With their newly released 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, Foo Fighters are returning to the raw sound of their early material, and Dave Grohl has once again relied on his “lucky guitar” to bring it to life.
Grohl’s riff-writing totem is the guitar that gave his namesake Gibson DG-335 signature model many of its cues: a 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez he bought in his Nirvana days.
“I have a lucky guitar, and it was the first Gibson Trini Lopez that I ever purchased,” he tells the Tape Notes podcast. “I bought it at a guitar shop in Bethesda, Maryland called Southworth Guitars. It was like a museum; you'd walk in, and you'd see all of these beautiful classic guitars.
“I was still in Nirvana, and I just wanted a hollowbody to put in my lap and sit on the couch and just mess around,” he continues.
History dictates, of course, that he did more than “mess around” with the guitar in the comfort of his living room. It became the cornerstone of the Foo Fighters’ sound and has been used on every Foos record to date. It’s a left-field workhorse he wouldn’t dare be without.
“We've never made a record without that guitar. It's almost like a superstition to me: we couldn't have made this record without that guitar, because I don't want to make a record without that guitar.”
Grohl hails its percussive, dynamic nature as key to his songwriting and playing style – which makes sense, given his role as drummer in Nirvana.
“It's very dynamic. The harder you play it, the harder it sounds, the more gentle you play it, the more gentle it sounds. It's it's reactive to touch, more so than a lot of other guitars that I have.
“It also has this exposed bridge thing that can act as almost like a snare. It becomes this additional percussive element to whatever riff you're playing, and it has a chime to it.”
Once described by Gibson as “probably the most exciting young star in the music business”, Trini Lopez was one of several hotshot jazz players to collaborate with the firm to produce signature archtops in the early to mid ’60s. Lopez’s model arrived in ‘64.
Its diamond-shaped sound holes were a key aesthetic distinguisher, as was its more Fender-esque headstock – two features that drew Grohl to the guitar in Southwork's museum. Only 300 Deluxe models and 2,000 Standard models are believed to have been made.
Grohl has recently reflected on the impact Kurt Cobain's passing had on him as a musician, and how his stepping away from the drum kit towards his Trini Lopez guitar marked a vital new chapter in his life and career.
