reeves has a guitar
Reverance
by Al Natanagara
If you ain’t read part one, you may do so now. This segment will seem to some like a product placement. It’s not. What y’all need to understand is that most musicians are very particular–and very passionate, about their gear–and the level of interest in the gear of their idols can rise to the level of obsession. Reverend Guitars recently came out with a Reeves Gabrels signature model. I don’t care how famous you are, it’s got to be cool to have a production model guitar with your name on it that wasn’t put there with a sharpie. For the obsessed and mildly interested alike, here’s how that model came about.
Al: A privilege has been bestowed upon you that most guitar players dream of: You have your own model guitar.
Reeves: Two years ago, Summer NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants tradeshow) moved back to Nashville. I was coming out of my Lyme disease hiding period. I walked away with three guitars that different manufacturers sent me. Peavey sent me one of their custom shop guitars that costs like, $3,000. I won’t mention the name of the other one but it’s a really nice guy and a nice company, and it was this $4,000 handmade guitar. And Reverend sent me one.
Al: I hate you.
Reeves: Over the coming week, the guitar that I kept going back to was the Reverend, which is a Korean-made, $600 guitar.
Al: There’s a lot of hatred on Internet guitar forums toward manufacturers who outsource to foreign companies. It just ain’t raht, ah tells ya.
Reeves: There’s this bias that if it isn’t Gibson or Fender–or now Paul Reed Smith–and it isn’t Made in America, then it’s no good. I’ve been guilty of that too.
Al: Most of the classics and collectibles were made in America. Unlike cars, electronics, and toilets with heated seats, the best guitars are domestic guitars–it’s just common knowledge. How did a Korean-made guitar win you over?
Reeves: There’s a couple factories in Korea that have been making the budget guitars for, I think Paul Reed Smith and Hamer, but definitely Schecter, Ibanez, ESP, and Parker. It’s just one factory making what these companies ask for. Guitars have been coming out of Korea for a long time and on a grand scale, so there’s some really good guitar builders there.
reverend's joe naylor and reeves at NAMM
Bias would dictate that I would prefer the two American-made guitars over the Korean guitar that cost an eighth of what the other guitars cost. I kept dragging this particular model–called the Double Agent–to gigs. I called them up and told them I liked the guitar and were they interested in doing a signature model.
Al: How could they not?
Reeves: They discontinued the Double Agent as a body style and that body style became the shape of mine. I made some changes in the switching and the fretboards. The fretboard is bound now, which was actually their suggestion and not something I was into but I like it.
Al: So what was it like when you first got your hands on the official Reeves model? Were you giddy like a schoolgirl?
Reeves: The video at the NAMM show was the first time I saw the final production. I had gotten some of the prototypes, but never one that had everything done. That day that they gave it to me to play, I played it for a couple of hours at the booth and that night, I dreamt about playing it. That’s a good sign.
There’s a lot more to the Reeves interview, and the following installments will focus more on less tangible subject matter. This one was for the gearheads. Bless their hearts.
