TheSpiritOfLerxst

UPDATE: The switch from PAF to Bill Lawrence pickups occurred between November, 1982 and February, 1983!

Having re-read some of my original post, I realized I was getting pretty tired halfway through and may have left some things out. I don't know if I mentioned this, but at some point early on with the red Strat, when he still had the stock Fender tremolo on it, Alex said in an interview that he had all 5 springs in it, and they were tightened all the way down. If I remember correctly, he used it in that configuration to play 2112 live for a short period, but I don't have a direct reference to the source handy at the moment. But it's all available in the Rush Library over on the Cygnus site. I also forgot to mention that you can see pictures of the black "Porkflapsocaster" in it's current condition on that Canadian museum website. There's actually a lot of Rush stuff you can see there, such as a couple of Alex's Marshall 4140 Club & Country combo amps, Geddy's red-finished Minimoog from P/G, and much more! And apparently someone at the museum thinks that the tremolo arm is supposed to plug into the output jack...

Thanks for the compliment! As far as the stock Fender trem on the mirror strat, the official music video for Distant Early Warning shows it with a fine-tuning Floyd Rose (but still no locking nut). I don't know when that video was made relative to the GUP tour, though. And you're probably right about the PAF pickup AFTER the Signals tour, I don't remember what I had wrote in the original post about that detail, but I know the white one can be seen still with the PAF pickup in the official music video for Countdown.

This topic is being created to be the ultimate collection of information and discussion for my fellow "Hentor Sportscaster" enthusiasts out there. There have been various discussions over the years, for those looking to build their own replicas of Alex's customized Strats, and not only do I want to put all the info in one place, but there are some newly discovered details on those guitars, that haven't been discussed in the forums before! :) There have also been some misconceptions passed along over the years, so this will be sort of a definitive, accurate collection of information for those interested. :) For those who don't know, Alex was mainly playing Fender Stratocasters on the road from the early to mid eighties. Three of these guitars were heavily modified over the years, and have developed a cult following of their own. By Power Windows, he was also playing a few stock Strats, Elite Strats, Strats with Kahler tremolos, etc, before switching completely to Signature Guitar Co. In this topic, we're focusing on the three modified Strats. A white one, a black one, and a candy apple red one. The white one: This is the "Hentor Sportscaster." There was a misconception for a while, that all three of these guitars were called "Hentor Sportscasters," but only the white one is called that. For a long time, it was believed that all three of these were 1977 Strats originally, but the white one was a 73 (Or at least it was acquired in 73 by Alex, he scratched that year into the plastic tremolo cover). All three of these Strats began as stock Fenders with the big fat CBS headstock. The white one was first modified by putting a Gibson humbucker in the bridge position, and replacing the usual Fender blade switch with a Gibson style toggle switch on the lower horn. The guitar was used in this configuration to record "The Spirit of Radio," and is seen in "Exit... Stage Left," still with stock Fender tremolo. It is also seen this way in the video for "Countdown." By Grace Under Pressure, he had replaced the stock tremolo with an early non-fine-tuner Floyd Rose, with no locking nut. He had also replaced the necks on all three of these guitars with an aftermarket neck made by a company in Ottawa called Shark. This neck was quartersawn maple, ebony fretboard, 21 frets, mother of pearl dot inlays, strangely positioned black side dots, bullet-style truss rod nut, and the headstock was thinner than a "CBS" headstock, but still wider than a traditional Strat headstock. Though these strats were originally 3-bolt style with micro-tilt, the aftermarket necks were mounted with 4 bolts. Because the new neck had no Fender logo, as a joke, he dubbed it the "Hentor Sportscaster" as a sort of knock-off sounding name, and applied a new logo with Letraset. "Hentor" was a reference to Hentor, the Barbarian, their nickname for Peter Henderson, the producer for Grace Under Pressure. He had also added a Bill Lawrence L500L pickup by this point, and DiMarzio single coils. It is unknown what model the single coils were back then, but this guitar CURRENTLY has DiMarzio FS-1 single coils. He had swapped pickup colors back and forth over the years. He had cream/white pickups in the live Grace Under Pressure video, but the guitar now has all black pickups. On the Power Windows tour, this guitar was tuned up to play The Big Money, and was used to record many of the solos on Hold Your Fire. It was also used in the recording of Show Don't Tell. At some point in the late eighties, the non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose was replaced with a Floyd Rose with fine tuners and a locking nut, but it is unclear exactly when this happened. The Bill Lawrence was also replaced with a black DiMarzio Super Distortion at some point, but after being restored by luthier Freddy Gabrsek, it sports a Bill Lawrence L500L once again. It also now has a 42mm L-shaped brass block, and stainless steel frets. The black one: This guitar is called the "Porkflapsocaster," and currently resides at the Canadian Museum of History. This guitar with its original maple neck/fretboard, was outfitted with a Non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose WITH the locking nut, and a Gibson Humbucker, like the white one, and used this way in the Limelight video. Like the white guitar, the neck was replaced by the time of Grace Under Pressure, and he did not keep the locking nut. While the aftermarket neck for the white guitar has an ebony fretboard, this one was rosewood. He also replaced the Gibson humbucker with a Bill Lawrence L500L, but unlike the white guitar, he mounted the Bill Lawrence with a mounting ring over top of the pickguard, in stead of getting a new pickguard made. The guitar appears this way in the video for Afterimage, and in the Grace Under Pressure live video. At the time, Alex cited this as his main live guitar. Again, having no Fender logo on the new neck, Lerxst got creative and added "PORKFLAPSOCASTER Protected by tents in England" to the headstock, with Letraset. Here's where it gets interesting! Based on what we know about the white "Hentor Sportscaster, and how the mods on these guitars were done the same and at the same time, it was long assumed that the non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose was replaced by a "Floyd Rose Original." In fact, this guitar is equipped with a Schaller Floyd Rose II, non-recessed. While the tremolo is chrome, the locking nut is black with mismatching black and chrome pads, and a black string retainer. The Bill Lawrence mounting ring is still present over top of the pickguard. The red one: The one that doesn't have a name, often referred to as the "D.E.W." guitar for its appearance in the Distant Early Warning video. This guitar is seen in an early 80s magazine cover, candy apple red with matching, fat CBS headstock with bullet truss rod nut, mirror pickguard, stock tremolo, Gibson SG knobs, Gibson humbucker, and otherwise modded the same as the others. You can see photos from the Signals tour with this guitar outfitted with a Bill Lawrence pickup and non-fine-tuning Floyd Rose. Interestingly, in the video for Distant Early Warning, you can see that he has gone with a full fine-tuning Floyd Rose, but still NO locking nut. This guitar was never given it's own knock-off name, because the stock Fender neck was never replaced. It is unknown whether or not he ever added a locking nut. Other details and clarification: The Shark necks had no finish on them, bullet style truss rod nuts, and the headstock shape is close in shape to the CBS era, but slimmer. The white "Hentor Sportscaster" has an ebony fretboard, and the black "Porkflapsocaster" has rosewood. The neck on the black guitar is held on by a gold colored 4-bolt neck plate. A small detail that most of you reading this are probably already aware of, is that the jack plates were inverted on all three of these guitars. It was also assumed for years that these guitars had alder bodies. I can't speak for the black or red one, but the Hentor Sportscaster has an ash body. As far as the neck specs, Alex replaced the stock necks to make them feel more "Gibson-like." The scale length on these guitars is still 25.5, so by "Gibson-like," he must be referring to either the radius, or the back profile. I would assume it's the radius, 10" like a Gibson, or maybe 12". A Floyd Rose Original today ships stock with a shim under the 4 inner saddles to give it a 10" radius, and without the shim, it's 12". For my replicas, I chose to use 12" radius necks, to match a Floyd Rose perfectly without a shim. Did I miss anything? :) Let me know if you have any questions! I hope this topic comes off the right way. I'm deeply grateful for this forum and the friends I've made here, and I've learned a lot about the band's gear over the years. I was one of many aspiring to replicate some of my favorite Alex Lifeson guitars based on false specs and guesswork details, and I wanted to share what I've learned over the years. I gathered most of my information from combinations of interviews from magazine articles in the Rush Library over on Cygnus, pictures and info from historymuseum.ca, and from obsessively following Freddy Gabrsek's updates on his restoration and replication of Alex's ACTUAL Hentor Sportscaster. :) Maybe the next chapter will be Signature Guitar Co... ;) Now THERE'S a lot of misinformation!

Holy crap, I think I just figured it out! I'm surprised I didn't figure this out when I first got it if it was actually that easy, I went a long time without messing with it or using it, been too busy with work (USPS). I had to turn off program changes for the switches used and only use control changes, and NOT mess with the learn/write feature on the effects gizmo at all. I got this working for 3 different switches/loops and then rushed in to write this. So I'm gonna try and set up the rest and see what happens, thanks again! I'm a little intimidated by MIDI, didn't have a great grasp on control changes vs program changes.

Thanks for the responses, guys! The FX-1 has a software editor, but they went out of business and I have only found a copy of the software as a .jar file from third parties, and I don't know how to get it going. I have the manuals for both units. I've been able to get halfway there by turning on a switch on the FX-1, then turning on the corresponding switch I want on the Effects Gizmo and pressing "Write" on the Effects Gizmo. That will let me turn on and off that particular loop on the FX-1, EXCEPT, once I hit another switch on the FX-1, it will switch the first loop off in the Gizmo, turn on the next loop, yet both switches on the FX-1 will still be on... For simplicity's sake, let's say I have switch 1 on the FX-1 linked to Loop 1 on the Gizmo, Switch 2 to loop 2, switch 3 to loop 3, ect. I can turn loop 1 on and off with switch 1. But when I engage switch 2, loop 2 turns on, but loop 1 turns off, and switches 1 and 2 on the FX-1 will both be on. I'll check out your link now!

Hi everyone! I have an Axess Electronics FX-1, the same foot controller that Alex has been using for years, since Snakes and Arrows or possibly even earlier. I've also got an RJM Effects Gizmo, like Alex used on the Clockwork Angels tour. My goal is to set up the FX-1 to control the Effects Gizmo, stompbox style, with 12 of the instant access switches assigned to turn the 12 Effects Gizmo loops on and off individually. It sounds so simple but I'm having trouble getting it to work properly. Once I can get that function working, it'd be nice to see if I can also set up the FX-1 to switch presets on things like an SPX-90. Maybe if I get the FX-1 expander, I can do something like that with the extra switches? Any help would be appreciated! Is Scott Appleton still on this forum? :)

I recently acquired a "parts/repair" TC-1210. It was listed as "won't power on." I don't see any obvious damage inside, and I know TC Electronic doesn't support this product anymore. Does anyone have a schematic or know anyone who could repair this?

Hi Lee, good to see you here!

Haha yeah me too, I've given away 3 already.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alex-Lifeson-Signature-Aurora-Patch-Boy-Scouts-Panther-Patrol-/111813011271?hash=item1a08932747:g:ToAAAOSwYHxWNtjC

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Alex-Lifeson-Signature-Aurora-Patch-Boy-Scouts-Panther-Patrol-/111813011271?hash=item1a08932747:g:ToAAAOSwYHxWNtjC

About that Boy Scouts Panther Patrol patch Alex had on "Great White," I was just watching The Doors with Eddie Vedder performing at the hall of fame induction ceremony and bassist Don Was had a panther patch on his bass in the same position as on Alex's guitar!

I noticed another artist with the same Panther Patrol patch on his bass! When The Doors were inducted into the hall of fame and performed with Eddie Vedder, bassist Don Was had a Boy Scout patch on the upper horn of his bass just like Alex Lifeson had on Great White.

I didn't have a clue what we were talking about until I played Hemispheres and caught it. I do the "ding" every time and move my finger in the air and I didn't even realize that was the "ding." The "ding" reminds me of an idea popping up in Neil's head, perhaps sensing trouble with the trees...

That's one thing I was always wondering, whether the Aurora was 18v or 9v. I also asked Russ about the pickup switching. I wanted to know if it was just on/off for each pickup, reverse phase, or series/parallel because I had heard differently from different sources. Russ said, "I do not recall the technical details about parallel, reverse phase etc with any clarity so I would prefer not to comment." I always assumed it was phase/off/reverse phase for each pickup, but I recall Alex saying series/parallel in an interview, perhaps he mis-spoke. The other thing I asked Russ about was the two jack holes in Great White. I wondered if one was an output to a guitar synth or something. He didn't remember that at all but he said they fooled around with stereo outputs. Also Russ did not that after Great White's neck broke on the toss to Jimmy, they did send Alex a replacement neck, but "the magic was broken for Alex"

I'm also very interested in that patch's meaning. I remember reading that same comment on Steve's video. Post pics of your Great White replica!

You wouldn't by chance be talking about Freddy, would you? ;) haha I actually got to have a little conversation with Russ over email, he answered some of the questions I've been dying to ask and he even reminisced a little bit about good times with Lerxst! :)

This guy sells replacements for the RFG5 footswitch :) I'm saving up for one for my own 2000CPL http://voodoomanswitches.com/component/page,shop.product_details/flypage,shop.flypage/product_id,975/category_id,74/manufacturer_id,0/option,com_virtuemart/Itemid,39/vmcchk,1/

I'd love a copy of that email!!

Alex didn't use EMGs until "Hold Your Fire". He had EMG single coils in his Signature Auroras (He did not like the Evans pickups that came with other Signature Guitar Co. models).

I thought the Aurora had an alder body. Did you specifically order yours with a basswood body or did they all have basswood?