Our friends at Supro Guitars have reissued the model that David used on the Reality Tour in 2003/2004
They have done an amazing job in recreating this iconic Supro Dual Tone Guitar. They were kind enough to get me one to use in the show. It’s a super cool instrument and it plays like a dream.
Here are some shots of it in action on Ziggy and Suffragette City !
I also post the essay I wrote for Supro Guitars on my recollections about David coming to use this guitar on the Reality Tour…
David was a discerning collector of not only art, but all things to do with music, music artifacts and specific instruments. The Supro was a guitar that nailed a few of these criteria for him. It’s a very stylish guitar and it has a great vibe and sound. David had collected a couple of these models and it was a perfect fit for the Reality Tour and the aesthetic of the tour, perhaps “a slightly deconstructed future past”.
We sent the guitar to master luthier Flip Scipio in NYC for a setup and makeover to bring back to its former glory and make it super playable and stable for going on the road.
In the end I believe Flip removed the upper frets and filled the slots with different colored resin. This was to do with the neck reset angle and setup and the fact that, in the trade off for making the rest of the guitar really speak and the unlikelihood of David spontaneously taking a lead break, this part of the neck became redundant. I like that in the new reproduction you have honored that addition which was always a super cool ( and that you put the frets back also !!). After Flip had gone over it it was a fantastic guitar and David loved it so much, it was the only one he wanted to play , even though we had many other great instruments from famous makers available to him.
A perfect fit for such an iconic artist as David Bowie and for his vision for the Reality Tour.
You can find out more here
G e r r y L e o n a r d 
Hello, Gerry,
and thank for you lettre,
i got a guitare different, a Jaccobaci sttudio 2, she’s very old, (35 years old), but i ‘ve a sound merverllous
By jean-françois living betwen Cognac in charente, France
Good for you ! Bon chance
Hi Gerry,
Hope your well.
You mentioned “We sent the guitar to master luthier Flip Scipio in NYC for a setup and makeover to bring back to its former glory and make it super playable and stable for going on the road.”
Did you send Flip Scipio David’s personal guitar that her actually used on tour? If so do you own this guitar (David’s personal one) and use it yourself on tour?
I noticed the guitar your using in the picture above has Bowie on the headstock and that was not on the guitar that David used for obvious reasons. Did Flip add “Bowie” to the headstock of David’s original guitar or is the one your playing in the picture the reproduction?
Sorry there is a few questions in there : )
Look forward to your reply. Hope you have a nice Sunday.
Thanks,
Laurence
Guitar & Music Memorabilia Collector
The one that David used was an original that Flip Scipio restored.
The one I am using is the new Supro Dual Tone re-issue with the Bowie logo on the headstock.
I do not own an original or David’s original.
Hope that helps
Hi Gerry,
Thanks for taking the time to reply and answer my questions.
Yes that helps.
Take care,
Laurence
Hi Gerry, I also own the same Supro Dual-tone with Bigsby…
For a professional touring musician like yourself, have you had it tweaked for life on the road. What additional work have you had done to it?
I personally found the 1 Meg alpha pots made the pickups way too bright and harsh. I’ve changed to 250k pots and dropped some pio caps in there for the hell of it. I’ve also tried swapping in Lollar El Rayo’s at one point. Also copper shielded the cavities. I know people that have changed the pick up selector to a five way instead of the stock 3 way.
I’d be interested to hear how you’ve handled it, and also what your favourite song is to play on it.
Hi Rob
Sitting here with my Supro reading your message
So nice to hear about your upgrades. I confess that I have done nothing to mine except set it up well
I thought about upgrading the pickups but was unable to find suitable candidates
Love to hear your experience with the Lollars. Maybe you can send me a link to the parts you swapped and I can take a look. Thanks for the info. Ghostsitemailbox@gmail.com is a better bet to reach me
How many of these guitars were actually produced? I thought it was a limited run of 400 but have seen a few listed for sale that say “X/500”. It could affect resale value if there are a million of these out there or if they are fakes.