It’s no secret that Wilco knows gear. From the early days of the band to present day, Jeff Tweedy & co. have played and owned virtually every brand, model, and vintage. The Loft has long been their haven for making music with the gear that they’ve accumulated.
On July 18, The Official Wilco Loft Reverb Shop will opens with a fresh collection of vintage guitars, oddball gems, mystery effects, and more.
For guitarists, there will be a little bit of everything. There are American-made rarities like a 1962 Martin F-55, one of the few electric guitar models built by the acoustic brand, and a favorite from Tweedy’s personal collection. "It’s a rare bird…you don’t see these in the wild too often," The Loft studio manager Mark Greenberg says of the guitar. "I’ll be honest, I’m surprised Jeff is selling this one."
Then, there are Soviet-built oddities from the Cold War era, affordable vintage models with unusual character, like a Tele-style Jolana and an aluminum-body acoustic from an unknown maker. There are also several acoustics, electrics, and acoustic-electrics modded with rubber bridges (as heard a lot in recent years on songs from Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers, and others).
Other items in the shop will include:
- A rare 1960s Framus “Big 18” double-neck electric guitar from Tweedy’s personal collection. “You may live to be 100 and never see another!” Greenberg said.
- A Harmony Buck Owens H169 “American” red, white, and blue acoustic guitar. Playable examples of these unmistakable pieces of American and country music history are becoming more and more rare to come by each year, according to Greenberg.
- Mystery boxes of effects pedals as well as mystery poster tubes featuring three posters each, one of which is signed by Tweedy.
- A six-keyboard (!!) Wurlitzer MKS-470, a teaching "organ" built in the '60s-'70s that has six keyboards connected around a small, fold-up table, allowing six people to play at once. With individual outputs, you can amplify or add effects to each keyboard separately.
UPDATE: The Official Wilco Loft Reverb Shop is now open.