Tommy Bentz's new Morton Custom Guitar

The Legend that is Tommy Bentz

Tommy Bentz, owner of Brickhouse Music, River Falls, Wisconsin USA and leader of the venerable Tommy Bentz Band takes delivery of his own signature guitar from Andrew Morton of Morton Guitars at the famous Howling Wolf Blues Bar in Glasgow.

In 2015 Tommy had tracked down Morton Guitars after browsing on the Internet and had arranged to meet founder Ken Morton while touring the UK that year. Ken was keen for a player of Tommy's calibre to really put a Morton Guitar through its paces. So he brought along a Morton Custom for Tommy to play at The Howling Wolf bar in Glasgow that evening and, after a couple on numbers, Tommy was hooked.

So, with the 2016 tour being planned, Tommy and Ken started discussing the specification of Tommy's own signature guitar.

Tommy's Signature Morton Custom Guitar

As Ken reports: "Tommy is a world class player and performer. Each member of the band is a first rate musician and all demand very high performances from their instruments. The guitar Tommy had his heart on was the Morton "Dominator" model" (Morton Guitars are named after Classic 60s British Motorcycles). "The Dominator is a blend of three iconic guitars that I much admire so I melded them into a single form to create a brand new design. Nothing balances as well, or is contoured for comfort, quite like a Strat.

Telecasters are stable and vibrant which essential for performing with confidence and the vintage three brass saddle design is much admired. However i opted for a Texas Customs bridge as the thin edged vintage correct bridge is uncomfortable. Let's face it, it was originally designed to have that (Ashtray) bridge. The Texas Customs bridge adds mass and is extremely comfortable under the palm. I "flipped" the Control plate so the Volume Control is closer to hand for easy 'Violining' as you can do with a Strat design.

Also, I love a P90 Pickup at the neck for Blues and much admire block inlays and black headstocks. They look so classy. The overall guitar is a real success and has won many admirers, especially amongst established players like Tommy and young, up and coming players, who want Custom Shop quality but who don't value spending excess hard earned cash on a "me too" corporate America brand name, just to pass the fat cat

Tommy specified a Seymour Duncan pickups: An 'Antiquity' Mini-Humbucker at the neck and a Quarter Pounder at the Bridge. With heavy 11s fitted, his new tone is immense.