Darleen Wilson plays guitar for Birdsong At Morning. The band, out of Boston, is releasing a box set, Annals of My Glass House. Wilson plays a 1961 Gretsch Clipper. How she came across the guitar was kismet.

“Ellen Cross was part of a small gathering of musicians that used to come over to the house to play on Sunday afternoons, and she had this guitar,” she says. “She let me play it and oh man, it just felt good. I told her if she ever wanted to sell it, to let me know. Turned out she was looking for a guitar that she could hammer a little harder, and one happy day I got the call that she was looking to unload the Gretsch.”

She says, since she has had it she has been in love and hasn’t looked at other guitars.

“The tone? Sweet. liquid. warm. But it can give you some edge when you need it. Prior to owning the Gretsch, I'd always played acoustic (a Martin 058 which I still play and love),” says Wilson. “I tend to have a light touch. I rarely use a flatpick. The Gretsch was the first electric guitar I ever played that responded to my fingers.”

Wilson says she spoke to Jim Mouradian, of Mouradian Guitars, who worked on her Gretsch. He told her that in the 50s and 60s the workmanship on Gretsch guitars was erratic. Each guitar had a personality, a sort of mind, of its own. He compared this to the more consistent, identifiable sound you would get from a Fender of the same era. Mouradian works on many vintage instruments.

Wilson uses a Fender Princeton and a Boss chorus and delay pedal with the instrument.

“The Princeton is relatively portable and a good all around amp.” she says.

She says the guitar is a tad temperamental and it was a bear to tune sometimes.

“The guitar's a tad temperamental, and the tuning was a challenge. I put new tuners and a new bridge on it, and had the neck adjusted. Also, I removed the pick guard since I don't need it and like having the sound hole clear. (I kept the vintage parts.),” she says. “The one thing I would change if I could without messing with the timbre, is the pickup noise. It's a single-coil pickup, and the guitar tends to be finicky about how its held (i.e. the angle of the guitar relative to the amp and environment). But by all accounts I will risk losing that sweetness, so I'm leaving it as it.”

The band is releasing the above mentioned box set and will be playing shows, including one on March 18 in Cambridge, MA with a full band that includes; Ben Wittman (The Story, Laurie Anderson, Paula Cole, Don Byron, Lucy Kaplansky, etc.) on drums, world music performer Jerry Leake on percussion, and our brilliant resident string quartet.

“Should be a great night!” says Wilson.

If you attend you will, no doubt, get to hear the Gretsch for yourself.