GEAR TALKIN’™️ #13: The Dwight Belmont

Jeff’s very rare 1959 rebranded Supro that looks good enough to eat

Like a co-worker who only unmutes Zoom to say hello, I’m dropping in to tell you Jeff has jetted to Europe to kick off a few months of Wilco touring. While he’s sorting out some jetlag and dusting off the jam room, Mark and I have been deputized to keep the Starship afloat. Normal programming will return next week. In the meantime, there’s talk about candy below. I prefer dark chocolate Raisinets, preferably sprinkled in a tub of popcorn, how about you? Speaking of popcorn, there’s been no mention of Barbie here—a crime! I think Jeff should cover Aqua next... Take it away, Mark..... errrr... Loft Ken! —Crystal

Jeff says: *Oliver voice* ’ello, E.U.

Thanks, Crystal! Hello, Starship Casual cadets! Today I want to pick up on something Capt. Jeff alluded to in a Starship Casual post from last week and illustrate it further ALL THE WHILE making it solidly about gear. We don’t call it Gear Talkin’™️ just for funsies, you know?

While describing the forthcoming Wilco album Cousin (available September 29th, y’all!), Jeff described the music as relating to sweet bubblegum pop and used the term “sugary ice,” likening both the album and the cover art to the feeling he had as a kid that some candy was too pretty to eat (though he did eat it anyway). This sensual reflex also relates to the feelings he has for some of the wonderful gear in his collection. And really, if push comes to shove, I bet an argument could be made that it could apply to just about every piece of gear in his collection. Oh, that powder blue synth! That Rogers kit that looks like spun ribbon candy! That yummy creamsicle-esque California Coral Newport bass! There are too many great examples to include them all, so let’s look in depth at just one instrument in particular.

Jeff’s 1959 Dwight Belmont—look but don’t lick.

Jeff has this fantastically gorgeous 1959 pink mother-of-toilet-seat single cutaway Dwight Belmont. This was one of the rare Dwight-branded guitars made in the late fifties by Valco/Supro and sold exclusively at Sonny Shields Music store in East St. Louis by owner Charles “Dwight” Shields. The shop also commissioned Coronet-style guitars from Gibson/Epiphone as well, both as hometown house brand guitars to compete with Gibson’s very popular-at-the-time student model, the Les Paul Jr. This store happened to be in a town right next to Belleville, IL where Jeff grew up.

When Jeff was just a boy, his cousin David had one of these pink-crushed-velvet-looking Dwight guitars handed down to him from his dad. It mostly laid underused in his closet in disrepair, missing a few strings. No matter! For Jeff it was love at first sight, partially due to the exquisite finish, but also because this was the first real electric guitar Jeff had seen up close and personal. It was beyond alluring and stirred up deep emotions in our young Captain. As I sit here in the middle of the Loft spinning around slowly in my desk chair looking at Jeff’s impressive collection of well-worn guitars, multitudes of crazy keyboards, tube amps of every size, and drums all the colors of the rainbow, I can’t help but think that his fierce and unrelenting amassing of magnificent musical mechanisms all starting with his love for this Dwight Belmont. This was the guitar that launched a thousand ships. He recalls that it honestly looked like you could lick it and taste that sweet sweet crushed pink candy-looking exterior. And though yes, the finish is wonderful, I know it was the whole guitar-ness that Jeff was head of heels for… and still is today. The finish just sealed the deal, especially for a seven-year-old kid. 

Why was the model named “the Belmont”? I’m not quite sure. I know Belmont was also used on their more widely available Supro versions. Did it have something to do with Valco/Supro’s Chicago factory on north Normandy being just a few blocks south of Belmont Avenue? Maybe? That seems plausible. I’m going with that... though the more I think about it, no other Supro models have Chicago-centric names unless there’s a Pocket Bass Boulevard or Rhythm Master Lane somewhere on the West Side that I’m not familiar with.

When I first began to work as the Loft’s studio manager, this pink Dwight was one of the first guitars Jeff had found and wanted to add to his growing collection, largely in tribute to his fond memories of his cousin David’s guitar. So is the new Wilco record named after Cousin David? Hmmmm… probably not.

This Week In Wilco, Etc.

2021 / August 7: On Starship Casual, Jeff shares the first draft of the Cruel Country song “Sad Kind of Way.”

2004 / August 8: Wilco plays an 18-song set at the Newport Folk Festival. At the end of the set, they are joined by The Band’s Garth Hudson for “California Stars” and “The Late Greats.”

2008 / August 9: Wilco plays the Virgin Mobile Festival at the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD, with the Total Pros horns adding brass to almost half the set. Other artists playing the festival include Foo Fighters and Chuck Berry.