Abandoned pools, Tommy Walter + the School of Music

TW04

Hello,

My Guitars and Basses + The Stories Behind Them

I have more guitars than some, fewer than others. But what I do own I've kept for a long time. I don't tend to go crazy collecting them. Here are the guitars I own and the stories behind them.

First up and the latest addition to my arsenal, a red 1970s...

Gibson Marauder

I’m not exactly sure what year this guitar was made. I believe it once had a sticker with the serial number, but that’s long gone. What I do know is how unexpectedly it came back into my life. I originally played this guitar on the Oliver the Penguin album Button Pusher back in the late 2000s. At the time, it belonged to singer-songwriter Rie Sinclair, my creative partner on that project.

It’s a unique instrument—fitted with a Bigsby vibrato/tremolo bar and bridge—that’s always had a special feel. I’ve often gravitated toward what I think of as a guitar company’s “b-stock”: the models meant for everyday players rather than top-tier pros. Not the pristine Les Pauls or Strats, but the ones with quirks and imperfections. These are the guitars with real personality, the kind that don’t feel like they’re doing you a favor just by letting you play them. They leave room for your own voice to shine through.

Fast forward a few years—I was working on The Haunted House and found myself thinking about that guitar. Out of nowhere, I felt a strong pull to look it up online. Maybe I could find something like it. So I did a quick search… and there it was, for sale on Reverb (basically eBay for musicians). At first, I didn't even think it was the same guitar. But the more I compared the listing photos with my own, I realized it was (even still having marks from Rie's nail polish on it). I reached out to the seller immediately and arranged to buy it.

Turns out, he had worked with Rie on some songs, and she had given him the guitar as payment. He had just listed it. Since then, I’ve used it on a bunch of recordings, and it’ll definitely be featured on the sixth AP album. It’s become one of my absolute favorites.

Next up, my 1976...

fender jazzmaster

In the summer of 2002, AP was on tour with Lenny Kravitz, playing big, open-air amphitheaters and outdoor sheds. It was a dream setup—thrilling, a little chaotic, and not without its challenges. Somewhere along the way, this guitar was randomly gifted to me, and very fortunately so and its timing couldn’t have been better.

That guitar became the backbone of Armed to the Teeth and Sublime Currency. Without it, there would be no “Waiting to Panic” or “Unrehearsed.” Its sound is wild—distorted, aggressive, and untamed—but it can just as easily turn melodic and expressive when the song calls for it. The pickups buzz like crazy, it's harder to play and not exactly in tune, but honestly, I don’t mind. That’s part of its charm.

This guitar is the perfect embodiment of what I love about “b-stock” instruments: full of quirks, flaws, overflowing with emotion and personality in spades.

Next up, the complete antithesis of the Jazzmaster, my 1996...

fender Telecaster plus

I made the first Abandoned Pools album in Boston with producers Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie at Q Division Studios in Somerset. During those sessions, they kept handing me a guitar we called the “tune freak.” It was always perfectly in tune, played effortlessly, and just sounded amazing. That guitar turned out to be a 1996 Fender Tele Plus.

The “Plus” referred to its Lace Sensor pickups, which gave it a sound far from your typical Telecaster. It had a much heavier, more aggressive tone—almost like a metal guitar hiding inside a classic frame. I ended up using it extensively on tracks like “The Remedy,” “Mercy Kiss,” and “Fluorescein.”

A few years earlier, Sean and Paul had worked on the album Pablo Honey with a then-unknown band called Radiohead. Jonny Greenwood, their guitarist, used a Tele Plus throughout that album—including on the song that made them globally famous, “Creep.” Paul was so impressed, he bought one for himself. Eventually, I followed suit. So really, I owe a lot to Jonny Greenwood—for that tone, for that guitar, and for the inspiration.

Thanks, Jonny. Wherever you are.

Side story: Paul once told me that the piano fades in at the end of "Creep" because he forgot to include it in the mix and brought it in when he realized his mistake.

Next up, my 1971 sunburst...

fender Jazz bass

Floating through the air in the Eels video "Novocaine for the Soul"

After finishing the first Eels album, I picked up this bass as a backup—just in case my main Jazz Bass gave out on tour. It quickly became my first choice. It’s not the same bass used on Beautiful Freak (that was a 1973 blonde Jazz Bass), but I took this one on the road for most of that tour. It’s all original, apart from a drop-D extension tuning peg added to the low string.

If memory serves, this bass has appeared in every music video I’ve ever done and has been used on every Abandoned Pools album. There’s something about it—it always feels like it’s in attack mode. There’s a sweet, growling tone you can unlock by dialing the bridge pickup down just a touch.

I’ve never owned a Fender Precision Bass, and maybe I should. But I’ve had this one for so long, played it so much, that it honestly feels like an extension of me now.

Next, my 1990s...

Jerry Jones neptune

Seen here in "The Remedy" video:

I was also sitting on a block of ice for some reason.

A better made copy of the Danelectro, I bought this guitar in the San Fernando valley to play on tour with the eels. Definitely a "b-stock" type guitar, it was also used on the original demos for "The Remedy" and "Tighter Noose."

Next up, my 2000s...

Burns baritone

Recording Armed to the Teeth at The Boat in Silverlake, CA

It's a baritone Guitar made in London but it's strung like a bass an octave lower from a guitar and used as a bass. I played it on "Tighter Noose" put through a bass Sans Amp pedal that gave it more low end.

Other guitars in the collection....

1973 Fender Jazz Bass -- used on Beautiful Freak, as seen in the photos from the album sleeve cover:

eels at The Alligator Lounge in Santa Monica, circa 1995

Seagull acoustic guitar -- used on the beginning of "Going South."

Taylor ¾ scale acoustic guitar

I believe that's all of them except for the St. George bass I got when I was 9. It's the equivalent of a bass from a Sears catalog but I still own it for nostalgic reasons.

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