WEM '5th Man' Guitar

Few examples of this oddity are known to exist. This one is in pretty good working order, and was, apparently, almost bought by David Gilmour.

The strange sound is a kind of drone sustain created by generating a huge magnetic field across the strings. Good for raga and folk rock, which were all the rage when it came out.

Category:

Music

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• WEM
• Watkins
• amps
• Vox
• guitar
• organ
• weird
• guitars
• collections
• demos
• electric

[vamtim]

When you've got a guitar as rare and beautiful as that why would you play it through a CUBE?

[getcater]

@vamtim good point, especially when I've got an AC30, Fender Twin, WEM Dominator, a Watkins Westminster and a Selmer Twin here. But the Cube is small - and it was there plugged in at the time.

[getcater]

@vamtim Cheers - I'm going to demo all the amps sometime, with a variety of guitars. The old WEM amps still sound the best to me.

[vamtim]

@getcater They would be great videos if not just for the amps!!

I've just restored my custom copicat and I have a soft spot for WEM, have you ever used a copicat?

[getcater]

@vamtim I have, they're great when they work properly. Mine has a busted tape at the moment which I need to replace. Those old analog devices beat digital every time.

[getcater]

I've just had this guitar on test again for half an hour - it will only function with a new, good quality 9v battery in it. Anything less than that won't support the Project IV effect, and it spits and sputters. Put in a fresh battery and it works fine.

[vamtim]

@getcater Sweet, I'd love to see a video for each!!

I've played a Westminster gorgeous amp!!

Lovely guitar by the way!!

[orriblebob]

Wow! never seen one of these beasts before.

I read the article in Guitar and Bass, a real curiosity.

You were right about the "bagpipe" sound.

Nice one

[shirtshine73blitz]

Isn't there a clip of gilmour playing one of these during th recording of Dark Side? Just a few seconds of the lead in Us and Them, I could be wrong.