by: Michael Zabrodsky

10,000 Maniacs' guitarist Rob Buck is receiving more attention now in the guitar field. He has got an endorsement deal with Ibanez Guitars.

Buck can now join the gallery of greats who also endorselbaniz guitars. Steve Vai and Frankie Gambale currently have a deal with Ibanez and are two of the hottest guitarists working today. Gambale does stints with Chick Corea's Electrik Band while Vai does work with Whitesnake.

Buck's deal was a long time in the making. About eight years ago Buck met Chris Kelley in Houston. Kelley owned what was then called Robin Guitars. "He came to one of our shows and for some odd reason he really liked the way I played, so he gave me a few guitars," Buck noted.

Kelley was lured away by Ibanez and was named head of their guitar department. "When he went over there (Ibanez), I stopped playing Robins and he started sending me all sorts of Ibanez guitars."

Currently Buck has designed a unique teardrop-shaped guitar that he plays in concert. He got the idea from watching an old documentary about the Rolling Stones. "I thought a real teardrop shape would be a great shape for a guitar and would be really unique too. It's sort of vaguely normal without being all pointy like heavy metal guitars."

So, Buck called Kelley and right away the two started designing Die Teardrop. The design called for lipstick tube pickups which are making a comeback because of their sound characteristics. The body is made out of swamp ash with a maple laminated top. The neck is also maple with an ebony fretboard. "At first this was a prototype, but Kelley liked it so much that he is having one made for himself," Buck added.

Buck said he is preparing for a photo shoot with the Teardrop in the coming months for the Ibanez catalog. Besides design wood and pickup configuration, Buck also gave specifications on the neck shape and fret alignment.

"The neck is shaped after a 1955 Fender Broadcaster Guitar. It's an old one that had this perfect neck on it. The frets are more Gibson-sized frets then Fender-sized. Gibson Guitars have bigger sized fret boards then Fenders. It's light and balanced real well and sets on me real nice," he said.

The neck has no finish but a coat of lacquer gloss on it. Buck indicated this no-finish neck makes playing easier because the player can sweat and not stick on the fretboard.

Buck is influenced by many artists. He listens to everything from The Clash and the Gang Of Four to Led Zeppelin and Credence Clearwater Revival. He also listens to a lot of African guitarists. "Those (African guitar) styles sound different than any regular guitar styles we are used to hearing," he said.

He also likes Crowded House and Public Enemy. "I've always been a big Public Enemy fan. Their latest record has some really good tracks on it."