The Unique Guitar Blog: J.J. Cale's Guitars And His Life

J.J. Cale

A good friend just pointed out to me this unique guitar that J.J. Cale had played, and essentially rebuilt himself.

For those of you unfamiliar with J.J. Cale (John Weldon "J. J." Cale) was born December 5, 1938 and passed away on July 26, 2013.

Cale was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Throughout his life he avoided the limelight, which may account for why he was not well known. However his influence as a musical artist has been widely acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young and Eric Clapton, who described him as "one of the most important artists in the history of rock.".

J.J. Cale

Cale is considered to be one of the originators of the Tulsa Sound, which is based on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.

Perhaps the most publicity Cale received was in 2008, when Cale, along with Clapton, received a Grammy Award for their album "The Road to Escondido."

John Cale was born was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from high school in 1956. During his teen years be learned to play the guitar and began studying the principles of sound engineering while still living at his childhood home. He ever built himself a recording studio.

After high school he was drafted into military service and studied at the Air Force Air Training Command. Cale said he joined the Air Force because he didn't really want to carry a gun. During the “Draft” years most 18 year old men joined the Army and then were assigned to fight in the Korean War, and later the Vietnam War.

During his military service Cale took technical training and was assigned to an electronics unit. This helped in later life. His knowledge of sound recording and mixing played an important part in his life.

J.J. Cale

In 1964, after the mandatory two years of military service he moved to Los Angeles and found work as a studio engineer. At nights Cale landed a regular gig at the Whisky a Go Go in March the following years.

J.J. Cale After Midnight

In 1966 he cut a 45 rpm demo with Liberty Records. The song was “After Midnight”. He distributed this recording to friends and session players. Sadly nothing happened and Cale was so broke that he sold his guitar and moved back to Tulsa.

It was there he joined a band with an old friend.

1970 Clapton's version
of After Midnight

In 1970 Cale learned that Eric Clapton had recorded his song, After Midnight. Friends suggested that due to the fame and publicity Cale record his on cover of his song. He released it in the USA in 1971. The song gained greater fame when Michelob Beer used it for a TV commercial.

Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and iconic vocals. His early use of drum machines and his unconventional mixes lend a distinctive and timeless quality to his work and set him apart from the pack of Americana roots music purists."

Neil Young described J.J Cale in these words, "Of all the players I ever heard, it's gotta' be Hendrix and J. J. Cale who are the best electric guitar players."

Eric Clapton and
an Older J.J. Cale

Cale's guitar style is characterized by Eric Clapton as "really, really minimal" adding "it's all about finesse".

In 1976 Cale wrote "Cocaine" another song which was recorded by Clapton.

J.J. Cale - Crazy Mama

Cale had a hit single in the U.S. called "Crazy Mama", which peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972. However Cale declined to promote it because some of the TV shows at the time required him to lip-sync which he was totally opposed to. He chose the name J.J. Cale because at the time John Cale was well-known multi-instrumentalist that played in the Velvet Underground.

J.J. Cale and Friend

Cale moved to California in 1980 and became a recluse, living in a trailer without a telephone. He recorded another album in 1983 which had poor reception. After this Cale asked to be released from his contract.

He purchased an RV to live in. He recorded his own songs at his home and spent his days mowing his lawn and listening to Van Halen and rap.

In and interview he said. “ "Because of all the technology now you can make music yourself and a lot of people are doing that now. I started out doing that a long time ago and I found when I did that I came up with a unique sound."

J.J. Cale in later years

Cale died at the age of 74 in San Diego, California, on July 26, 2013.

J.J. Cale's Guitar

It is the unusual guitar that Cale was playing that peaked my interest.

When Cale was first starting out he had sold his guitar and by the time he got back to Tulsa he did not have much money for a new instrument.

1960's Harmony H162

He bought a 1960’s Harmony H162 for $50. When he took it on an airplane the cabin pressure crushed it. Cale had no choice but to fix it himself.

He took the back off of the guitar, and put a cutaway on it. He used a series of metal rods and anchors to hold the body together.

Back of Cale's Guitar

He also installed five pickups on the guitars top plus. Four of the pickups are Gibson, two of which are low impedance for recording direct. The other bar type pickup came from a Sears Silvertone guitar, it was manufactured by Dan Electro. It also had a Fishman piezo pickups in the saddle. The guitar has three high impedance outs and one low. These pickups would occasionally be swapped out. The low impedance pickups were the ones that allowed him to plug directly into a recording console, much like Les Paul's personal guitar.

Cale's #1 Guitar

This guitar had seven control knobs, countless wires, buttons and switches, four outputs, and a big red light. He never bothered to put the back of the guitar on again. That way so he would have easy access for repairs and adjusting the action by means of a couple coins he had wedged into the thing. This was Cale’s number one guitar.

Back of Cale's Guitar

Unfortunately that guitar had so many holes in it, and without a back it began to fall apart. He took it to luthier Danny Ferrington, who was a friend to see if he could repair it. Ferrington strengthened the sides and put a back on it, but it was never the same Cale quit playing it.

Christine Lakeland

His widow and bandmate, Christine Lakeland estimates that J.J. had around 50 guitars, some of which are still in storage. Most of these instruments cost $100 or less. He would modify each of them. He played with a light touch and preferred light strings and a low action. He preferred guitars with a "C" shaped neck. At one time he also had a Gibson 490T, a 490R, and a Classic ‘57.

Although he had small hands, he did own Ramirez and Ovation classical guitars with wide necks.

Martin 000-45

In 1991, he had a personal one-off Martin 000-45 Deluxe Custom acoustic made to his own specifications. He loved that, played it all the time at home.

It has an Engelmann spruce top, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard and bridge, Brazilian rosewood back and sides, peghead veneer, white binding, lots of abalone trim and inlays. John replaced the original saddle pickup with an LR Baggs. He loved the fact that this was a smaller instrument. It is pictured on the cover his his album: Guitar Man.

Cale with PG-380

He purchased a 1991 Casio PG-380 MIDI guitar made in Japan. The bolt-on maple neck had a rosewood fingerboard. Cale added a humbucker and a Floyd Rose. He liked the fact he could trigger so many different sounds from the MIDI hook-up, which was quite new then. It is probably worth only $150 as of today.

Kramer Ripley

In the mid 1980's his friend Steve Ripley gave him a Kramer guitar that he had designed known as The Kramer Ripley. This was a stereo guitar. J.J. Cale took it on the road and played it through a Marshall stack, which was out of the normal for him.

Cale with Danelectro

Cale loved to experiment with cheaper guitars. From around 2002, he played the newer Danelectro Convertibles which cost around $350 back then. He liked the thin necks and the fact that they didn’t weigh a lot. The Formica bodies didn’t seem as affected by climate changes on the road. Cale would modify them by putting pickups under the saddles and sometime in the sound hole. (The original Danelectro Convertible was so named as it had a removable lipstick pickup on the guitars round sound hole.

J.J.Cale - Gibson L-5CES

Cale owned several Gibsons: an L-4, a Les Paul, the ES-175, ES-335, ES-330, ES-336, CS-356, J-165 EC. But he wasn’t as big a fan of the Gibson necks as Fenders.

1970's HSH Stratocaster

For a few years in the early 80s, he played a late-70s Strat and a highly modified Stratocaster where he started with the body and neck, then added two humbucking pickups with a Seymour Duncan single coil in the center. After that he added a Canadian made replacement neck and an Alembic Strat-O-Blaster which he added to the input plate.

Mike Campbell and
Cale with Duesenberg

In the later years, Mike Campbell gave him a Duesenberg, the Alliance Mike Campbell I. And when Gibson did the reissue of Clapton’s Les Paul, he gave John one of the first ones.

1991 Byrdland

He also owned a 1991 Gibson Byrdland that he purchased on the road. He installed a Bigsby tailpiece, Mike Christian bridge with a pickup, and Fishman Prefix Pro Blend Preamp electronics on the side. He added a Sta-Tuned string lock on the front of the headstock and cut an access opening in the back. He played it for a while, but had trouble keeping it in tune.

Cale with Gibson L-4

He wrote most of his songs on acoustic guitars and he owned several Gibson instruments. These include a J-45 and an L-5 he liked. And then there’s the Heritage L-00 Standard, the smaller, dark chocolate sunburst model.

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