Click on the Axe to enlarge. Mick's Pittillo Custom is the creation of "Doc" Pittillo of "Guitar Doctor" fame in Fountain Valley California. From "Doc" himself: Mick's guitar has a body frame
and quarter-sawn "V" neck made of Honduras mahogany with an ebony fingerboard. Frets are Dunlop 6100. The top is lacewood.
The tuners are Gibson gearless, Steinberger design. The bridge is a Wilkinson convertible and the pickups were designed by
Seymour Duncan. The neck pickup is a hybrid ceramic and Alnico 5 that is reminiscent of a Firebird pickup. The bridge pickup
is basically a J.B. humbucker with modified Alnico 5 magnets. The finish is tobacco and honey burst under polyurethane.
Modular Pittillo Custom
This one's got a bolt-on neck, Fender LSR Roller Nut, no "F"
hole, and a slightly different neck profile.
1962 Custom Strat. Mick uses primarily Fender Strats and his "number
one" Strat (above), which is serial # 0008, was built by "Doc" Pittillo. This one's got Seymour Duncan's Antiquity pickup
harness & a Trev Wilkinson bridge.
Above: Mick purchased this 1972 Fender Strat, he calls
"Tux", in August of "72". It was first used, along with Mick's 1964 Fender Jaguar,
to record the soundtrack for the American International film the " Unholy Rollers" and
later with Chuck Berry and John Mayall. While on tour with the Unholy Rollers in Canada, Mick had the body refinished. Apparently,
the band was using "Groom-&-Clean" hair gel for the 1950's slick look and it ate the finish off the guitar. This
Strat ended up in Australia finished in Antique white. In 1981 the Australian owner attended one of Mick's workshops in the
Seattle area and brought the Strat. Mick offered to buy it back but the owner declined. In 1998 Mick finally got it back and
had it restored by Mike Lull at Guitar Works in Seattle. Mick had a few mods added. First, the tuners are Schallers and the
bridge pickup is a Dimarzio Virtual Vintage Solo. Then the bottom tone knob is dedicated to the bridge pickup so that the
highs can be rolled off a bit. It now has a five-position pickup selector switch and a capacitor added to the volume pot so
there's no loss of highs when turning down.
"Frankie" Mick has no idea how old Frankie is. It's a refin' and in the process all the date markings were
sanded off. It has Seymour Duncan's favorite Tele pickups and wiring harness combo and has Graphtech Ferraglide bridge saddles.
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The strings of choice are Cleartone electric 10-46, acoustic 11-52.
"I was at the NAMM show a couple of years ago and was talking with the guys at Everly
Music. They gave me some Cleartone Strings to try. So, in late January I put a set on my Tele, which can get played as much
as 8 hours a day, just to see how long they would last. In October of that same year I had the Tele re-fretted and that was
almost 10 months later and the Cleartone strings I put on in January were still alive and well. The true test! I now use Cleartones
exclusively."
 Mick's 2008 Pedalboard
Here's an Area 51 look at Mick's current pedalboard. The top tier remains removed from
the two-tiered pedalboard by NGM Pedalboards, then the signal chain changes: Guitar -> a modified
VOX V-847 Reissue
Wah -> into a dual loop pedal by Loop Master. The first loop goes to a -> Pigtronix Disnortion pedal which has a beautifully voiced low-gain overdrive on the
right side, a 6 voice fuzz in the middle, and a killer octava on the left. The second loop goes to a -> T.C.
Electronics stereo chorus. The dual loop "out" goes to a -> Pigtronix Echolution delay, the most flexible unit we've seen yet. Includes modulation effects, tap tempo, and
can even produce reverse-tape guitar in real time! -> into a T-Rex Room-mate tube Reverb pedal, wow! -> out to Lee
Jackson XLS-1000. The tuner "out" of the Loop Master goes to a Boss
TU-12 tuner. The silver box above the Loop Master is a channel switching pedal from Dan Torres used with the XLS-1000s. All Cables,
as usual, are strictly George L's. Pedals are powered by a Voodoo Labs Pedal Power II. Mick
is always on the prowl for new effects and is well versed on tubes, components, circuits, etc. We'll keep you posted on any
changes.
PREVIOUS EFFECTS PEDALBOARDS
Alvarez Acoustic electric Model PD-85SC AV
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Mick's Lee Jackson
XLSC-1000 2x12 combo
Of all Mick's amps, he favors his XLSC-1000 100w combo
designed and built by legendary amp guru Lee Jackson. This amazing combo is equipped with
EL-34s and Mick's tech added a special bias port just for EL-34s, to compliment the "Smart-Tube" feature Lee put in these
amps as a stock feature. "Smart-Tube" allows Mick to use the power tubes of his choice, flick a switch, and wait a few minutes...and
voila...biased! The preamp on the XLSC-1000 has a dual gain stage. Set the initial gain, 1-12, then engage the "More" knob,
12-24, to refine the tone. This tone monster is blessed with an "MTA" (master tube attenuator) to allow Mick to get that thick
violin-like tone at sane volumes. In Mick's current setup, the ambient effects are placed in the adjustable tube-driven effects-loop
of the XLSC-1000, while the pedal board goes into the amps front input. One of the features Mick especially likes is
the speaker configuration. The XLSC-1000 has one Celestian Vintage-30 in the open-back side and one enclosed on the other
side; this makes for some great recording options! We will attempt to get some shots of the back
of this amp FYI! In preparation for the UK/Euro tour Lee was kind enough to get a transformer schematic to Mick's Amp tech
to show how to make the appropriate adjustments so the amp could be used in the UK and Europe. You can hear Mick and the XLSC-1000
on "Nothing's Forever" and "Never Again" just go to the "Sonic Grooves" page. Mick
says the only gear he used for solos on these tracks was a Seymour Duncan eqipped ESP Mirage prototype, an Alesis Quadroverb
II, and the XLSC-1000. Check out the tone!
For larger venues Mick uses two Lee Jackson XLS-1000 half-stacks. The Heads are loaded with Groove
Tubes 5881s and USA 12AX7s and have the same features as the XLSC-1000 combo. The Cabs have Celestion Black-Back Vintage 30s.
These amps come stock with all the hot-rod features by Lee Jackson. The effects are configured differently when Mick uses a two amp setup. More
to come on this!
We were finally able to get a shot of Mick's Lee Jackson Tweed XLS-1000 100w Lead setup. This Tweed head is basically the same as Mick's
other Lee Jackson amps but with different tubes. The 2 x 12 closed-back cab is equipped with the same Celestion Vintage
30 black-back speakers as Mick's XLSC-1000.
This 1952 Fender, tweed "Pro", TV model was used by Mick
on many occasions, including tracks at Triad Studios in Seattle in 1988. You can hear the "Pro" on " Never Again", on the Sonic
Grooves" page. The amp blew up during a recording session at Triad Studios and was repaired by Mike Lull at Guitar Works in
Seattle. Later, the amp was sold to Huey Lewis (Huey Lewis and the News).
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