On the afternoon of Foghat's most recent concert appearance in Memphis, I interviewed the band and road crew as they made preparations to headline a bill that included Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow and the Hounds in the Mid-SouthColiseum. As the lighting and sound crews (the See Factory and Midwest Sound Exchange) prepared ^or the sound check, I spoke with Foghat's "guitar roadie" Greg Morgan , aka Weasel, about Foghat's equipment and about his role in the Foghat organization. As we sat backstage in the

Lonasom* Dav* Peverett and Rod Price introduce their newest bandmate Up, totally unaware that their guitars have formed a spin-off group, TAHGOF. (Lower Left) Pink Floyd's father, disguised as Craig McGregor's bass rig. Their mother moonlights as Rod Price's Model T heads, spare wah-wah, and Conn strobe tuner.

tune-up room, I asked Weasel the all too obvious: How did you get this gig?

"Well," he said, "I was working for another band; we were on the same tour; I liked Foghat—the people, you know, and I liked their music, so I asked them for a gig and got it."

"How did you get the guitar maintenance job?" I asked.

"When I started out, I did the ramps and the chasers just like any new member of a crew would—the grunt stuff. But one night Rod [lead guitarist Rod Price] broke a string and there was no one there to change it, so I did. Had it done in less than a minute, I guess. Anyway, Rod was impressed. Soon after that, I got the guitar maintenance job." .

"What does that involve?"

"When we're on the road, it involves keeping everything functioning perfectly as far as the guitars and basses go. Roger Earl [drummer] has his own roadies who set up his drums and maintain them. I take care of Rod, Dave [Peverett, guitarist] and Craig [MacGregor, bassist]. I know how they

like their instruments to play, and I keep them that way. In fact, I probably know more about these instruments than they do. But that is what Foghat expects of me. If an instrument doesn't play right, it's my responsibility."

"Do you ever have any problem finding parts or repair shops when you're on the road?"

Weasel pointed to a large anvil case nearby. "Everything I could possibly ever need is in that road case," he said, "except another neck, maybe. But no, I can't afford to be lacking parts. I have complete replacement parts for all the guitars in this room (eight in all—four used by Rod Price, two belonging to Dave Peverett, and two basses used by Craig MacGregor) right here in this case, and," he added, "if I go into a hall that has meager facilities and can't find a good table to use as a workbench backstage, I just pop the front panel off my road case, screw on the legs enclosed inside the panel (Rhodes piano legs, by the way) and attach it here to my case and presto! I have my own work bench!" With that, the Weasel jumped up on top of this rig and leaped up and down a few times, then grinned: "I designed this myself."

Rod Price carries four guitars on the road: two Les Pauls, one Les Paul Junior, and one S. G. The Les Pauls, a Gold Top Standard and an ebony Custom, are used for lead and chord work; the Junior and S. G. are used for slide. The Gold Top Standard (ser. #8—1075) is. Rod's favorite road guitar—Weasel was quick to point out that Rod has a '58 sunburst Les Paul at home but prefers not to take it on the road because it is mint—Weasel found the Gold Top in Chicago. It is all original except for a newer set of Kluson tuners that were necessary. The ebony Custom (#5—5243) was previously rebuilt by Leo Quan for Ronnie Montrose. One distinguishing feature of this guitar is the Martin fingerboard binding. Rod uses the "black beauty" as a backup guitar. On the Les Pauls, Rod uses a custom gauge set of GHS strings: (.009 .011 .015 .026 .036 .052).

The black double cutaway Les Paul Junior is Rod's slide guitar. This instrument originally had standard pickups, but Weasel routed out the body for big humbuckings and installed a Leo Quan Badass Bridge, a gold set of Grover machine heads, and a cream pickguard. The paint job was done by Tom Stinson of Strings and Things Guitar Workshop, and the old style script "Gibson" headstock inlay was done by Nik Chatal, also of Strings and Things. The cherry red S G. is used as a backup slide guitar. The two slide axes are tuned to open E tuning and strung with D'Addario XL 110's. All pickups in all of Rod Price's guitars are the original Gibson "patent applied for" humbuckings. Rod's backstage amp is an immaculate tweed Gibson Ranger, circa 1958. In addition to the sunburst he keeps at home, Rod also has a National steel-bodied dobro, a Guild F-50, a Takamine 12-string, and an Epiphone. Zephyr lap steel.

Dave Peverett, lead vocalist and guitarist for Foghat, travels with two Les Paul Juniors, both double cutaways, one cherry and one blond one. The cherry (#9—3613) with one humbucking pickup, Badass Bridge,speed knobs and tortoise shell pickguard, is his main axe. The backup guitar is a rare "TV model" dated Feb. 28, 1961, according to Weasel, and bears the serial number 301. Dave uses Fender F150XL strings on both. His backstage practice amp is an old tweed Fender Harvard. When I remarked that I had never seen that particular model (I mean, I've heard of a Princeton, but a Harvard?) Dave grinned: "Steve Cropper used one on a lot of old Stax stuff."

"You like that sort of music?" I asked.

"Yes, very'much. I've got most of it in my record collection," he said. "There was one import shop in London that carried them in those days. They were very hard to get, as were blues records of any kind."

"Who else were you into in those (days? Anyone in England?"

"Oh, the Stones, early on. I used to catch them at the Marquis. And the Who as well; in fact; that's what the new wave reminds me of. It sounds like the old wave to me."

"Where is Foghat's music at?"

"Basically, we're a blues band, you know. We play rock 'n' roll, but it comes from an, appreciation of the blues, and like most blues it is very straightforward. "

"Do you use any effects, any gimmicks?"

"None with the exception of Rod's wah-wah pedal, wl^ich he uses for extra treble during certain parts of a solo, and Craig, I think, uses a phase shifter onhis bass. I don't use anything but my guitar, an old Fender Twin Reverb, and two Mesa Boogie 100 watt heads with SRO 12" speakers on stage."

"I noticed you had a Schaeffer-Vega wireless system on stage. Have you been using it?"

"We tried them on our guitars, but they seem to make the sound a bit thinner. Craig uses his on the bass, though, and he's, very happy with it." Craig MacGregor is indeed happy with his Vega wireless system.

"It kills!!" he said. "I've used everything, tried 'em all, and nothing can touch Ken Schaeffer's wireless system. Did you see my rig? Come on, I'll show it to you."

On stage in the hall, Craig continued: "I come out of the transmitter, which is mounted in my strap, into the receiver on top of the amp rack [see black box in photo]. From there into an MXR Phase 100, to an Acoustic 360 head which I use as a preamp, into a Urei 12-band stereo graphic and finally into a Phase Linear 750B power amp. For speakers, I use four Acousic 370 bottoms. The McIntosh 2300 is a spare power amp."

"Have you ever had any problems with the wireless transmitter?"

Craig shook his head. "No way. I get a totally distortion-free, clear sound all across the fretboard, as well as equal volume because of the built-in compressor in the Schaeffer system."

"Yours looks fairly new. Your bass, that is. Have you done anything to it?"

"The knobs do not function at all. There is no need for it with the wifeless system. So I just have an on-off switch for my electronics. Weasel installed a Badass bridge, a set of gold Grovers, and a Hi-A treble pickup."

"What kind of strings do you use?"

"GHS Bass Boomers, right now, but we're going to change to GHS Brite Flats. They're not so rough on frets. But first Weasel has to lower the Badass, because I do not waint the neck shimmed or tampered with in. any way. It plays too good to be tampered with."

"Speaking of instruments, how is it that Rod and Dave have vintage axes and yours is new and rather ordinary at first glance?"

Craig frowned,a little. "What is the point in taking an old valuable instrument on the road when the one I've got does the job? Sure, there's the 'snob appeal' I suppose, but why bother if you are getting the sound you want. And I am getting my sound, 100%, right now, with my present equipment."

Probably the most surprising thing on stage that day was Rod Price's amp rack, which contained two old Sunn Model T heads. Nobody else I know uses these heads anymore for guitar, but Rod Price likes them.

"I've tried everything else, believe me," Rod responded. ^'Marshall, Ampeg, Mesa Boogie, you name it, but nothing gives me the sound that those old heads do. I know it's odd, but I like it, the band likes it, and so far, the crowds seem to like it, too." Later that night, as 12,000 screaming fans applauded the second Foghat encore, Rod Price's point came home to me. It ain't so much what you got, but how you use it that counts.