The secret difference that Tom Morello uses to tell his original Arm The Homeless guitar apart from his new signature model
Tom Morello’s Arm The Homeless guitar is featured on 22 albums and has accompanied him on every tour from 1998 to the present day. Now, thanks to Fender, you can now get one of your own.
The guitar’s origin story begins sometime around 1986 and 1987. Morello had just moved to LA having graduated from Harvard, and splashed out on a custom guitar from LA’s Performance Guitar USA. Luthier Kenny Sugai had made guitars for Frank Zappa, Joe Walsh and Steve Vai, but there was a problem with Morello’s finished model – he thought it was “crappy”.
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Sugai was not to blame for his disappointment, though. As Morello has admitted, he had ordered a custom made instrument with “no idea” what he was doing. He began to completely modify the guitar, changing everything apart from the body wood, leading to the creation of one of the most recognisable and unique guitars of our time.
The model has now been fully replicated by Fender, and proceeds from each sale of the instrument go towards supporting the work of Midnight Mission in Los Angeles, and Covenant House, a charity that helps homeless teenagers across the US.
In a new interview with Guitar.com, Morello assures us that the real Arm The Homeless guitar will still come out for special occasions and remains in the studio “always ready”, but says this new replica is now the one he takes out on the road.
It faithfully emulates the original so closely, that even Morello’s son has struggled to tell them apart. But there is one identity marker on the original guitar that was not included in Fender’s rendition.
“If you look closely you can tell, because a dog chewed the headstock of the Arm The Homeless guitar at some point in the past. And we did not recreate because I did not think that was important to the sound! But you will always be able to tell the real one because it’s been chewed!” Morello explains.
Of the charitable aspect of this guitar collaboration, Morello adds: “It was important that in making a guitar that has spent so many decades on the front lines, fighting for the oppressed and fighting for justice, that there be a justice component to this as well.
“While this guitar is made up of scraps and shards, to get it just right is not necessarily an inexpensive process. And so I want to make sure that there’s a Robin Hood component, where when you purchase this guitar it does filter back into people who really need it.”
You find out more or shop the guitar now over at Fender.
The post The secret difference that Tom Morello uses to tell his original Arm The Homeless guitar apart from his new signature model appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
