Reeves Gabrels first discovered himself within the highlight whereas collaborating with David Bowie in Tin Machine within the late ’80s. An eclectic guitarist who has participated in quite a few initiatives together with solo data, when he landed the gig with The Remedy in 2012, he wanted a guitar that would cowl a variety of territory. Reverend got here to the rescue, and so they lately launched a brand new model of his signature mannequin (see this month’s “Accepted Gear”).

Why did you want a brand new guitar?
It was like methodology appearing. If I used to be going to hitch a band with this custom and rabid enthusiastic following, I couldn’t go up there and are available off as a session participant. Quite a lot of the older stuff incorporates a Jazzmaster and a lo-fi sound, lengthy earlier than it grew to become trendy. There have been a variety of semi-hollow sounds on the data, as nicely. To attempt one thing totally different, I talked to Ken Haas and Joe Naylor at Reverend. I needed a guitar I may use for the complete evening, so we got here up with the Spacehawk and, later, the Spacehawk Supreme. The unique had higher-output pickups. Due to the bass roll-off and treble bleed on the Quantity management, you may get a Gretsch sound and every kind of issues.

What are the variations between the Spacehawk and the Spacehawk Supreme?
I stored the whole lot from the unique, together with the part change and kill change, however added an entire array of sounds and a Bigsby. The Supreme lets you have all three pickups on with considered one of them out of part. When you use the bass roll-off, you may skinny it out. With all of the pickups, you could have the world’s largest Stratocaster (laughs). I exploit the bass roll-off greater than I exploit the pickup selector. It’s helpful should you want a Telecaster sound however don’t have sufficient time to change guitars. It’s a little bit of a Swiss Military Knife with an actual class to it.

Discuss concerning the pickups.
We’ve a Railhammer Alnico Grande within the bridge, a Hyper Classic Bridge within the center, and a Hyper Classic within the neck. You get extra horsepower from the bridge pickup if you’d like that alone. The sooner mannequin had a three-position change, however the Supreme has a five-position blade. When you depart it alone and don’t need to mess around with phasing, you may pull the Quantity management and introduce the bridge pickup into any mixture. If in case you have the blade in place 2 – neck and center – you may pull up on the Quantity management to introduce the bridge pickup.

I didn’t need to stray removed from the designs they already had, so we used a korina physique with a maple prime, however I needed a much bigger physique that was semi-hollow. It’s a Sensei form that’s very light-weight. We added a couple of inches in diameter, however it’s nonetheless smaller than a 335 or a 6120, and simpler to play. When you don’t pull any knobs, you could have a five-position guitar like a Strat, with all these traditional sounds. However you can too get bizarre if you’d like.

It was constructed particularly for taking part in The Remedy materials. I didn’t have something that might get there, but in addition I needed one thing I may do a blues gig with. It lives in each worlds. You possibly can even play jazz on it. It has a pleasant PAF-style neck pickup. The truth that it’s a semi-hollow however doesn’t have sound holes lets you play loud.

Which amps are you operating?
My Remedy sound is the Spacehawk by means of a Hiwatt. I’m enjoying by means of three 100-watt amps, however for the longest time I’ve been operating Audio Kitchen amps, from England. I labored carefully with them utilizing my Spacehawk and my pedalboard. We EQ’d the amps to these utilizing a 50-watt Class A, and so they have three KT88s and an enormous transformer. It’s a cool machine.

Any suggestions points?
No. I assumed, “Why do we want sound holes?” (laughs) The Spacehawk Supreme is futuristic, however has its ft firmly planted in custom. After I first took it out of the case and the daylight hit the three pickups, it was like, “I purchased an previous Cadillac!” (laughs)

What’s subsequent?
I’m doing what was known as Doom Canine, however we modified the identify to Gabrels-Kane-Parker Wells. It’s an all-improv band, and we by no means know the place we’re going. There’s no materials. We’ll play up and down the Hudson, and now we have an EP popping out quickly.
– Oscar Jordan

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2025 subject. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.