The Smithereens' Guitars

Through the years, Pat DiNizio and Jim Babjak have played a number of different makes and models of guitars. Presumably, they've played more than the ones listed here, especially in their early years. What we have here is a compilation of the documented guitars they've played...either in photographs, television appearances and videos, and in concert. It is likely not anywhere near complete, but it does give you an idea of not only the different types of instruments they've played, but the instruments they moved on to as their sound evolved into it's present day incarnation, from the jangly pop of their earliest recordings, to the heavily distorted sound of today.

You may notice that Mike Mesaros is given the rather short end of things here. This is mainly because Mike's bass choices haven't changed much over the years...a case of him finding something he likes, and sticking with it. Mike's instruments have alternated between Fender Precision basses, and Rickenbacker's model 4001. His first Rickenbacker, a black 4001, was bought for him by a girlfriend in the early 80's. Later, he aquired a "mapleglo (Rickenbacker's term for "natural finish.")" Paul McCartney model 4001 Rickenbacker (with dot markers on the fret-board, instead of the usual triangular markers), and these are the two he's mostly been seen playing over the years, though Rickenbacker has provided him with several different 4001's for use in the Smithereens' videos. In recent years, Mike has favored the Fender Precision basses. Mike used an early 70's black Fender for the recording of ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, and still uses this bass on and off to this day. He also plays a sunburst Fender Precision bass, and used a latter-day natural finish Fender Precision with the letters "JS" branded into the bass' horn during the A DATE WITH THE SMITHEREENS tour.

PRE-FAME THROUGH "ESPECIALLY FOR YOU":

Pat DiNizio played a number of guitars through the early days of the Smithereens...his first is said to be a Sunburst Fender Jazzmaster, given to him by a cousin who once played guitar for the Critters, best known for their 60's hit "Mr. Diengly Sad," though Pat's cousin didn't join the band until after their hit-making days were over. Pat later retired this guitar, replacing it with a latter day version of the same model. Pat is seen playing this guitar in the 1986 MTV LIVE AT THE RITZ concert video. Sticking with the Fender's, Pat could be seen playing an early 1970's model "Buddy Holly" Stratocaster, which he retired for a few years, but recently brought back to play onstage.

Pat is pictured on the back of the BEAUTY AND SADNESS EP playing a Gretsch model 6120, more commonly known as the "Nashville" guitar.

Just prior to the recording of GREEN THOUGHTS, Pat was seen playing a Mosrite "Ventures" model guitar, patterned after the guitars played by the famous instrumental group.

The early band shot from the booklet for the BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS CD shows Pat playing an inexpensive Westwood acoustic 6 string. Later, in the band's "Blood And Roses" and "Drown In My Own Tears," he plays an unidentified brand black dreadnaught acoustic.

Though Jim Babjak is pictured in some early 80's photos of the Smithereens playing a Fender Stratocaster, and a Gibson Les Paul, his most used guitar from the band's early years, through the tour in support of ESPECIALLY FOR YOU was a red Rickenbacker model 340, three pickup six string. This guitar is pictured on the back cover of the BEAUTY AND SADNESS EP, and can be seen in the videos for "Blood And Roses," "Behind The Wall Of Sleep," and the LIVE AT THE RITZ MTV concert from 1986. The red Rickenbacker still resides in Jim's collection, and he pulled it out of retirement for the band's 1995 appearance on LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN, and used it as a backup guitar on the 1995 BLOWN TO SMITHEREENS tour.

Though rarely played in concert, Jim also played a Rickenbacker model 330, two pickup twelve string, which can be heard all over the Smithereens' recordings, up through ESPECIALLY FOR YOU, and Jim is pictured playing this guitar in the booklet for the ATTACK OF THE SMITHEREENS CD. (Though similar in design to Jim's 340 model Rickenbacker, the biggest difference between these two guitars, other than one being a 12 string, is the number of pickups. A Rickenbacker 330 becomes a 340 with the addition of a third pickup.)

In concert, Jim would play a black Guild F-50 acoustic 6 string with a pickup, during the songs "Cigarette" and "In A Lonely Place." This guitar still gets some occasional use, as Babjak pulled it out of mothballs for the "DeBella DeBall" acoustic performance in Philadelphia, PA. on December 7th, 1995.

Jim likely has played and recorded with several other guitars through this time period, including a borrowed Gibson Les Paul used during the recording of "Crazy Mixed-Up Kid" for ESPECIALLY FOR YOU.

"GREEN THOUGHTS":

It was at about this time that the the Smithereens informally began endorsing Rickenbacker guitars. Though no deal was ever signed (and Rickenbacker says it does not sign endorsement deals with artists), the company provided the Smithereens with instruments, and the Smithereens appeared in promotional advertisements for the guitar company (One such promotional photo appears on page 155 of the book THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF RICKENBACKER GUITARS, by Richard R. Smith, 1987, Centerstream Publishing, ISBN 0-931759-15-3 in which the Smithereens are pictured holding stock guitar models similar to the ones they played at the time.). During the GREEN THOUGHTS tour, and during promotional appearances on television, they exclusively played Rickenbacker guitars. In many ways, the Ricks became synonymous with the Smithereens' sound at this time, and as there is quite a cult following for Rickenbacker guitars (this author included), many Rick enthusiasts were drawn to the band at this point.

Pat DiNizio at first played a solid body 620 Rickenbacker, but later went with a hollow body with no sound holes, black 350 Rick, similar in style to the famous John Lennon guitar, with the exception that Pat played a full sized guitar, as opposed to Lennon's short scale Rick 325. Pat still uses this guitar as a backup from time to time.

The first days of the GREEN THOUGHTS tour had Jim Babjak playing a three-pickup hollow body Rickenbacker 370 guitar. He soon took delivery of three white Rickenbacker guitars. Two of these were custom made three pickup, 370-style model prototypes, hollow body with black pick-guards and logo plates, chrome hardware (ie, tuning pegs, bridge, etc.), and most uniquely, white fretboards with no markers. These became his main guitars for this era, and he is pictured playing them in the videos for "Only A Memory," "House We Used To Live In," and "Drown In My Own Tears," as well as various television appearances. Jim's main "Great White" Rickenbacker was retired from the road after the "Green Thoughts" tour, and was mainly used for studio work. It was set to be raffled off to a fan by the Official Smithereens Fan Club in October of 1998.

"11":

Though still playing Rickenbacker guitars, and crediting them in the liner notes of the 11 album, at this point, the Smithereens began switching over to different makes and models of guitars. While still playing the Ricks on video, they began using Fenders and Gibsons on stage. The band's guitar sound was becoming rawer and more distorted, and while Rickenbackers are wonderful sounding guitars, one of their flaws is that they sound harsh when heavily distorted. Jim Babjak was heard to say that the Rickenbackers just didn't have "enough power," and an attempt to design a more powerful Rickenbacker guitar for him proved to be a failure. Pat DiNizio would add that Gibsons and Fenders were built to withstand the sort or torture, sweat and banging around that the Smithereens put them through onstage better than the more delicate Ricks. Though Rickenbacker guitars would continue to appear on record and onstage with the Smithereens from time to time, big guitar changes were afoot.

An interesting footnote to all this is the Smithereens' December 1989 appearance on MTV Unplugged, the second ever show in the popular series. Pat DiNizio played a jumbo Guild six string, Jim Babjak, an under-amplified and barely audible Martin dreadnaught, and Mike Mesaros, a Guild acoustic bass...all very uncharacteristic instruments, and possibly all rented especially for the occasion.

Onstage, Pat DiNizio brought back his trusty "Buddy Holly" model Fender Stratocaster. Meanwhile, the "A Girl Like You" video showed Pat playing a "fireglo (Rickenbacker terminology for a red sunburst color)" model 1997 Rick 6 string, the British-style version of the model 350, with standard "f-holes" instead of the normal Rick "slashes" or the no holes of the Lennon model.

The "Yesterday Girl" video brought the debut of Pat's orange jumbo Gretsch "Rancher" acoustic guitar, with the Gretsch "G" logo branded into the upper left of the guitar's body, triangle shaped soundhole, and gold hardware. It's been his main acoustic ever since.

Jim Babjak's main guitar onstage became a red Gibson SG with black pickguard, similar to the guitar Pete Townshend was known for playing during the TOMMY/LIVE AT LEEDS-era of the Who.

As mentioned, Jim stuck with the Rickenbackers for the band's videos, including another custom prototype white Rickenbacker 370, with a custom paint-job, featuring the image of a woman, as seen in the "A Girl Like You" video. The "Blues Before And After" video showed Jim playing a 340 Rickenbacker, with black pickguard and hardware (hard to tell the guitar's color, as the video is filmed in black and white, with the guitar tinted blue). The "Yesterday Girl" video, and the band's appearance on Saturday Night Live featured Jim playing the custom black Rickenbacker prototype the company made for him in response to his request for a guitar with "more power." The guitar featured a thin body, no pickguard, and humbucking pickups. Jim has since refered to this guitar as "a piece of shit." The "Blue Period" video had Jim playing a unique archtop sunburst Rickenbacker prototype, more of a jazz guitar than something a rock and roll player would use. This guitar is most unique, because Rickenbacker had stopped making archtop guitars in the early 60's, and even this one was much different from the type the company once made.

"BLOW UP":

Pat DiNizio didn't change much of his guitar arsenal during the BLOW UP-era, though he did add another Fender Stratocaster, this one a glittery gold-flake model. Around this time, he began pasting pictures on his Strats. The band's 1992 appearance on THE DENNIS MILLER SHOW had Pat's picture from the BLOW UP publicity photo stuck to the gold strat. Later, with the birth of his daughter, Pat began sticking baby pictures onto his guitar. For whatever reason, he appears to have since abandoned this practice.

Jim Babjak mostly stuck with his red Gibson SG, but he was also pictured in the "Top Of The Pops" video playing a blue SG with white pick-guard, which hasn't been seen since (hopefully, he didn't drop it into the hot tub he was seen playing the guitar in during the video!). For the BLOW UP tour, he brought along a black Fender Stratocaster, with burgundy pickguard. Strangely, this guitar was missing the middle pickup, with an empty hole where it should have been. For the band's live performances of "Now And Then" and "Too Much Passion," Jim played a "mapleglo," or natural finish, solid body 625 12 string Rickenbacker. Additionally, in the "Too Much Passion" video, he played a similar 12 string Rickenbacker guitar, but black (or "jetglo") in color.

Jim also added a Gibson "Chet Atkins" model solid body guitar, for use during the "acoustic" portions of the live shows. This guitar looks and sounds like an acoustic guitar, but is actually a solid body electric, made to cut down on feedback when heavily amplified. It's been his main stage "acoustic" to the present day.

"A DATE WITH THE SMITHEREENS" TO PRESENT:

While Pat DiNizio's guitar setup hasn't changed in several years, Jim Babjak made a major switch before the A DATE WITH THE SMITHEREENS tour, over to a natural finish, black pickguard Fender Telecaster (he has two identical ones), alternating with the Gibson SG and the old, trusty red Rickenbacker 340 as backups.

On March 16th, 1996, Jim played a solo gig with his side-band "The Don Wands" at the Court Tavern in New Brunswick, NJ. His main guitar for that show was a sunburst Fender Stratocaster, with the Telecaster as a backup. He also played the red Gibson SG on covers of the Who's "Heaven And Hell" and "I Can't Explain."

Finally, during the Smithereens' series of summer 1996 concerts, the band played an opening acoustic set during several of the shows, and Jim played a Gretsch "Rancher," identical to the acoustic guitar Pat's been playing for years. This was apparently mostly for looks, as during one show, when a roadie attempted to give Jim the "Rancher" for "Cigarette," he refused it, opting for the Gibson "Chet Atkins" instead.