Nuno - The Ibanez Interviews Ibanez, the People and the Players

Larry Mitchell
Guitar Endorsee
1988-Date

Brooklyn born, long-time trusty Ibanez endorsee, musician/guitarist/producer Larry Mitchell played everything with everyone. his versatility allowed him not only to cover every kind of genres they wanted him to play, but also to express himself production-wise during the last 6 years, with great results.
he started playing guitar because of kind of a "diplomatic accident", as he tells: "I started playing guitar at age 9, after my mom threw my drumset out of the window..." he then realized he was made for it and he soon won many contests, like New York City's "Limelight Guitar Solo Contest" in 1987. Self taught, his initial influences and roots stem from R&B and funk, with strong emphasis on rhythmic playing. Larry's curiosity in rock guitar, leads and sound effects grew from his eye opening exposure to the sounds of Prince and Van Halen. His style became more dynamic and aggressive, but never forgetting his initial inspirations.
in 1988 he's got his endorsement with Ibanez, then he's got his first World Tour with Miguel Bose. in 1990 his first album "Larry Mitchell" (Grudge Records) came out and then he's started working on Rik Ocasek's "Fire Ball Music" album, and also performed with him at the Light House Benefit and at the China Club Unannounced Show. in 1991 Larry toured with rock singer Billy Squier, and a year later he toured with Tracy Chapman.
Larry also worked with various artists, like TM.Stevens (Black Rock Christmas TV Show in Germany and Japan), and Sandra Bernard. in 1993 his REH' instructional video "The Linking System" (Warner Bros) came out.
in 1993 Larry also released his second album "Mind, Body, Soul" (Guitar Player Records and Ridgetop Music), then between 1994-1995 he performed on the Jon Stewart Show with Coolio, Montel Jordan, Pete Rock and C.L.Smooth. in 1995 album "Escape: Acoustic Passages Vol.1" came out for his own label, String Time Music (America) & Bandai (Japan). two years later Larry released another album, "Temptation" (String Time Music) and in 1999 his album "Insatiable" (String Time Music) won San Diego Music Awards "Best Pop-Jazz".
in 1995 Larry produced the "Rust Charles Band" first outside production, and he's been producing other artists since 1999. Various Singer songwriters, Rock, Acoustic folk, Pop and R&B won Awards for best production. Larry is currently in production of New Instrumental Rock/Fusion CD "Sonic Temple" and New Acoustic Smooth Jazz CD "Santa Fe Nights".

Larry endorses DiMarzio pickups and D'Addario strings since 1985, Ibanez guitars since 1988 and he's been endorsee for Hartke Speakers, Hughes & Kettner Amps and GoIncase travel guitar cases.

welcome Larry, it's great to have you doing this interview for the site.

thank you, Nuno, it's a pleasure.

when it all started at Ibanez? who contacted you?

actually, Steve Blucher, VP at DiMarzio pickups contacted me. he told me that Fender was looking for upcoming guitar players. they where starting to do what Ibanez had done in connecting their new guitar line with new guitarist that where coming up and making a name for themselves. I went out to Winter NAMM in '88. we went to the Fender booth and checked out the guitar that they want to connect me with: the "HM Strat" . I hated it. when the Fender rep. came over to me, I told him that it wasn't my favorite Fender. he said, "This is Fender, we can make anything you want but, this is want you want". I said: "Can I think about it and come back after lunch?" He said, "Yes". I never went back. I was a bit bummed because I had sold my only two nice guitars to pay for my trip out there (a Hamer Steve Stevens model and a Kramer -something that I won in two contests). walking from Fender with Steve, I said: "How about Ibanez? I really like their thin necks and cool shapes". Steve said that they where not looking for unknowns anymore. but I asked him we could try anyway. he said: "Sure!". I think that he felt sorry for me.. :-) he took to meet Rich Lasner. he was nice and said that he was swamped with requests for endorsements. but he would listen to my tape (yes, tape in those days!) and check out my press kit. that was that. I ran into him later that night in the Hilton Hotel elevator. he told me that he would probably get to hear only one tape this trip and the rest in about a month or two when things slowed down a bit. I asked him if he only a chance to listen to one tape, could he please listen to mine. he said yes, he could do that.
the next day stopped by the Ibanez booth and as I was walking towards Rich. he was flipping the pages of a Guitar World magazine issue. as I got to the table he was at, he flipped right to a page that I was on. he looked up at me and then back down at the page, and up at me again: there I was. I take that as a good sign :-) he then told me that he listened to one tape last night and it was mine and he liked it. Ibanez was would like to work with me. he wanted to support unknown guitar players that where out on the scene. I was playing in 9 bands in and around NYC at the time and making a lot noise reputation wise. I got the endorsement and a few months later I did my first major tour in Italy and Spain with Miguel Bose. Ibanez has been great to me since.

what guitars were you playing before Ibanez endorsement?

I had a few homemade thrown-together guitars, two of which got left at and thrown out at the Bensalem office. I also had my first really good guitar that I ever got. my mom bought me a used Ibanez Sunburst Les Paul copy from a little Music store (Music Gallery) in Hewlett, Long Island. I think that it was about $100. Michael Bach, the owner of that store, also took me to my first ever NAMM show. I still have that guitar, it has an old Ibanez chorus built into it.

Larry Mitchell on 1989 USA Catalog

would you describe your relationship with Ibanez back in the days? what kind of endorsement have you got at the time?

originally I think that it was a contract for one guitar a year, for two years. when I got my first tour Rich called me and said: "You need to take at least one more guitar with you on the road". I went to Bensalem where Jim Donahue and Mace Bailey tweaked the RG550 that they gave me. Rich gave me a neck for a guitar I already had. they tweaked that also. then they looked at his pitiful guitar that I had made and put an Ibanez neck on. Rich said: "Let's go to lunch". when I came back they handed me a new S540 guitar and said that it had the original pickups from the pitiful guitar in it. so I took three guitars to Italy for the tour.
when I got to Italy, the Italian rep. came out to the rehearsal hall and asked me if I needed anything. he took the guitars and had them checked and tweaked, in case they got whacked in the flight over there. I thought that Ibanez was great company, which really blew me away. EVERYBODY had been incredibly nice to me.

Larry Mitchell on 1990 USA Catalog

what model your very first Ibanez guitar was as an endorsee?

a stock white RG550. it's at my mom’s house now.

are there any differences in your endorsement relationship from the early days to nowadays?

I talk with Rob (Nishida, head of Artist Relations) a few times a week about anything and everything. I enjoy going to NAMM shows every year and seeing all the people from the East coast office and from Japan. everyone is still very nice to me and my guitars are great. I do miss Jim and Mace a lot. they would never let me do any tweaking on my own guitars. they always did them. I am very bad at wiring!!

are there any new models that you like and would use?

I am using and have been for a few years now the SZ guitars. I have a black one with a GK2A pickup (LA Custom Shop), a stock Gold Amber Burst with DiMarzio Eric Johnson humbuckers (yes, EJ model humbuckers). and 2005 Gold Top with the EJ humbuckers in it. I am getting a Butterscotch SZ with a tremolo very soon too, hopefully made by Tak Hosono at the LA Custom Shop. I need at least one guitar with a tremolo for my solo songs. I think that the quality of inexpensive guitars has gone up tremendously over the past 10 years. the SZ are great set neck guitars and are not very expensive.

do your custom models differ from mass-production ones?

not really. most are just custom because of the wood type and color, and the fact that I know who actually made my guitar. I do have few guitars that where made for me by Jim Donahue. one that I love that he made is Transparent Purple RG550 archtop with a Wilkinson tremolo and DiMarzio PAF Pros in it. I also have a few that never made it into production, like my double neck, the archtop RG, I have a production demo nylon string acoustic from Japan. I play that all the time now. it's a little thicker and has different wood than the stock AE10N's, it's also a natural color. I have one of the first samples of SC500N.

Larry Mitchell on 1992-93 International Catalog
(note the LA Custom Shop double-neck Radius on background)

would you like to have your own signature model guitar? if so, would you describe it?

yes, right now it would be an SZ with a Wilkinson VS100 tremolo and Sperzel tuners, Amber Burst (Butter Scotch) in color, mahogany with a maple top. one volume, one tone, a very loose 3-way switch and DiMarzio EJ pickups.

what do you think about Ibanez Signature models? are there some that you like particularly?

I have a Pat Matheny model it's great! I use it a lot. I've always wanted a George Benson model, since I was in High School.

are you still in touch with any of the Ibanez R&D Team guys?

I saw Rich Lasner at the last NAMM show he is doing well. I haven't spoken with Mace Bailey in a few years. he seemed happy I wish he were still making guitars at Ibanez.

can you describe your most particular Ibanez custom models? for example, what about that amazing double-neck Radius guitar with two extra-frets?

I spoke with Rich Lasner on the phone from Europe while on tour. he asked if there was anything that I wanted. I said: "Yeah, I always wanted a double-neck guitar". he said: "Ok, when you get back home come in talk with Mace about how you want it done". this is why it has the necks going farther apart from each other: because Mace listened to me and not his own smart guitar sense. the necks are hard to play for almost anyone else. it also makes the guitar very wide. special case for it. I had to lend it Nuno Bettencourt once for a show we both did and he was the only one to get the extra-fret thing and be able to play it because of the wide necks. the D-neck was one of Steve Vai's. I think that they made him a guitar with the 2 extra-frets lower than the nut. they would have made this before the 7-strings came out. they made 2 of the necks but only one guitar for him. so the neck was there. I think that it was Mace that asked if I wanted to try it. they asked Steve if he needed it and he said: "No, go ahead". that's where the D-neck came from. my original drawing for it is in "Ibanez: The Untold Story" book that just came out.

Larry Mitchell on 1993 USA Catalog

do you still own those amazing X2N-loaded Radius guitars you used to sport on late '80s Ibanez catalogs?

yes I still own them. one is at the Hartke speaker factory, the Jewel Blue one. the rest are in storage.

what do you think is Ibanez' most good thing? why do you like Ibanez guitars?

the designs are great and the quality is great. they never settle on their success. they keep going and innovating.

have you ever been contacted by other guitar companies? if so, which ones?

yes, many years ago, but I am not saying. I am not going with anyone else either.

Larry Mitchell on 1994 USA Catalog

is there one model that you like the most, among yours?

my favorite still has to be the re-issue Blazers from '97-'99. they feel and sound amazing, but they are discontinued. I have two that Tak Hosono in the LA Custom Shop made. when they discontinued them I bought one on eBay very cheap. that's how much I dig that model. I also have a Blazer neck on a Tele body, it's kind of different and cool at the same time. I'm playing very close to stock SZs live and at Ibanez clinics. the SZ is a great guitar, feels and sounds great and is very versatile. the SZ has a really nice sustain and acoustic quality to it.

what pickups do you use?

over the years, X2N's, PAF Pro's, Virtual Vintage single-coils and now Eric Johnson humbuckers. all DiMarzio for the past 20 years. I also don't want to forget to mention that I've been using and endorsing D'Addario strings for 20 years now!

why should a guitar player play an Ibanez guitar?

they're cool and it's probably one the best buys you can get these days. just walk into a music store and check out your options and the prices. the history is cool too. collecting the old copies and the some of the first original guitars is cool too. as you know with web sites like ibanezregister.com, ibanezvintage.com, ibanezcollectors.com and quite a few others, there is a very cool Ibanez community out there. thank you for contributing to it.

thank you Larry, it's great to have you on the site.

thank you, Nuno.

Larry Mitchell on 1998 USA Catalog
 

Larry Mitchell endorses:

DiMarzio pickups
D'Addario strings
Ibanez guitars

check Larry Mitchell's homepage
www.larrymitchell.com

also special thanks to Larry Mitchell's webmaster, George @ gpalzproduction.com