\u201cIt was maybe a decade ago now, about 10 years ago, Greta Van Fleet was leaving Michigan for the first time, where we\u2019d really played shows and gigged and done all sorts of work there,\u201d explains Kiszka, speaking to MusicRadar over Zoom. \u201cIt was really the first time out in North America, nationally\u2026 Setting out into the infinite horizon, trying to find manifest destiny or something. [Laughs]\u201d<\/p>\n
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They did not have much gear. They had emptied the garage and took what they could. Chicago was an easy schlep, just across Lake Michigan. They stopped by Chicago Music Exchange (CME).<\/p>\n
Greta Van Fleet\u2019s manager was good friends the CEO, Andrew Yonke, and arranged for Kiszka to visit \u2018The Vault,\u2019 where CME keeps all of the good stuff. And while it sells new electric guitars<\/a> by the boat load, it has also got quite the archive, vintage unicorns, old gnarly tube amps<\/a>, and Yonke brought them all out for Kiszka to try.<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking through all these guitars, and we were trying to pick up some gear if we could, some serious, good gear. I wasn\u2019t really that familiar with the early \u201860s SGs. I didn\u2019t know much about them. I stumbled upon this one.\u201d<\/p>\n If you play the guitar, you will know the feeling. When you find a guitar you love, it is as though the molecules in the air change. \u201cI was just immediately mesmerised,\u201d says Kiszka.<\/p>\n There were a lot of instruments there. But the SG, with its double-horned silhouette, had something about it.<\/p>\n \u201cThe visual element of it, the weight of it, the slimness of the neck,\u201d explains Kiszka. \u201cAnd it was like, \u2018I\u2019d really like to play this and maybe see if I could take it with me.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so the owner said, \u2018Let\u2019s walk back to my apartment. We\u2019ll plug it in. I\u2019ve got a Plexi JTM, early Marshall.\u2019 So we did, we went back, and I plugged it in.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Introducing the Gibson Jake Kiszka SG Standard – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Fast forward to now and Kiszka sees this guitar a little differently. It sure doesn\u2019t look like it did when it left Chicago. It\u2019s known as Beloved, and it is the inspiration behind the Jake Kiszka SG Standard that Gibson just released<\/a> in limited quantities (this signature guitar<\/a> comes with a spare backplate signed and stamped by Kiszka, and it might be collectible but as a Gibson USA model it is priced sensibly).<\/p>\n The Beloved has acquired its own legend. It has acquired a lot of wear and tear. \u201cIt\u2019s seen a lot of battle,\u201d says Kiszka. But back then it was just another vintage doozy in wait for a well-heeled collector to come swinging through the Windy City, and whatever the young Jake Kiszka was, he was not that. That didn\u2019t stop him falling for it hard.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was, like, immediately, from the first strum, it was like a lightning bolt just hit me from above,\u201d he says. \u201cI really did feel like this was sort of a divine intervention for me. It was everything that I was looking for in terms of the sound of something. I\u2019d been searching for that my whole life up to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Gibson)<\/p>\n If this was a shopping trip, there was no question, no doubts in his mind. Take it to the cashier and ring it up. Add to cart. Shut up and take my money. Except, he didn\u2019t have any money.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no question I yearned to take it on the road with me,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cThe caveat was it was a $25,000 guitar. So of course I wasn\u2019t gonna be able to afford that being a poor kid coming out of Michigan, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n Yonke had an idea. From the point of view of the CME business model, it could have been seen at the time as a very bad idea, or at least cavalier. But he liked Greta Van Fleet, he liked Kiszka, and maybe he knew something that they didn\u2019t at the time. He let him take it on the road and it has been with Kiszka ever since.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Gibson)<\/p>\n \u201cThankfully and gratefully I\u2019m humbled that the owner perhaps saw something in me, and, and us as a band, and allowed me to take it on the road,\u201d he says. \u201cHe said, \u2018Do you know what? Just pay me back for it later, when you can afford it.\u2019 And I did.\u201d<\/p>\n This story is not quite the same as Nile Rodgers and the Hitmaker Strat. For a start, the Chic guitarist reluctantly traded his Gibson Barney Kessel at the pawnshop for what was the cheapest Stratocaster on the wall, receiving 300 bucks in cash, too.<\/p>\n This deal worked out well in the end, with Rodgers writing hits that crossed an estimated $2bn in record sales. And yet, Kiszka\u2019s purchase was money well spent.<\/p>\n Jake Kiszka Signature SG Standard: \u201cTo Carve a Legacy of Your Own\u201d | Demo & Design Inspiration – YouTube
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