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Frederoc's Instruments
I play these beautiful instruments on my self-produced songs, which you can find here at my actual playlist =>
1st electric guitar:
Gibson Les Paul Gold Top
1957 vintage model (2019)
2nd electric guitar:
Squire Stratocaster (1983)
1st acoustic guitar:
Taylor 314ce Grand Auditorium Acoustic Electric with cutaway and pickup (2010)
2nd acoustic guitar:
Leewald Duotone Wood
Resonator with cutaway
and pickup (2020)
Equipment story
I started playing the electric guitar in 1983 with a Squire Stratocaster, using its clean sound to learn several scales and licks. A friend replaced the white pickguard with a black one because I preferred a darker look. He also swapped the simple switch for a toggle switch that can be fixed in five positions (pickups: 1 / 1-2 / 2 / 2-3 / 3). Therefore the frequently used intermediate position between the pickups 1 and 2 wouldn’t slip out of place during enthusiastic playing. Additionally, a professional guitar maker replaced the original tremolo with a lockable one. This is because the original tremolo usually shifts the pitch with frequent use. I’m fully aware that these changes “disfigure” and devalue the poor instrument, but it’s meant to please me — not antique dealers.
For many years, the old Squire was perfectly adequate for me, although the single-coil pickups — despite various footswitches — naturally cannot match the harmonically rich sound of humbuckers. But at some point, I simply needed a guitar with humbucker pickups.
So in the early ’90s, I had a short interlude with an Ibanez Flying V model. Because I don't really feel comfortable with it's excessively long neck (in my opinion), that guitar now has more of a museum-like collector’s value for me, even though it still works perfectly well.
And when a limited vintage reissue of the “Paula 1957” was released in 2019 — with only one available in Germany — I seized the opportunity. Today I use her humbuckers especially for creating various fat distorted sounds.
In my first songs, I imitated the bass on the “Paula” and occasionally layered each note with a MIDI track to make the sound more bass-like.
Since this was only a suboptimal solution, I bought an Ibanez Short Cut Bass in 2025. It’s not entirely pure at the 12th fret and beyond, but still excellent value for the money.
Yamaha - PSS-595
Yamaha - PSS-595
This old keyboard once belonged to my sister, Angela. Because of its small keys, the instrument is less suitable for actual playing and more for storing short sequences of notes and playing standardized rhythms. In that sense, it’s a kind of precursor to today’s useful digital loop stations.
When Angela stopped making music after the birth of her daughter, she originally planned to sell the keyboard at a flea market. Instead, she gave it to me, and I’ve been using it as a kind of improved metronome since the late 1990s.
During my song production work, I discovered that the keyboard has a MIDI output. This allows me to capture rhythms and melodies digitally using specialized plugins (see: “Software”). I use the so called midi files, produced in this way, in my DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). ... And the old Yamaha keyboard just keeps working flawlessly - what an excellent quality. ...
But unfortuntely the Yamaha's old midi version doesn't work on a new Mac. That's why I use the instrument on my laptop to record a keyboard track or a drum beat. ThenI import the track into the Mac.
#frederoc #GermanRock# Deutschrock #diy #diymusic #diyMusicStories #rock #blues #boogie #RockBallad
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