Re: Roberts Smiths Fish guitar

StevenO · Post by **StevenO** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 5:55 pm

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/StevenOsorio
here's a link to those articles, hope they're readable. There are also some pictures which I forgot to make private that you can view. No n00d pix of me though, sorry guys and gals.

Ahahah · Post by **Ahahah** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 11:37 am

StevenO wrote: http://profile.imageshack.us/user/StevenOsorio
here's a link to those articles, hope they're readable. There are also some pictures which I forgot to make private that you can view. No n00d pix of me though, sorry guys and gals.

Thanks Steven !

I had already seen this article on picturesofyou.us articles archive sections... But I never found it when looked for it again...
There are valuable information in there...

Fall reverb · Post by **Fall reverb** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 12:31 pm

Thanks a lot Steven for scanning those pages from the article, it's very much appreciated!

StevenO · Post by **StevenO** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:26 pm

No problem!

I'm not a hug fan of the cure but I've tried so hard to get into them because soo many people make a huge fuss about them but they're just not for me. I've got all their cds and everything, but still, nope. Just glad to help.

Obsequio · Post by **Obsequio** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:32 pm

Since no one pointed this out I thought I would note my observations. Identifying the guitars by their pickguards was a brilliant idea. Indeed the one with the two marks under the top 20 pick up appears to be stripped and in an earlier picture you that it is then painted black/ As you will note the Black JM RS is playing in the early 80's has the same markings as the white and later stripped guitar. This was a great thread! Thanks so much!

Fall reverb wrote:
Ahahah wrote: Another good point for the Offsetguitars.com forum
Indeed!

During my search for clear pics of Smith's Jazzmasters I of course also consulted Philippe Carly's fabulous website (www.newwavephotos.com), which as you probably know also contains a great amount of live-pics of The Cure, and I noticed that Smith seems to have used both (at this stage still white) Jazzmasters during The Cure's concert at 'Follies' in Brussels on October 7th 1980 - the first pic shows Smith playing the JM that has the 2 very distinctive light spots underneath the 'Top Twenty'-pickup, and the second photo shows him playing what appears to be his other JM, as this one does not have the 2 spots but instead has a distinctive light spot close to the toggle switch -

P.S. - here are two other very cool pics taken by monsieur Carly at the 'Klacik' in Brussels on December 22nd 1979 - Smith's JM (the one with the 2 light spots on its pickguard) has clearly been stripped, and in the background his other JM can be seen, and it appears - although I'm not 100% sure - that the one in the background features a white finish...

Gswearengin · Post by **Gswearengin** » Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:27 am

Blast from the past here, but I was just listening to Lol and Budgie's "Curious Creatures" podcast (highly recommended)...

Lol claims that Robert got two jazzmasters right away, and that they took them to Andy's (Guitar Centre?) on Denmark St. to have them setup for touring. He also brought the infamous Top 20 and had them install both pickups into the jazzmasters...they looked at him like he was crazy, but they did it anyway. I have never heard mention of him getting two jazzmasters at the same time, but he did seem to have a backup (also with a Top 20/Teisco pickup) from very early on.

Makes me wonder about the brief reappearance of the Top 20 in early 1984...missing one pickup. Was it the original with a replacement pickup, or a different guitar? Dunno...

Speaking of the podcast, in an earlier episode, Budgie mentions art students butchering Robert's "jaguar" during the Hyaena sessions...sounds like the origin of the fish guitar to me.

Cheers,

Gary

(Apparently my obsession knows no bounds...)

Ahahah · Post by **Ahahah** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 10:10 am

Rebirth !
Proudly crafted in my workshop.

Gswearengin · Post by **Gswearengin** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:06 am

Amazing! Not crazy about the chopped parts, but it looks right. Love the paint job, though. How did you do it???

Ceylon · Post by **Ceylon** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:50 am

Man, I have a real pet peeve against my mates wanting to do random bouts of woodworking mid-trip.

Ahahah · Post by **Ahahah** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:04 pm

Gswearengin wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:06 am
Amazing! Not crazy about the chopped parts, but it looks right. Love the paint job, though. How did you do it???

The saw works are not avoidable to get a proper Fish. No scrambled eggs without breaking them. ;-)
The painting process : primer / Olympic white / masking tape / black / lots of sanding / clear. The most demanding is the masking and demasking, but it ended up great, didn't it ?

Gswearengin · Post by **Gswearengin** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:55 pm

Of course, it turned out great! It is difficult to find pictures of the fish guitar. I just mean I would have liked it better unchopped, but you went for authenticity.

By the way, since you seem to be as obsessed as I am, did you happen to see these:

https://www.facebook.com/16968617322930 ... l/?app=fbl

https://www.facebook.com/16968617322930 ... l/?app=fbl

https://www.facebook.com/16968617322930 ... l/?app=fbl

(Hope these links work, sorry for no preview. Looks like legendary luthier Philippe Debreuille did some work on the original jazzmaster, as well as several of Robert’s guitars…some known, some not…and also recreated the original Robert Smith signature guitar from 1989 for a well-to-do obsessed cure fan.)

Gswearengin · Post by **Gswearengin** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:04 pm

…and, a barefoot Robert Smith used the touched up jazzmaster here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2J_fTv7na ... IDIwMjA%3D

…and if you look closely, you can see that the jazzmaster had the electrical tape on the tone knob and rhythm switch during the trilogy show!

Ahahah · Post by **Ahahah** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:24 pm

Gswearengin wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:55 pm

I also have the blackie... could I really do without ?

And I've been working on Fantasmo with Philippe Dubreuille during a masterclass last year. He gave me the idea to push my passion a bit further : I know craft my own guitars. Here it is with the master in the background.

Post by **OffYourFace** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:17 pm

Gswearengin wrote: ↑
Thu Mar 28, 2024 2:04 pm
…and, a barefoot Robert Smith used the touched up jazzmaster here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2J_fTv7na ... IDIwMjA%3D

…and if you look closely, you can see that the jazzmaster had the electrical tape on the tone knob and rhythm switch during the trilogy show!

what is that pedal he's using?

Gswearengin · Post by **Gswearengin** » Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:54 pm

Wow @Ahahah, very impressive!

@offyourface - looks like some kind of multi-fx. No idea which one, but it sounds decent.