Guitar Tricks Insider November / December Issue | Page 39

ON SONGWRITING

“ Bad Reputation ” by Joan Jett with the Foo Fighters on The Letterman Show

Jett prefers to buy her guitars second hand . ” I ’ ve never bought a new guitar and I don ’ t want to ,” she said . “ Let somebody else break them in . Once I get a hold of it , I know I ’ m going to need to change things . I might have to change the bridge because it ’ s got one of those old bridges on it and it ’ ll keep going out of tune . So I ’ ll put a Bad Ass bridge on it . That ’ s what I usually use . I use a red velvet Hammer pickup that was handmade by a guy and his son out in LA . They hand wind the coils . They ’ re supposed to be louder and give you distortion but also be clear at the same time , which I personally found very effective . I put those pickups immediately into that Melody Maker and I fell in love with the sound . Now I put it in all my guitars .”

She writes on a 1968 blonde Les Paul Deluxe . “ Nobody seems to have natural blonde wood Les Pauls ,” she said . “ When people see it they go ‘ Oh , I like your Gold Top .’ It ’ s not a Gold Top , its blonde .”

She used this guitar all through her time with the Runaways . Ah , the Runaways .

Joan is not reticent at all to talk about that band , in fact she ’ s vehement . “ Let me tell you , the Runaways were very serious , believe me ,” she said of that all-girl band that featured Lita Ford , Cherie Curry , and Sandy West . “ We weren ’ t out there to mess around . More than anything else we wanted to be the next big thing . We weren ’ t amazing musicians , but we played definitely equal to a lot of bands .”

First and foremost , being in that band was a learning experience for her . “ You learned good things and bad things and you learned about life a lot faster than most people do , and in a real manner . You learned the way life really is . It ’ s very stark , just right there . But it ’ s not like I missed out on being a teenager . I probably wouldn ’ t have gone to my prom anyway .”