ここでは61年のフェンダー・ストラトキャスター、68年のフェンダー・テレキャスター以外の代表的なドミニクのエレキギターをまとめて紹介します。 Here I present some of Dominic’s representative electric guitars other than the 1961 Fender Stratocaster and the 1968 Fender Telecaster.
Dominic often plays two Nashguitar’s Telecasters, a blue T-63 and a red T-57.Nashguitars was founded in 2001 by Bill Nash as a guitar shop and luthier in Olympia, Washington, USA. He gradually became famous for building his own guitars with the sound, scratch look and vintage feel of the 50s and 70s. The brand is a pioneer of aged guitars. But there’s more to the Nashguitars than great relic technique. Carefully selected woods, a lightly aged body and Lollar pickups designed specifically for the Nash make it an attractive guitar with a big-boned sound. The appeal of the Nash is that it adapts instantly to the player and can be used professionally on stage and on recordings in its original form. Above all, they are easy to play, sound and look good, and are reasonably priced despite being handmade. Moreover, delivery is said to be relatively quick.
2011’s Nashguitars Telecaster T-63
【SPEC】 Type: T-63 Moody Fucker Colour: Lake Placid Blue Body: Alder Neck: Maple Neck shape: C Fingerboard: Maple (10″ radius) Fret: 6105/21F. Scale: 648mm Nut: 41.3 mm Tusq. Pickup: Lollar Pickup (Nashguitars specific type) String gauge: 10-46.
There doesn’t seem to be any special noise cancelling on this guitar, and of course he doesn’t use like the Ilitch system on his ’61 Strat. But Richie Mazzetta, Dominic’s long-time guitar tech on Sting’s tours, raves about it: “There’s none of that stuff, but this blue guitar still sounds great! And Dominic has posted this guitar on Instagram in the past like this. I’m glad he found the lost baggage!
Searching for lost baggage
Album sticker of his beloved daughter Misty.
‘Devo’ sticker given by Josh Freeze.
2015’s Nashguitars Telecaster T-57
【SPEC】 Type: T-57 Colour: Fiesta Red Body: Alder Neck : Maple Neck shape: C Fingerboard: Maple (10″ radius) Fret: 6105/21F. Scale: 648mm Nut: 41.3 mm Tusq. Pickup: Lollar Pickup (Nashguitars specific type) String gauge: probably 10-46.
As for this guitar, the website of Nashguitars (https://www.nashguitars.com/) shows that the basic specifications don’t seem to differ much from the T-63. However, the blue T-63 above seems to have more fretboard and colour options to choose from. And a magazine from around 2017 said that when this guitar was used with a ’61 Strat, the Strat had a .010 gauge set on the first string, and this guitar had a .011 set stretched and tuned a half-step down from the Strat.
Nash’s necks are basically a little ‘thicker’ than Fender USA, Fenders distributed in Japan and other Fender-like guitars. The fretboard is also flatter (10″ radius) than on other Fender guitars to make it easier to play. I searched various online sources for feedback from people who have actually used this Nash T-63. “The neck is thick and solid, but aged so it’s smooth on the back, so it’s very comfortable to hold and easier to play, and the flat fingerboard and medium jumbo frets make it very easy to play. And the Lollar Pickup, which is exclusive to this Nash, is fat and powerful, but really easy to control. It also has a high-pass capacitor on the volume for a very wide range of sounds. For example, you can get a crunchy, rock-fat sound, or you can get an orthodox clean single-coil Telecaster sound by turning the volume down, so it’s a very practical guitar”.
Fernandes Stratocaster T-8
A very nostalgic guitar that people who know Dominic from the early days of Sting will instantly recognise. It’s probably a guitar that Dominic himself has quite a few memories of. Dominic is a big Grateful Dead freak, or ‘Deadheads’, and this is the guitar with the big Grateful Dead sticker on it.I guess this is a Fernandes Stratocaster T-8, but I’m not really sure. The reason is that this model was made by Fernandes for export, not released in Japan, and information is currently very scarce. We have probably seen Dominic playing this guitar a lot from Sting’s album Ten Summoner’s Tales (1993), and maybe Dominic bought it around 1989. But sometimes Dominic himself has posted stories in the past that suggest otherwise, but probably my information is correct.I’ll write about why later.
Fernandez Stratocaster T-8
【SPEC】 ・Type: T-8? (European model, not available in Japan) ・Color: Black (Fiesta Red) ・Body material: Alder or basswood ・Neck material: ? ・Fingerboard: Rosewood ・Pickups: Original → EMG ・Tremolo unit: Original → Kahler
The following is an extract from an article in the November 1996 issue of Player magazine.
【It was basically a Fender reproduction, with a rosewood fretboard and a smaller head, designed with the 60’s Stratocaster in mind. The body was made of alder or basswood, and the guitar was a fairly inexpensive model, costing around 40,000 to 50,000 yen in Japanese prices at the time. In fact, Dominic commented, “I bought this guitar because it was cheap but very well made.” The model was popular in Europe for its cost-effectiveness.The tremolo unit and nut of this guitar were replaced with Kahler. In 1996, not many people were using Kahler units, but Robert Philip, Dominic and others insisted on Kahler. The pickups are not original, but EMGs are installed. The low noise, high output characteristics would have been a classic choice for studio guitarists.】
It proves that even if it’s a cheap guitar, if it’s played by someone who can get the best out of it, it will ‘sound good’. And this is what it says in the red framed part of the picture below.
In the red box firmly states that this was purchased by Dominic about seven years ago and that it has a Grateful Dead sticker on the body. The magazine is from 1996, so seven years before that would be around 1989. But sometimes Dominic says it’s the guitar he’s used since Ten Summoner’s Tales, or since 1996’s Marcury Falling. Does this mean that he has used it “on tour” since then?
He would have bought it earlier.
But as noted in the red box, Dominic was an endorser for Fernandes in 1996, but in fact Dominic bought this guitar much earlier, and it seems that this guitar purchase was the beginning of their interaction. Dominic also bought an A1-N, a Fernande P-Project electric-acoustic, in 1992. This was a guitar that was synonymous with him in his early years, so in short, Dominic would have acquired the Fernandez guitar around 1990.
Fernandes and P-Project Guitars
Dominic has also used other guitars from Fernandes and P-Project, a professional-use custom line. Here are two of them together. Dominic’s synonymous guitar, the P-Project AN-1, an electric/acoustic, will be introduced in a separate article at a later date.
P-Project PSC Custom
Guitar Tech Philip Docherty and Dom’s guitars (in 1996)
Guitar tech on tour with Sting, middle guitar on the right with Philip Docherty.PSC Custom model from the Fernandes P-project. Dominic used this guitar on the Soul Cages tour, which has fond memories for me. This model is based on the Strat and is popular with studio musicians also in Japan. The body is alder, the neck is maple and the fingerboard is rosewood, the EMG pickups are SA front/centre and 81 rear. The tremolo unit is a Kahler.
P-Project PMH-2 Based Custom model
The black guitar in the foreground of this photo with Philip Docherty is also a Fernandes P-Project. This is a custom guitar based on the PMH-2. Body is mahogany back/maple top with see-through finish. Evans pickups are mounted. The tremolo unit is a Fernandes FRT-4, tuned a semitone lower than the others. Original body shape, slightly more square than Strat.
59’s Fender Stratocaster
Apparently, Dominic actually didn’t like this guitar very much. The white Strat was apparently bought by Dominic in 1981, when he traded in a Gibson 335 he had bought in 1981. The Gibson 335 was the first serious guitar Dominic bought with his own money. This article states；
59’s Fender Stratocaster
Sting The Brand New Day Tour Live From The Universal Amphitheatre Full Concert HD
Apparently, Dominic actually didn’t like this guitar very much. The white Strat was apparently bought by Dominic in 1981, when he traded in a Gibson 335 he had bought in 1981. The Gibson 335 was the first serious guitar Dominic bought with his own money. This article states；
Q：What was the first serious guitar you bought with your own money?
DM：“I bought a Gibson 335 in 1981. There were a bunch of guitar players who played 335s in those days – it was de rigueur to have a 335 because of Larry Carlton. Everybody wanted to sound like Larry Carlton and I was no different. I can’t remember how much it cost – probably about 350 or maybe 500 quid. That was the market value in those days. And then I sold it like a mug.
Q：Have you ever sold a guitar that you now intensely regret letting go off?
DM：“Yeah, well, I sold the 335 and I totally regret that because it was such a good guitar. But I was skint at the time. I part-traded it in for a white Strat, which I never really liked. But I just needed the money. I’ve been looking for it ever since. You know, it might show up somewhere. I thought that maybe I’ll see somebody playing it in a club or something.”
I have seen Dominic with a white, black and sunburst Les Paul. The white Les Paul was the one Dominic used on the November album and on tour. It was probably from 2010. Sadly this white Les Paul has had a tragedy (see below) and may never be seen again. The black Les Paul was probably made in 1978 and I saw it played by his sons Rufus and Pablo.
Gibson Les Paul
However, Dominic talks about a 1972 Les Paul in this interview. But it is unclear which Les Paul he is referring to.
Q：What piece of gear is most essential to your live sound?
DM：My 1961 Strat. I’ve got a replica one – a fake old one – and it’s gorgeous and everything, but it doesn’t sound anything like it. When you’re playing the ’61 acoustically, it kind of shimmers in a way the new ones don’t. It’s a bit unreliable with the tuning, but it’s got that glassy Strat thing I can’t hear anywhere else. I’ve also got the Les Paul, too, but it depends on my mood: if I’m feeling rocky, then I’m going to go with the 1972 Les Paul Custom, which is like picking up a piano, it’s so heavy.”
I think ‘heavy as a piano’ is a bit of an exaggeration, but it’s true that the Les Paul is big and heavy, and I personally think it’s a guitar that only suits a limited number of people. But I think Dominic is a guitarist who looks very good on a Les Paul. In the future, however, Dominic will basically only play acoustic songs as a solo guitarist, and it is unclear whether he will ever play the Les Paul in a rock feeling in front of us again.
※This article was prepared with the help of Mr Akiyama, Mr Taniguchi (in KYOTO), Mr Taniguchi (in Saitama) and some information from Instagram @stingthegear.
