“A lot of the magic happens right around there”: Paul Gilbert had one of his guitars modded to just 20 frets so that he could play more pinch harmonics

Paul Gilbert says that his search for more pinch harmonics led him to drastically modify one of his electric guitars and turn it into a 20-fret instrument so that there was more room to explore the fertile harmonic territory located between the neck pickup and the summit of the fretboard.

This should not surprise us. This is the man who appropriated the relentlessness of the Makita drill to perform stunt guitar. And yet, still, removing frets? That’s dedication. But as Gilbert explains, it was all part of his strategy for emulating the human voice.

Speaking to American Musical Supply to promote the recent launch of his new signature guitar, the Ibanez FRM350 – the first mass-production electric guitar to be fitted with a slide magnet as standard – Gilbert was asked how he made the guitar sing. He had a number of strategies; his slide, a Sustainer pickup, distortion, but pinch harmonics were central to vocalising on guitar.

“To shape a word, I don’t have a mouth to give it shape like that, so the closest I could get to it just with my hands is pinch harmonics, and also with muting” he says. And also with muting, if I contrast them I could imitate a word. It was funny I found myself using some old Ibanezes from the early ‘80s that are sort of like a Strat. They’ve got 21-frets, which gives you a little more room for pick harmonics. You don’t bump into the last fret. And I found myself using them all the time.”

Paul Gilbert – The Process of Translation | AMS Interview - YouTube

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But if you do bump into that 21st fret, well, Gilbert has a strategy for that. Removal. After the tracking was done for The Dio Album, he sought a luthier’s assistance for clearing up even more real estate for searching out those juicy harmonics.

“Even after I did the record, I had a guitar modified so it would have 20 frets, so that I could get even more room to do do pick harmonics,” he says. “A lot of the magic happens right around there.”

Gilbert didn’t say which of his guitars he had modified but over the years he has acquired a formidable collection of budget Ibanez electrics to complement his Ibanez signature models. One of them would make an ideal candidate for a radical mod like that. 

We would caution against any surgery on your guitar. There are plenty of pinch harmonics to be found with good technique, a bridge pickup and some overdrive or distortion to heat things up a bit. As Gilbert says, there are harmonics to be find right down the length of the strings. Just don’t skimp on the distortion.

“That brings out the small details, any kind of distortion, whether it is from a pedal or an amp,” says Gilbert. 

Ibanez unveiled Gilbert’s FRM350 last week, alongside new signature models for Pat Metheny, Tim Henson from Polyphia, and Andy Timmons. Featuring an okoume body, a three-piece okoume and maple glued-in neck, it offers a dual-humbucker alternative to the FRM300’s trio of DiMarzio PG-13 mini-humbuckers, with a pair of DiMarzio Air Classics at the neck and bridge.

The Quik Change Classic tailpiece is a real talking point, decorative, practical, in gold to complement the Black finish. But it’s the metal slide bar holder located on the lower horn that’s the real USP here. It’s the first of its kind.

And once you’ve mastered the pinch harmonics and the vibrato, it might just facilitate the sort of slide playing that’s needed to complete Gilbert’s manual approach to emulating a vocalist. 

Priced £1,199, the Paul Gilbert FRM350 is out now. See Ibanez for more details. And check out American Musical supply’s interview with Gilbert above. He makes for a typically fascinating conversation, peppered with the occasional outburst of shred guitar.