zero-fret design. I think this old Magnatone looks slightly Rickenbacker-like - in fact, it was apparently designed by Paul Barth himself.

I have used this guitar as a backup on gigs here and there with See Jane Run. It's also now on a recording, as the rhythm guitar on my instrumental tune, "Venture This." I'm starting to appreciate the sound of the single, neck-position pickup - all it takes is a little time tweaking the tone controls on the guitar and amp to get almost a Lennon-esque rhythm sound.

In the mid-90's, I bought yet another single-pickup f-hole guitar (somewhat like the Gretsch and Guild before). This one's an Eko from the 1960's.

Ever since the wife, the son, and I went to Hawaii in the early 90's, I've experienced an insanely growing interest in Hawaiian guitar music. In January of 2003 I scored this Supro Supreme lap steel on eBay. My online research indicates that this instrument was produced around 1948, making it the second-oldest piece in my collection, next to the Kalamazoo.

I am now progressing on the long and slow learning curve to master this instrument.

This is my only working 6-string round-hole acoustic. It's a Sigma by Martin (their import brand) that I bought from my Website-partner and friend at work, Gary Trail. He got a real Martin and wanted to unload this one. It has a built-in preamp and a cutaway. It's shallower than most acoustics and has a fairly bright tone, which I thought would record well. So far I've been pretty happy with this one and have actually performed with it a few times.

On the round-hole subject, here's my Stella tenor guitar. Tenor guitars have four strings and are normally tuned like a viola: CGDA. Actually, the tenor guitar was invented to allow tenor banjo players an easy way to change over to guitar when banjo began to go out of style in recordings in the 1930's. I found this instrument at an antique shop in Canton, Connecticut, called The Junk Shop and paid around $40 for it. I think it's from the 1960's. I really like the painted-on woodgrain finish - extra cheesy.

I haven't used this on any recordings yet, even though I've had it since about 1998. At one point, I walked in to find it with the bridge in pieces and the strings hanging off. After looking in vain for a replacement bridge, a repair guy at a guitar shop in NYC suggested that I simply glue it back together and onto the guitar body. Son of a gun, it has held ever since!

Speaking of tenor instruments, here is my Harmony tenor banjo. I bought this at a tag sale when I was in high school - around 1973 or so. I think I paid $20 for it at the time. It has a real skin head and is somewhat plain for a tenor banjo, at least compared to others I've seen. I have no idea how old this thing is.

This would normally be tuned to CGDA, just like the tenor guitar. This instrument appears briefly on "Bad Punch-ins (On Purpose)" on my first DNB album, both frontwards and backwards.

Here's my Fostex DMT-8vl 8-track digital recording deck. I got this on eBay in January of 2004 and have completed four songs on it so far. I like that it operates with pretty much the same thinking as my Portastudio and accepts outboard effects (which was kind of crucial to me since I'd assembled an array of effects that I really like to use).