Chan's Guitars

Chan's Guitars

For fun, and inspired by and with help from forum member Chan Fender, I thought I'd make a topic on Chan's guitars so we can all learn some more about them. Any contributions/information/pictures welcome!    

I'd especially like to list color/year/make/model/any customizations, details, etc. Please help me correct any mistakes I make. Thanks!!

So here's what I have so far (I'll come back and edit this every so often):

#1. 1448 Silvertone
#2. Danelectro U1
#3. Custom "Chestnut Guitar" with a Silvertone neck and two lipstick pickups
#4. Kentucky Blue Silvertone
#5. Harmony Stella
#6. 52 Fender Telecaster
#7. Black Gibson ES 335
#8. Red Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins
#9. Classical one customized with mexican art?
#10. Gibson Flying V
#11. Fender Jaguar with 2 double pickups.
#12. Les Paul
#13. Steelcaster with a double wide range pickup in the neck (humbucker) and a single coiled telecaster pickup in the bridge.
#14. Copper U1 Silvertone
#15. 1448 Silvertone (replacement copy)


See also, this link:
http://www.silvertoneworld.net/silvertone_artists/CatPower/artist_CatPower.html

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#1. Black 1448 Silvertone

Chan said that she got it from a friend for $75 when she was eighteen. She was a fan of the Flat Duo Jet. Dexter Romweber had a 1448. This was used during the 90s and up til 2002(?). Also seen in "Cross Bones Style" video. Apparently this guitar was smashed by Chan in Paris on 1/21/03.

From the 9/XX/12? Elle Magazine Interview:
Do you still have your '50s Silvertone guitar?
"I smashed it in Paris. It was either me out the window or the guitar, so I chose the guitar."

What happened? What made you so angry?
"My boyfriend at the time was with a girl he said he would never see again. And I found them together under the stairs in the hallway. [Sighs] That was a rough night. That was my birthday."

In 2006, a newer, similar model would be used in live performances.







UPDATE: This guitar was most recently seen on stage on 12/2/13, in LA. 



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#2. Black Danelectro U1

Used from 2001(?) to 2006. "On tour for "The Greatest" her famous black Danelectro was accidentally knocked over by a live sound engineer and the headstock cracked." - Reference Link

This guitar was used at most if not all of her concerts from at least as early as 2003 all the way up to 10/22/06, which happened to be her last full solo concert performance (until 2013). The guitar was broken at her 10/28/06 "Vegoose Festival'' appearence by a stagehand. Chan was informed of this just before she was about to perform ''Could We''. This can be seen the streaming video from this festival.

4/13/03, Toronto:


9/15/06, Austin:



Chan, a few moments after being told her guitar was broke, yells, "My guitar is broken!"


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#3. Custom "Chestnut Guitar" with a Silvertone neck and two lipstick pickups

First concert appearance was 11/1/06, used for more shows and for the Rolling Stone session.

Comments from Reuben Cox, who crafted this guitar for Chan:
"A few months (weeks?? I dunno) before the Danelectro was busted, I dropped in at the Mercer Hotel in New York where Chan was dazzling the press corps. I brought along a guitar for her consideration but she wasn't too keen on its old Mustang neck and said she would much prefer a Silvertone neck. She had her Danelectro with her which I had the great pleasure of strumming a few chords on. Die Zauberflote! I thought, as it was Dreadnought-loud played unplugged! Very pleased to have one of my guitars in the mix but have fingers crossed for a rebirth of Chan's Danelectro.

The follow-up guitar, as it were, arrived a month or two later after I was able to hunt down a Silvertone neck which I'll guess to be a '59 or '60. As with Fender necks, Chan has an allergy for switches on guitars. So the two, early 60s, neck and middle position, lipstick tube pickups are wired with just a volume knob and no three way toggle. The original 250K potentiometer was later replaced with a 100K volume knob to remove some of the twang that you'll hear in the youtube video.

The body is made of wormy Chestnut and is light as a feather. Guitar has the feel of playing a cloud. The lumber had a former life as a bookshelf in the home of poets Jonathan Williams and Thomas Meyer in Scaly Mountain, North Carolina." - Reference Link

Picture of the guitar before delivery to Chan(?):


Late October, 2006, Chan takes possession of the guitar around this time and displays it during her interview with Fred Armisen:


Onstage, 2006:


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#4. Kentucky Blue Silvertone

6/10/06, First appearence of this guitar on stage?:


6/16/06:


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#15. 1448 Silvertone (replacement copy)

6/9/06, in background:


6/10/06:


6/11/06:


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What is this acoustic?



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And this one?



Appears to be same guitar and as a further mystery, what performance is this?? It looks like a TV appearence.


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Telecaster, any details?

10/2/10:


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#7 - Black Gibson ES 335

8/14/10:


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#10. Gibson Flying V

12/12/96, French TV:


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#11. Fender Jaguar with 2 double pickups

3/5/96:


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#12. Les Paul

Date unknown:


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That's all for now!!

#13 : This is a Trussart Telecaster called Steelcaster. Those guitars are all metal made. This is a french luthier.
http://www.jamestrussart.com/models_detail.php?id=2
This Chan's model has a double wide range pickup in the neck (humbucker) and a classical single coiled telecaster pickup in the bridge. (like Keith Richards used to play)

#4 : The big acoustic blue one with the two sound holes is the Kentucky Blue Silvertone. It has appeared in 1955.
The Silvertone guitars as the 1448 and the U1 that Chan was/is used to play, were very popular by their cheap prices. This one was sold at 18,95 dol in the 50's.

#14 : would be the last one seen on stage : Copper U1 Silvertone

#1 Bis : Yes it seems that she got another 1448 in replacement. This is not the first repaired, this one has different knobs and no bigsby.

About the #1 : Chan said that she got it from a friend for 75 bucks when she was eighteen, she was a fan of the Flat Duo Jet. Dexter Romweber had a 1448.
She broke it in the winter 2002/2003 in Paris because of her boyfriend.

Chan Fender wrote:About the #1 :She broke it in the winter 2002/2003 in Paris because of her boyfriend.

So if she says in the Elle Interview that it was broke on her birthday, that would make it 1/21/03. That makes sense since she was in Paris on 1/13/03 for the OUI FM session. Thanks for the info!

Cokelike wrote:
#16 - Some type of Gretsch guitar, I think.

8/14/10:

This one is the 7# : gibson ES 335
She played with it at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco in 2010.

^ Thanks!

You're welcome



This one is the Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins. She played with it at Lilith Fair in 2010.

Your knowledge of these guitars is impressive "Chan Fender"! Are you a musician?

Nicolaoua wrote:Your knowledge of these guitars is impressive "Chan Fender"! Are you a musician?

Thank you Nicolaoua
I play guitar for pleasure. I love their sounds and I also love them as objects. They are just beautiful to hear and see.
Each of them has their own sounds depending on the way they are made. This is fascinating.

And as a very fan of Cat Power music, I felt in love with the sound of the U1 Chan's Danelectro and got the same one from the US :

Updated the Danelectro U1 and Chestnut Custom Guitar sections. 

You can see Chan being told her Danelectro was broken at 14:30, in this video from the 10/28/06 ''Vegoose Festival''. This means its last appearance on stage was at 10/22/06, which was her last full solo concert performance until 2013.

iT'S cHAN THAT MAKES THOSE AXES BEAUTIFUL:)!!!

11/14/13, NYC, Chan plays Nico Turner's Black Telecaster, for I think, only the late show:

Also updated the 1448 Silvertone section in the first post.

  Just gotta luv this one:)one:) 

Over here.
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archive/index.php/t-1382821.html

Chan's amp is identified as a 


Fender Hot Rod Deville 212. It's slightly taller than a Deluxe. Also, the speaker in a Deluxe is offset to the left when seen from the front - the amp in the picture is mic'ed up on the bottom right. On a 2x12" Deville, the speakers are diagonally positioned, bottom right, top left.

Another 1448 Silvertone sighting. I think the last sighting was 12/2/13, LA.

3/11/14 - Brooklyn