Monte Montgomery's guitar/pickup/pre???

MikeS63301 · #1 08-17-2009, 08:16 AM

Hey guys. I'm wondering what the scoop is on Monte's guitar. Anyone know what pickup he's using? And what's the preamp that's in the guitar? There's several knobs up on the top of the shoulder of the guitar. I'm sure that's not the standard System 500 that Alvarez used. I've seen pics of his pedalboard and rig, but what's going on in the guitar?

Newbie here. This is a wonderful forum.

TIA!

MikeS63301 · #2 08-24-2009, 06:50 PM

WOW, nobody?

bayoubengal · #3 08-24-2009, 07:28 PM

Hey Mike--

Welcome to the forum! I don't know about Monte's pick up, but here is a thread which leads to some videos dealing with how he gets his distortion:

http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...nte+montgomery

You may have already seen these, but I hope this gets you started on an answer!

deltoid · #4 08-25-2009, 08:07 AM

A ten-year-old Alvarez-Yairi cutaway with a stock pickup has spent its entire life as Monte Montgomery's main performing guitar. "It's got a full sound, with deep lows and a nice punchy midrange," Montgomery says. The guitar has taken a tremendous beating, the result of his frenetic playing; it shows bare wood on both sides of the strings and large chips at the edge of the soundhole but remains "a really good stage guitar." On stage, Montgomery runs the guitar's signal through an ART preamp, an old Boss CS2 compressor, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer before plugging into a pair of 100-watt Trace Elliot amps. He recently purchased a "beautiful" concert-sized Breedlove cutaway, which he is slowly trying to incorporate into his live performances (Breedlove Guitar Co., 19885 8th St., Tumalo, OR 97701; [541] 385-8339; www.breedloveguitars.com). "It's an extremely live guitar-almost too live," he says. "I'm still trying to figure out how to play it on stage."

Gearbox September 1998
http://www.acguitar.com/issues/ag69/gear69.html

MikeS63301 · #5 08-26-2009, 06:33 AM

This is the part I'm wondering about.

MikeS63301 · #6 08-26-2009, 06:36 AM

Thanks Deltoid. Still wonder what the internal preamp is though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltoid

A ten-year-old Alvarez-Yairi cutaway with a stock pickup has spent its entire life as Monte Montgomery's main performing guitar. "It's got a full sound, with deep lows and a nice punchy midrange," Montgomery says. The guitar has taken a tremendous beating, the result of his frenetic playing; it shows bare wood on both sides of the strings and large chips at the edge of the soundhole but remains "a really good stage guitar." On stage, Montgomery runs the guitar's signal through an ART preamp, an old Boss CS2 compressor, and an Ibanez Tube Screamer before plugging into a pair of 100-watt Trace Elliot amps. He recently purchased a "beautiful" concert-sized Breedlove cutaway, which he is slowly trying to incorporate into his live performances (Breedlove Guitar Co., 19885 8th St., Tumalo, OR 97701; [541] 385-8339; www.breedloveguitars.com). "It's an extremely live guitar-almost too live," he says. "I'm still trying to figure out how to play it on stage."

Gearbox September 1998
http://www.acguitar.com/issues/ag69/gear69.html

deltoid · #7 08-26-2009, 07:49 AM

It says "stock". I've done a little searching, but I'm not able to verify that those protruding knobs are part of the original pickup systen. Monte's guitar even has it's own My Space page http://www.myspace.com/mmexcalibur
If he's hooking into an Art preamp, I don't know why he would need an onboard preamp. Searching for "Alvarez Yairi model DY62C" mostly leads to links to the new MMY1 Monte Montgomery Signature Guitar. I have yet to find a picture of an original 1987 Yari DY62C.

MikeS63301 · #8 08-26-2009, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deltoid

It says "stock". I've done a little searching, but I'm not able to verify that those protruding knobs are part of the original pickup systen. Monte's guitar even has it's own My Space page http://www.myspace.com/mmexcalibur
If he's hooking into an Art preamp, I don't know why he would need an onboard preamp. Searching for "Alvarez Yairi model DY62C" mostly leads to links to the new MMY1 Monte Montgomery Signature Guitar. I have yet to find a picture of an origianl 1987 Yari DY62C.

I think the information in your original post is pretty dated. (The guitar is an '87 and it say's 10 year old) I'd guess he changes things around like most guitarists. Besides that, as hard as he plays I'd imagine things wear out.

After watching the youtube videos, it doesn't seem like he twists knobs much during performances. It looks like the most he does is on and off with a volume control.

I *thought* the stock system in those days was the Alvarez System 500, and that's certainly not what the one in his guitar is. Those may have came out a couple years later though.

Thanks for the myspace link. That's pretty neat.

Here's an interview I found with some gear specifics.

http://www.licklibrary.com/videos/mo...montgomery#Top

sehnsucht77 · #9 08-26-2009, 07:38 PM

he has a 1986 DY-62c through a pair of SWR Acoustic Strawberry Blonde amplifiers.

little rowboat · #10 08-27-2009, 01:02 AM

those electronics are pre 500 series systems...as i recall it is stereo out as well...

biggs2 · #11 08-27-2009, 05:53 AM

I think its safe to say that he uses several different amps. I've seen YT videos where he was using two SWR California Blondes. Deltoid has indicated that he uses a pair of Trace Elliot 100 watt'ers and sehnsucht77, SWR Strawberry Bondes. I went to a benefit concert he put on in Southern OK earlier this year and he was using a single, very large, Trace Elliot amp. It was one of the largest amps I think I've ever seen. I couldn't get a good look at his pedals but, he had several. His guitar was the same old, beat up Yari and I didn't get a good look at the pickup controls.

tadmania · #12 08-27-2009, 06:04 AM

Goodness, Monte is a monster. He has 'musician' tattooed on his brain. When he says that he has to do a lot to his acoustic rig in order to keep it shy of its natural tendency to explode at that volume, I nearly lost it laughing.

When folks ask 'how to sound like' any given musician, my counsel is often a disappointment on a few fronts. First, if you try to sound like him/her, who is going to do the work of sounding like you? Second, a lot of any given guitarist's sound is not the instrument so much as it is the player. Signature models abound, but I have yet to see someone be successful in truly emulating the sound of another, and have not seen a serious musician consider it a worthy effort in the first place.

That said, it looks like a bucket o' fun to play that style and at that volume on an acoustic guitar. With a Goodall, hand damping of the strings at jet airplane volume might not suffice. Maybe a car washing sponge between the strings and the soundboard and half a can of spray foam into the soundhole would begin to reign it in, I don't know.

Yeah, trying to sound like Monte is an artistic waste of time...... but there are so many things that are an equal dissipation. That looks like a blast. I might try a bit of it.

85Alvarez · #13 08-27-2009, 10:03 AM

Wow - I've been itching to have my account validated so that I could participate! 24 hours never took so long!

Anyways - I've had Monte's guitar in my hands, and I also have an 85 Alvarez with the biphonic electronics like his - hence the screen name.

The guitar is stock. You can run stereo out of the guitar, or mono as monte runs it. The four knobs are two volume and two EQ knobs one each for the top and bottom 3 strings. There is also a toggle switch to go between stereo and mono.

His pedal board (last time I saw it up close): Boss tuner > Boss TR-2 > Boss CS-2 > Ibanez TS-9 > TC Elec Stereo Chorus > Boss RV-5 > 2 MXR Carbon Copies > 2 Ampeg pre-amps go to the PA.

He uses his amps as monitors, which of course are cranked up loud and you hear those as well. Last time I saw him play though he was simply direct to the the PA and didn't bring any Amps with him.

85Alvarez · #14 08-27-2009, 10:06 AM

tadmania - you're right playing through his system nobody is going to sound just like him, he says "Oh I mute this and that when I'm playing," but when you try to play a rig like his all us mere mortals just get the "explosion!"

tadmania · #15 08-27-2009, 10:45 AM

Like a NASCAR vehicle. Yeah, it'll go 200 mph in a circle, but with me behind the wheel, the only place its going is into the guardrails.

Come to think of it, that's what happens when I play guitar, too!