1994 DOKKEN ONE LIVE NIGHT
When Dokken reunited in the fall of 1994, George came back to what was not a reunion with a bunch of old, bitter, nearly broke and desperate has-beens, but a new situation with dear, old friends. After recording what was to be simply titled, in a rare, poetic moment of sheer, unrestrained spontaneity, "Dokken", on JVC (later re-mixed as "Dysfunctional" on Columbia in 1995), the band decided to celebrate their reformation, (Whoopee!), by playing new songs as well as older hits in front of a live audience. Recorded live on December 13-14 1994 at The Strand in Redondo Beach, CA the band, for the most part was "unplugged," going for an intimate, all-acoustic show...except for George. George "the cheater" Lynch, as he was later known, was electrified most of the way.
To meet everyone halfway, George played a specially modified ESP Vintage + S model electric guitar. Made to resemble a 50s era Fender strat, this guitar featured a Fishman Power Bridge that had piezo transducers in the bridge saddles. The natural acoustic string vibration on the bridge could be translated on an electric guitar. For traditional electric standards, was the makeup of the electronics within the guitar went beyond that. One of the tone controls on the guitar was actually a blend knob that increased or decreased the mix of the Fishman pickup with guitar's electric pickups. George could control going from either full acoustic sound of the Power Bridge or the full electronics of the guitar pickups...or anywhere in between. The bridge pickup on this guitar is a Seymour Duncan 'Lil JB. Merely a new pickup at that time, it was a full double coiled pickup in the shape and size of a single coil. I think this comes very close meeting the criteria for "Unplugged" status. The pickups were very small, the guitars were made of unfinished wood, there were only 4 amps on stage and George sat on a stool the whole night. A few people actually had George confused with James Taylor and were shouting out requests for "Sweet Baby Jane".
Though mainly electric most of the night, George opted to play full acoustic on three songs. For this, he had brought with him a Seagull 12-string and an ESP 6-string acoustic that was made to replicate an old vintage Martin guitar.
There were three amps on George's side of the stage and effects were kept to a minimum in the spirit of the "unplugged ness" of the occasion. George brought with him a new Bogner Ecstasy 100-watt half stack, a Fender Super Reverb and a Peavey Classic 50 410 amp. The signal from the guitar was A/B'd on the floor to fit the different needs of a song. The Bogner obviously was used for the overdriven tones while the Fender Super Reverb was for the clean electric tones. Three songs called for George to play an actual acoustic and that went through the Peavey Classic.
Around the time of these recordings, Michael Fuller had introduced George to his new line of effects, Fulltone. These germanium transistor based effects were made to simulate vintage effects used by Jimi Hendrix. As with the use of the Ibanez Tube Screamer, George used the Fulltone '69 overdrive pedal to juice up the Bogner's input section. For long sustainy solos, George had the Fulltone Octafuzz on hand to go through the Fender Super Reverb. The Fulltone Dejavibe chorus/vibrato thickened things up with the old Trower -like "Roto-Vibe" vibe.
"That was one of the coolest sounding rigs I ever had and it only existed for those 2 shows, Essentially, I got to pretend I was Jimi playing "Machine Gun" in band of Gypsies for 2 nights" added George.
Right after sound check George accepted a ride back to the hotel from a fan. The drivers’ car had no seat belts and a bus broadsided them on the passenger side just as they were pulling into the hotel. Afterwards Don tried to explain the George that accidents that produce fatalities involving celebrities almost always result in much better record sales and a big boost in popularity. The bus driver turned out to be an acquaintance of Don's.
