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March 20, 2012
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Free Born Man

The last day of a tour is like the last day of high school; everyone is a little more open to hang out with each other, we say how much fun we had together and that we will “definitely” keep in touch. Bush recently finished a mini run around south east Asia with Evanessence. On The last night in Hong Kong, I stuck around to see The band play and have a few drinks with them afterwards. As per usual, after a few socially lubricating beverages, the guitar players hold court in the corner of the dressing room swapping stories about gear and their most coveted axes. A common story is a about the guitar that got away, got stolen, or more than likely got pawned to pay rent. It’s remarkable that no matter how successful a guitar player may be, we all share this kind of painful story. Hell, Jeff Beck lost the Yardbirds Tele to Seymour Duncan and to this day tells the story with palpable regret. Like most of you I have a few that I regret selling, one being my black 1974 Les Paul custom that I used in Orange 9mm and Helmet. It can be seen in the Orange 9mm “High Speed Changer” video. It’s bad enough to have to sell a guitar that I loved but the kicker for me was that I just happened to be in Chelsea second hand guitars when someone bought it. I’d like to present myself in a better light, but the truth is I resented the dude for buying it. I hated the way he played MY guitar and watching him paw on it was like watching another man make out with my girlfriend. I hope they both got cold sores. As you can see I’m clearly not over it, but the venting helps. I invite you to have a few drinks and share your stories of guitar heartbreak.

Photoset
August 20, 2010
3 notes

Cobra Cavehound#09 is almost complete. It’s going to get put on the bench to get set up and tested in a gig situation somewhere in NYC this evening, then off to Topanga. 

Photoset
August 20, 2010

This is an area that I feel Cobra excels in, while some people can mangle an instrument in an unnatural way and others are too timid to make it look cool, Cobra relics guitars in a way that is truly artful; balls to the wall rock and roll. 

Photoset
August 18, 2010

Cobra Guitars Cavehound Model #009 pictorial update 8/18/10

Photoset
August 18, 2010
6 notes

I first met Jimmy “Cobra” Carbonetti at Chelsea second hand guitars. He was just a teenager handing people guitars out of the window and tinkering around with set ups in the back. A few years later he moved over to 30th street guitars and worked under luthier Matt Brewster learning how to build, relic, and set up guitars. I let him take one of my stratocasters to relic and change some parts on to make it look cooler, and hopefully sound better. While the guitar was in his possession he called me on my cell to tell me that he broke the tip of the headstock off so he could  glue it back on because he thought it would look cool. I thought he was joking, but he was serious. Imagine my anxiety…

When I finally picked the guitar up from him I was floored, it not only looked amazing but it sounded great a held it’s tuning. 

Cobra has moved on to start his own guitar company Cobra guitars and a repair shop in Manhattan which is open 24 hours.You can see all the different styles of guitars he builds and mods he does on his site.  http://cobraguitars.com/

You can see a clip of the White Rabbits using his Model T on the Jools Holland Show here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvAJldtIY_s

So far, every Cobra guitar has been sold before it’s finished, and everyone I know who has seen/played one has gotten all guitarded about them. He is building me a cross between a 70’s Starcaster and 335, except with P-90’s instead of humbuckers. I am posting the picks as he sends them to me throughout the building process. -CT3