Vance Guitars
3rd July 2017
Samantha Bennett and Vance
Vance Custom Guitars in Canberra Australia recently collaborated with Samantha Bennet of feminist punk powerhouse “Glitoris” to create her own Samantha Bennett Signature Model, the “Glitterbomb” guitar.
Vance Guitars have been using BKP’s as their principal pickup since 2005. Rusty from Vance Guitars said:
"Sam came from a background of high gain single coils which suited her grainy and abrasive punk style and insisted that any pickup Vance chose for her guitar must be crunchy and bright and also have plenty of midrange punch to overpower the heavy bottom end of the Glitoris stage and studio mix. Sam’s influences include Steve Jones (Sam hails from London UK) and Tom Morello, and that was a reference point for us to start shaping her guitar tone. She plays through her cherished Marshall JCM 2000 DSL and Greenback loaded quad and that, in conjunction with a Mesa RA 100 and big box V30s, was the basis for getting the tone done."
The Guitar
Vance Guitars knew that there was only one tone they wanted from this new guitar, and they knew where to find it:
"The BKP Painkiller was a natural fit as we knew that pickup well from other guitars in our range and we nailed it first go. We included a push/pull coil tap option for the pickup with 500K volume only (no tone) and that gave us another level of a surprisingly loud tone set, somewhat the same as going into a parallel configuration. This is a very attractive tone to have on hand and the Painkiller continues to surprise us all with its flexibility."
Rusty and the Vance team knew that they also needed to drive a hefty analogue pedal train so they needed a clear, low noise, fundamental and tight harmonic sequence from the pickup, even at the highest SPL’s and max volume.
He said:
"We got that, no worries. Good work BKP guys."
Vance and BKP
Further to this, when Vance Guitars built the first production guitar after Samantha Bennett's, they auditioned Rusty's favourite, the Nailbomb, to check out how it sounded for a heavy rock version of “The Bomb”, which worked exactly as they wanted it to. Rusty then slipped in a Steve Stevens Rebel Yell and said:
"Wow, a lovely, forceful, midrange growl appeared out of nowhere. Made the hairs on my arm stand up. Definitely interested in the possibilities with this classic 80’s tone. Just another example of why Bare Knuckle continues to be our pickup of choice at Vance Custom Guitars."
Rusty shared this story so that we could see what it takes to make a guitar they are proud of, and, as Rusty said:
"Our partnership with Bare Knuckle has delivered the goods once again."
Thanks Rusty, all at Vance Guitars and Samantha Bennett of Glitoris!
