Bob1 of DEVO's Buick

One of the most prevalent guitarists in J.B. Player's early years was Bob "#1" Mothersbaugh of the art punk/new wave group Devo. The spudboys from Akron always had a penchant for playing oddball instruments onstage--from the beginning they brandished department store Hagstroms, Norlin-era Gibsons, and even the exceptionally rare La Baye 2x4.

Devo circa 1979. L to R: Bob Casale with Gibson L6-S, Bob Mothersbaugh with La Baye 2x4, Gerald Casale with "lobotomized" Gibson Ripper bass.

While initially used out of economic necessity (they were broke Midwesterners and the Bill Lawrence-designed Gibsons could be had for peanuts), Devo's guitars became a vital part of their artsy, uncanny valley, anti-rock aesthetic. As the band found itself on the outer currents of the mainstream, guitar builders started jockeying for endorsements. Ibanez and G&L were among the first, with J.B. Player following shortly after.

Click here for an article that goes further in depth about Devo's axes of choice. Here, the focus is one guitar that the article left out: Bob Mothersbaugh's J.B. Player Buick.

Bob had two Buicks, actually: one that he used onstage, and one he used as a prop of sorts for music videos and TV appearances.

The "prop" guitar is a stock Buick in Dakota Red with nickel hardware. It has a Strat-style hardtail bridge and a Mighty Mite Motherbucker, with volume, tone, and individual on/off/phase reverse switches for each coil. Bob used this guitar in the music video for "Peek-A-Boo".

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The "stage" guitar was mostly the same, except that it was re-routed to accommodate a Bigsby vibrato assembly. During "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA", Bob has a noise-guitar solo that involves heavy use of a whammy bar. His usual weapon of choice, the La Baye 2x4, has a Wurlitzer vibrato which is not dissimilar to a Bigsby in function. The "stage" Buick was modified accordingly.

This guitar's debut was during the 3-DEVO concert on 30 October 1982. The usage of untested experimental audio-video sync, among other technical difficulties, meant that by the latter half of the set the band was beyond livid. When Bob 1 took his solo in Mr. DNA, the guitar was his stress reliever. I believe this is the first instance where he pulled the whammy bar all the way back to snap the strings off and then throw the guitar away during this song, and it's something he would repeat at every show thereafter to this day.

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As the 1982 tour continued, Bob's guitar abuse didn't let up, and the Buick was effectively hanging on for dear life.

Despite this, Devo remained a staple of J.B. Player's early advertising.

Touring for Devo wound down sharply after 1982, and they didn't play another show for five years after. By that point, both Bobs were using G&L guitars almost exclusively. So what happened to Bob1's Buicks?

Well, we know exactly where both are. They're in a private collection, owned by Jade Dellinger, a Devo superfan and author of the band's first biography book, We are DEVO!. The following images are courtesy of him.

Here is the battered, traumatized carcass of the Buick used onstage. Nearly forty concerts' worth of damage are on display in this wreck. The guitar was bashed around so much that the entire control assembly gave out. Tape residue is visible that matches with the above photo.

This may be the best look at a J.B. Player USA headstock anyone's gonna get. This shape was available in Mighty Mite catalogs by 1980, and can also be seen on some guitars built by Wayne Charvel around the same era.

And here are the two old ladies side by side. The "prop" guitar sits in excellent condition, almost defying its age. Mr. Dellinger has said that the "Stage" guitar can't be restored much further than reinstalling the bridge without Jeopardizing its authenticity and originality.

These guitars have been used as the reference models for an Eastwood Guitars reissue, called the "Devo Peek-A-Boo Guitar". It's currently available for preorder here. What differences the Eastwood version will have remains to be seen. This is the first time any of the original J.B. Player USA models has seen a reissue of any capacity.

Brochure circa 1983

These photos were sourced from an archived eBay auction. This brochure was printed around 1983 and included as "case candy". Anyone who has this or a similar brochure is invited to share higher-quality scans.

Exterior with phone number, address, and artist roster

Front cover, featuring Steve Bartek of Oingo Boingo. He holds a Mercury in his hands.

The artist roster. Bob Mothersbaugh's last name is hilariously misspelled. Vixen, at the time of this ad, was still a small local band. This was before their appearance in Hardbodies.

The inside of the brochure, with a model lineup and prices. Both the Buick and Mercury are shown with Motherbucker triple-coil pickups, each coil with its own on/off/phase reverse switch. It should be noted that Steve Bartek was photographed with Buicks but never played one onstage. He was, however, seen with a Mercury. Jan Kuehnemund of Vixen played a Mercury as well, at least until 1985. I can't find any photos of anyone other than Bob Mothersbaugh using a Buick, despite the listed names. This is the only photographic evidence I can find of the Buick Bass. Gayle Erickson of Vixen is similarly elusive. She left before the Hardbodies filming.

 

What I Know So Far

 J.B. Player was founded in 1981 by Dana Zacuto (d. 2004) in Los Angeles, CA. The company made custom electric guitars and basses with contemporary styling for the Los Angeles rock scene. This was the age of the superstrat and the pointy guitar, and J.B. Player delivered--from hot-rodded S-types to Explorers, and even a few B. C. Rich shapes to be found. Dana was the brother of Randy Zacuto, who founded the guitar parts company Mighty Mite. The latter company supplied parts for several other builders in the area, including Kramer and Charvel. Of all the makers that Mighty Mite supplied, it was perhaps J.B. Player that pushed the envelope furthest. As recalled by former associate Eric Lamb in a forum post:

"The owner at that time, Dana, was not only an incredibly crazy man, he was driven to try and make a great playing instrument for a fair price. Many of his guitars I still have were quite innovative... a strat with a built in wireless system in the guitar so you didn't need to have a transmitter on your belt... another one that he called 'The Buick', that had just one triple coil pickup that was wired to play any of the three coils independently, in or out of phase or all at the same time!"

While the built-in wireless system would take some time to be developed into a marketable product, the exotic Buick model was good to go from the start. In 1982, J.B. Player launched its "New Wave" line of electric guitars and basses. The Buick, whose body shape was appropriately radical and zany for the time, appeared in both guitar and bass form, and was accompanied by the Mercury, a model which was more conservative in comparison to its sibling, but striking and unmistakable nonetheless. The triple coil pickup--the legendary Mighty Mite Motherbucker, with Brian May-style switching for ultimate versatility, came stock on these instruments, which in 1983 ran for $599.

These models would find their ways into the hands of Martha Davis of the Motels, Gayle Erickson and Jan Kuehnemund of Vixen, Bob Mothersbaugh of Devo, and Steve Bartek of Oingo Boingo. Contemporary advertising featured the latter three extensively. Bob used a Buick in music videos, onstage with Devo, and was featured in flyers. Jan also found herself on early flyers, with an Explorer-style guitar and a Mercury with two rail humbuckers and a Kahler tremolo system--which if you look closely you may catch glimpses of in the 1984 film Hardbodies. Steve was the face of the catalog and brochures, his face contorted into any one of his signature grimaces as he posed with Buick and Mercury examples alike. At US Festival in 1983, he played a Mercury with three singlecoils and a Kahler tremolo system for the middle third of the set. This guitar went on the road with him while Oingo Boingo toured in support of their album Good for Your Soul.

By 1985, J.B. Player was purchased by MBT International. Guitars were manufactured in South Korea and set up at home base in Westlake Village, CA. The zaniness and boundless creativity of the USA days was gone, replaced by cookie-cutter superstrats, with or without Accutune tremolo systems--which were knockoffs of Kahler's design and didn't function nearly as well. The Buick, Mercury, and possibly others were all but forgotten by everyone, save for those who had actually built and used them.

Of course, until the internet arrived.