After a surprise airport encounter led to Vernon Reid and Jack White swapping their signature guitars, the Living Color legend has now taken White’s wildcard Fender Telecaster to the stage.
He recently took the Triplecaster for a spin at the D'Addario 50th Anniversary party, and in footage from the event, he can be seen testing out its clean tones and its ability to hold up against some light wah pedal action. His playing transcends blues and soul flavors, and the guitar solo posted to Instagram by D'addario proves the guitar doesn't need a fuzz pedal to shine – Reid very much makes it his own.
There’s plenty of bite and snarl coming from White’s trio of custom-voiced pickups here – the guitar finds a single-coil flanked by two humbuckers for a range of versatile sounds.
White, who will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year, released his triple threat Fender signature collection last September. Alongside the Triplecaster Tele, he launched a Pano Verb guitar amp loaded with some supercharged features, and the TripleSonic Acoustasonic Telecaster.
Reid’s signature axe, meanwhile, was announced by Reverend that same month and it comes in three variations – ‘The Totem Mystery Tramp’, ‘The Shaman’ and ‘The Talisman’. They became the first-ever Floyd Rose-equipped guitars the firm ever produced.
Curiously, the Mystery Tramp also features three googly eyes on its wild artwork. That’s more than likely another first for the guitar. And it's a feature White can get behind.
“What an honor to trade axes with such a virtuoso guitarist that I remember listening to on a Walkman cassette player while roaming the halls of my high school in Detroit,” White had said after his serendipitous hang with Reid.
He even had extra eyes sent “by request” and lined them up with the guitar’s three pickups “to stare down all enemies and future comrades.”
The White Stripes man has since continued to give his Triplecaster away to a host of players he loves, from an underrated Japanese punk star to Eddie Vedder, who used it for a Pearl Jam deep cut in Nashville, and Kirk Hammett.
The Metallica shredder has said that his infamous “Greeny” Les Paul has been getting jealous of the amount of love it’s been getting since. That's high praise indeed.
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