Features
Instrument: Thomas Mendelovits
By Doug Wallen
Original page credit: Mess+Noise
In the first of a semi-regular series about one specific instrument, Milk Teddy’s Thomas Mendelovits discusses the backstory and influence of his current guitar of choice: a ’72 Ibanez Flying V he found in New York City. Interview by DOUG WALLEN. Photos by BRONWYN POTTS.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
So when did you get it, and how?
I was looking for a guitar when I went over to the States to fill in with Love Connection on bass. Their bassist Nathan [Burgess, also of Full Ugly] couldn’t make it ’cause of uni, so I was there and thought I’d get a new guitar ’cause it’s so cheap and there’s so many guitar stores. I was looking for a symmetrical guitar. I went to all the guitar stores in Manhattan and Williamsburg and Greenpoint [and] there wasn’t much going. I’m left-handed…
Is that why you wanted a symmetrical guitar?
Yeah. So I didn’t have to fiddle around too much with changing it over. If the headstock’s symmetrical, you don’t have to worry too much about the strings being at the wrong intonation. It’s just easier, I guess, for flipping [to a left-handed guitar]. You can do it much easier and better.
Did you have any other guidelines?
No, not really. Just a good price. It was really cheap and it came with a case, so that was important. And the colour was really nice. It’s a nice light colour: an off-white with a black pick guard on it. And it has an old Ibanez font.
It was just a good era for those guitars too. I’m not a guitar nerd, but it was just before Gibson was successful suing Ibanez for copyright [infringement] – ’cause they were all straight Gibson rips. That was the last line, from ’72. It was the last iteration of Ibanez’s successful Gibson rip-offs.
Where did you finally get it?
It was a place in the Lower East Side – Ludlow Guitars. It was this total session guy with tattoos – this English guy, actually – who sold it to me. He just let me play it for ages. I wasn’t too impressed on other guitars, and I loved the sound of this. The action’s really low, so it’s really easy to get nice long sustain for solos. It’s just a really good guitar. And there’s a lot of difference between the two pickups, so you can have a really nice tone. It’s not like my old guitar, a Telecaster, which was not very versatile. But the V is quite versatile: good for rhythm, good for lead.
“I just felt like a boss – it was just a great feeling.”
It was on my last day [in New York] and I was lucky, actually – I’d actually had a chance to play a left-handed V. Because I have to always try guitars out right-handed, so it’s annoying. These guys in this guitar store in Chelsea – Chelsea Guitars, right next to the Chelsea Hotel – offered to let us use their rehearsal room for like $20 for the whole day. It’s a pretty famous building called The Music Building. It’s where The Strokes and Madonna rehearsed; there’s a Madonna signature on the wall there.
So we were up there, and these guys were in this crazy metal band where they all used Flying Vs. They had three guitarists, and they all used Flying Vs. They had a light show and had lights on their guitars. [Laughs] It was so out there. And because they had all these Vs there, I was playing them in the studio. And I just felt like a boss – it was just a great feeling playing this left-handed guitar. So when I saw this V in this shop on my last day, I knew I had to buy it.
[Historical embedded media is withheld pending rights review.]Do people comment on it when you play it live? Because a Flying V has this certain conversation value…
It’s weird … it’s so associated with ’80s metal, but it’s actually from 1958. Gibson had this idea for a modernist series of guitars. And then I guess in the ’60s – this is my little theory – when paisley came in and it was all about organic shapes, no one wanted to play a sleek, modernist design. So that’s why it’s so associated with the ’80s.
People have just said, “Oh man, sick V.” And it’s just a mismatch, because it’s so obvious when you see me that I’m not going to be the classic guy who’s playing a V because it’s a V.
“A guy said to his kid: ‘Watch out for the guy with the V!’.”
You’re not going to be shredding on it.
No. Well … I like to. I give it a shot. It is a really playable guitar. It’s funny, in LAX and JFK airports, when I was flying back I had my V in the hard case. About four people commented on the V, even in the toilets.
A guy said to his four-year-old kid: “Watch out for the guy with the V!”
So you can tell from the case?
It’s a triangular bottom. Then someone else said, “It’s either a V or an Explorer.” America’s a more rock ‘n’ roll country than here, I guess. When I got back to Australia, a guy at customs thought it was possibly a bouzouki.
[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.]
When I saw you playing it, you were kind of getting funky with it. Does it lend itself to that?
Yeah, it definitely is better for anything resembling funk. Because it’s this low action, and I guess the fret sizes are quite small, so you can do quite nimble stuff. On a Telecaster or on an acoustic guitar, you have really little chance to do [that]. I don’t know if this is just psychological, but when you play a V it’s like playing a certain synthesiser: it’ll always put you in mind of something that’s bigger than you. And for our new material, I’m thinking about being more lyrical: making images with music and the words, not being tied down to really literal things. And maybe the V lends itself to the type of thing, because it’s funky and I feel really good when I play it.
I’m sure the psychological thing would be a part of it. It’s like when you dress up in nice clothes for work versus casual clothes: it has an effect.
That’s right. I don’t get a chance to wear a suit often, but when I do I feel very different.
“I can be much more precise with note choice and really let those notes ring out.”
So how has it shaped the new material?
Well, I don’t write on it specifically. In terms of our band, I guess just in more high parts and maybe more rhythmic rhythm parts and less strummy [ones]. More dexterous stuff and less open strumming. And more sustain – more clear notes. That’s a nice thing about getting this nice new guitar: I feel I like I can be much more precise with note choice and really let those notes ring out. With a Telecaster it’s a choppier style. I haven’t played too many guitars … being left-handed, I don’t have a chance, and I don’t have much choice.
Does it affect how the rest of the band play? Do they have to adjust their styles to accommodate the change in sound?
No. They’re even less nerdy about stuff like that than me. It’s one of the things I like about Milk Teddy: it’s all kind of autonomous. There is playing off each other, but in more of an intuitive way instead of “What chord are you doing now?” or “What about if in this bit I go for this vibe?” Our drummer [Jonathan Mendelovits] just battens down the hatches and keeps it pretty solid, and then we just spew all over the top.
I think the V has been good for that for me, but I don’t think it’s changed [anything else]. I think the material I’m playing with the V is a bit different, possibly as a slight psychological effect. But nothing discernible, really, with the rest of the guys.
Have you named it?
[Laughs] No. Just “my V.” I don’t like saying “Flying V” – I just like saying “V.”
Do you usually name instruments?
No. Actually, we had one guitar in our band that was called “The Bitch.” [Laughs] It didn’t have a case and it just got thrown around. It was just this guitar that was lying around. It’s kind of rude, but it seemed to suit it. Then we have a bass called “Kimberly,” but that’s only because it’s a Kimberly brand.
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