Creston Electric

PHOTOS BY JESSICA ANDERSON
2010-11-25
OLD WOOD,

WILL JOHNSON'S WATER TANK CUSTOM

Will Johnson's guitar: western red body that began its vocational life as a stave in a locomotive water tank on the trans-American railroad, circa late-1860s. In 1902, made redundant by a change in locomotive efficiency, it was torn down and recoopered into a pickle vat stave at a Fort Collins, CO pickle operation. In 1992, it was torn down again and sat dormant, air drying in the Rocky Mountains, until 2011 when it found itself assembled into this guitar. No job security for this piece of old wood.

Mahogany neck / rosewood fretboard, Bigsby B5, single-ply guard, independent volume and tone controls.

This guitar features the very first set of Lollar's excellent new Regal humbuckers.

Watch for Will and his fine band, Centro-Matic. Not every day you see two guitars made from the same pickle vat on the same stage.