Super 400 guitarist Kenny Hohman, whose new CD, Sweet Fist, will be released in September, took some time to chat with Gearwire about his 1956 Les Paul Junior.

“I got my Junior in 94' at a shop called Outlaw Guitars in NJ. I was living in Brooklyn at the time, and was coming home to Troy with drummer Joe Daley and his brother Frank who is a killer guitar player. At the time, Frank was dealing vintage guitars at Rudy's on 48th street. Joe and I were writing songs and trying to start a band in NY, and I wanted the right tool for the task,” he says.

“At that time Stevie Ray had recently passed and there were a lot of guys strapping on Strats and trying to jump into his hat and boots. As much as I loved Stevie, and Jimi Hendrix for that matter, I did not want to get lost in the shuffle of all that and lose my identity.”

He wanted a guitar that sounded different and that not everyone was using. This is what was on his mind when he pulled into the Outlaw shop.

“Joe saw the Junior immediately and started in on me. He was positive it was ‘the one’. I wasn't sure. A Jr. only has one pick up, and this one had a broken and repaired headstock and was pretty beat around. Once I plugged it in things got more interesting and I started to fall for it,” says Hohman. “It felt really right in my hands. It had an amazing broken in feel and soul and it definitely fit as a non-Strat. I liked its rough simplicity. With Joe and Frank both excitedly telling me to buy the thing, at this point it was a done deal.”

He paid $800 for the guitar.

“The guy at the shop told me was that this Junior was the main guitar of a Jersey bar band guitar legend, who killed it on this Jr. on a nightly basis playing blues and ac/dc type stuff for many years,” he says. “He just up and decided to retire one day, and he brought all his stuff in to the shop a day or two before I came in. I bought it and literally played the frets off of it within two years' time.”

Sometimes timing is everything. The guitar gave Hohman no trouble for over ten years before “tragedy” struck.

“One night I re-broke the headstock in the same spot as before, which ran my blood cold; but it was an easy fix for my repair man Steve Kovacik,” says Hohman. “Also just recently when making the Sweet Fist record at Ardent, the old pick up died and I had to send it out to Jason Lollar to rewind it. He did a fine job and it still sounds great.” Hohman says the guitar plays great. “I am so used to its neck. The tone is raw and in your face but very changeable with the single volume and tone controls.” says Hohman.

And while he says the new reissue Juniors look great, the necks are too fat and feel clunky to him. He also thinks they are too thickly finished.

For a while Hohman laid off using his Junior; he got into playing Les Pauls and Teles. But he came back to it and now even tours with it. As far as amplification, he tends to think the old guitar works best with old amps.

“It sounds great to me with old school Marshalls and Fenders. Something with a bit of bottom to balance out its mid-rangy snarl is good,” he says. “Probably not an EL 84 amp, which is good on a Les Paul standard.”

Sweet Fist will be released September 15th and the band will be out touring to promote the record.