Amy Winehouse's favourite guitar

We know many things about the life of Amy Winehouse. A life full of music, concerts, Grammys, awards and also drinks, drugs....

But what was Amy's favourite guitar... A light, small size, white Gibson Melody Maker!!

Just like hers life!!

Goodbuy Amy

Many Regards to Jimi, Janis, Jim, and Curt...

Famous Guitars have a NAME!!!

 

No. 10 B.B. King's "Lucille"

One night in the 1950s, B.B. King was playing a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In those days it wasn’t uncommon to light a barrel of kerosene to keep the building warm. Unfortunately, that night a fight broke out between some rowdy locals and the barrel of kerosene was knocked over, causing a massive fire.

Once safely outside, B.B. realized that he had left his cherished guitar in the dance hall. He quickly ran into the blaze and grabbed his Gibson before the roof collapsed. Later, it was revealed that the men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. From that moment on B.B. christened all of his guitars “Lucille” to remind him never to fight over a woman.

No. 9 Keith Richards' "Micawber"

Supposedly named after a character in Charles Dickens’ book David Copperfield, Micawber has been Keith’s main guitar since Exile on Main Street. Of course, when asked about the meaning behind the uncommon name, Keith coyly says: "There's no reason for my guitar being called Micawber, apart from the fact that it's such an unlikely name. When I scream for Micawber everyone knows what I'm talking about."

The 1952 butterscotch Fender Telecaster is kept in the Human Riff’s trademark open G tuning, so it’s always ready to tear through such classics as "Before They Make Me Run,” "Brown Sugar” and "Honky Tonk Women.”

No. 8 George Harrison's "Lucy"

Dubbed “Lucy” in honor of red-headed comedian Lucille Ball, this cherry-hued ’57 Les Paul was given to George Harrison by Eric Clapton in 1968. As a favor to George, Clapton played the instrument during the recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

In the ‘70s, the legendary guitar was stolen from Harrison’s home and ended up in the hands of a Mexican musician who purchased Lucy from a music shop in California before returning to his native country. However, Harrison was able to get his beloved guitar back by trading a ’58 Les Paul and a bass to the musician in exchange for Lucy, which he owned until his death in 2001.

No. 7 Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Lenny"

In 1980, Stevie Ray Vaughan came across this 1965 Fender Stratocaster in a pawn shop in Austin, Texas, and instantly fell in love with the vintage instrument. Unfortunately, back then he didn’t have the $350 asking price. However, Stevie’s wife, Lenora “Lenny” Vaughan, rounded up $50 from seven of their closest friends and bought the guitar for the Double Trouble front man’s 26th birthday. Overwhelmed with emotion, Vaughan stayed up late that night writing a song. The next morning, Lenora woke up to Stevie playing the newly penned instrumental, “Lenny” for her.

No. 6 Willie Nelson's "Trigger"

In 1969, Willie Nelson sent one of his banged-up guitars to a repair shop in Nashville. The owner told him he couldn’t fix it but he had a Martin for sale that he thought Willie might like. Nelson bought the N-20 for $750 over the phone, sight unseen. After its delivery, he immediately fell in love with the guitar, naming it “Trigger” after Roy Rodgers’ trusty horse.

Willie played the Martin so much over the years that he wore a large hole in the top. However, the country star came to appreciate the unique sound so much that he refused to have it repaired.

No. 5 Neil Young's "Old Black"

Neil Young has owned this 1953 Gibson Les Paul since obtaining it from musician Jim Messina back in 1969.

Old Black, which got its name due to the fact that it began life as a goldtop but was later the recipient of an amateur black paint job, has been a headache for Young’s guitar tech, Larry Cragg. The old Gibson frequently goes out of tune and Young refuses to re-fret the fingerboard -- but when the stars align, Old Black can still produce one of the most distinct sounds in the music industry. “It's a demonic instrument. Old Black doesn't sound like any other guitar," Cragg once said.

No. 4 Billy Gibbons' "Miss Pearly Gates"

The ZZ Top guitarist is known for his big beard and an even bigger guitar collection. However, the ax that has always held a place in his heart is his coveted 1959 Les Paul.

As the story goes, ZZ Top gave their old 1930s Packard to a friend, Renee Thomas, to drive to L.A. for a movie audition. After landing the role, Renee and the band jokingly called the Packard “Pearly Gates” because they figured it must have had divine powers. Renee ended up selling the car and wiring the money to Gibbons on the very day he received a called about a ’59 Sunburst Les Paul that was found under the bed of a man who had recently passed away. The guitarist ended up loving the Gibson so much that he purchased it that day and dubbed it “Miss Pearly Gates.”

No. 3 Eddie Van Halen's "Frankenstrat"

Musicians have long debated whether a Fender or Gibson deserves to be called the best guitar in the world. Van Halen front man Eddie Van Halen simply combined the two to create his legendary Frankenstrat guitar.

In the 1970s, Van Halen was able to buy the ash body for $50 because there was a large knot in the wood. He then found a maple neck for the guitar for $80, bringing the grand total of his prized ax to a whopping $130. Eddie then utilized everything at his disposal, including bicycle paint, masking tape and wax to give the Frankenstrat its unique look. The crafty guitarist even cut up an old vinyl record to serve as a pickguard.

No. 2 Hendrix's "Woodstock" Strat

In his short lifetime, Jimi Hendrix was able to single-handedly change the sound of rock through his innovative guitar style and inexplicable raw talent. An intense performer, Hendrix was known to “sacrifice” his guitars by lighting them on fire. Fortunately, the 1968, the Stratocaster he played during his legendary rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock was spared this fiery fate.

After Jimi’s death in 1970, the guitar was put into storage until it was sold at auction to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen for $1.3 million.

No. 1 Eric Clapton's "Blackie"

In 1970, while visiting a music shop in Nashville, Clapton came across a rack of old Fenders. He ended up purchasing six of them at $100 apiece. Once he returned to England, he gifted three of the guitars to fellow rockers George Harrison, Pete Townshend, and Steve Winwood, and kept the rest for himself. Clapton decided to experiment by seeing if he could assemble a “Super Strat” out of the best parts from each vintage guitar. The end result was the legendary “Blackie” Stratocaster, named after the guitar’s black finish.

Guitar neck woods... a masterpiece tele

Guitar neck woods

Guitar Neck Woods

From plain white maple to colorful tropical exotics, there are rainbows of musical instrument woods. There is no one best wood. The choice you make should be based upon your application and personal taste or preference.

Part of the beauty of wood is the uniqueness of each piece. There are wide ranges of color, striping, streaking, figure size, interval, etc. All varied by whims of nature. Pictures are included for reference.

	Birdseye Maple (Acer saccharum): Birdseye is another type of figure found in hard maple. It shows best in flat sawn wood. There is a wide variety of size and shapes in the "eyes" to keep them interesting. There seems to be a recurring rumor that Birdseye maple is unstable and not suited to guitar necks. Having made tens of thousands of Birdseye necks, we can assure you that it is no different in stability than plain maple. AAA grade denotes very heavy figuring. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Bocote (Cordia elaeagnoiders): Sometimes called Mexican Rosewood. Striking green to yellow color usually with distinct grain lines sometimes with variegated interesting patterns. Smells like dill pickle's when cut or sanded. The feel is very waxy, similar to most rosewoods in feel and tone. This fast feeling wood needs no finish. Suitable for both necks and fingerboards. Limited availability and expensive. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Brazilian Rosewood (Dalbergia nigra): A very hard and dense wood. Great clarity and articulation in tone. Very smooth feeling. Color varies a great deal from piece to piece, all being gorgeous. *A very high class fingerboard wood.
	Bubinga (Guibourtia demeusei): A very strong stiff wood used primarily for bass necks and in laminations. Used by Rickenbacker for fretboards. As a bass neck, it brings bright midrange and a thick well defined bottom. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Canary (Centrolobium ochroxylon): More properly called Arariba. What we've had of this wood is primarily a yellow color with deep red streaking. Not as dense as maple, smooth and fast feeling with a warm tone. May be used for necks and fingerboards. No finish required. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa): A true rosewood species and gorgeous to behold. Unfortunately this extremely oily wood is difficult to glue. Worse yet, the dust is very irritating and toxic. We have used it in the past but due to the allergic reactions we choose not to work with this wood.
	Ebony (Dispyrus melanoxylon): This is black ebony. Very hard, smooth and fast feeling that has a bright, long sustaining tone. Chocolate brown or dark gray streaks are not uncommon. Available primarily as fingerboards and occasionally for full neck construction. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Flame Maple (Acer saccharum): While there are several maple species that show the flame figure, the only one hard enough for making necks is Acer Saccarum. Identical to plain maple above, except for the highly prized flame figuring. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Goncalo Alves (Astronium fraxini folium): Very dense smooth texture with a waxy fast feel - no finish required. Color is tan with darker chocolate stripes (used by Smith & Wesson for pistol grips). Articulate clean warm tone. Primarily used as a Neck wood and mates well with Pau Ferro or ebony fingerboards. *Used for necks only
	Hard Maple (Acer saccharum): This is the traditional Fender neck wood. Dense, hard and strong, offering great sustain and stability. The tone is bright. Maple must be finished to protect from warping We use flat sawn maple though quarter sawn may be available at an additional cost. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Indian Rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia): This is the most popular fingerboard wood. It has a warm "rock'n roll" tonality. Colors range from dark purple to lighter purple with yellows and orange. *Available for fingerboards only
	Koa (Acacia koa): Koa comes from the Hawaiian Islands. It is the premiere ukulele wood. It is fairly similar to mahogany in strength and weight though generally better looking. Sometimes available with flame figuring. Koa sounds best when combined with a Pau Ferro or ebony fingerboard. Koa must be hard finished. *Used for necks only
	Limba (Terminalia superba): Korina is the name guitarists recognize for this wood. Its light yellow-green color is unique and looks aged even though new. In both tone and texture Limba is very similar to mahogany. Limba is only suitable for neck stock, not fretboards. It must be finished. Availability is limited or sporadic. *Used for necks only
	Macassar Ebony (Dispyrus macassar): Stripped ebony, black with heavy striping, chocolate brown to gray. A beautiful wood for those wanting the feel and tone of ebony but a more exciting look. Primarily for fingerboard wood but sometimes available for solid necks. No finish required. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla): Commonly called Honduran Mahogany. This is the wood most associated with Gibson guitars. Not as dense or strong as maple. Good for warmer, fatter guitar tone. An open grain wood requiring more work in finishing to fill the open pores. Must be hard finished. *Used for necks only
	Padouk, African (Pterocarpus soyauxii): Bright vivid red color which oxidizes to a warm brown with use. This waxy feeling wood has an open grain texture similar to rosewood and a tone similar to maple. It is very stable in use and requires no finish. Feels great to play on. *Used for necks only
	Palisander Rosewood (Dalbergia baroni): This is our wood of choice for making solid rosewood necks and bodies. The color varies from light violet to darker purples, sometimes with darker stripes. The best smelling wood around. Very hard and heavy with somewhat open cell structure. Feels very fast and requires no finish. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Pau Ferro (Machaerium villosum): Relatively new as a fingerboard wood but very well suited to this purpose. Very smooth texture similar to ebony. Tonally brighter than rosewood but not as bright as ebony. Color varies from light tan to a darker coffee color. Usually quarter sawn to show nice striping. Primarily a fingerboard wood though occasionally available for necks as well. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Purpleheart (Peltogyne pubesens): Generally this wood is used as an accent line in laminated necks. The purple like color is striking. A very hard dense wood. Similar to Bubinga in its good bass tone. A specialty wood that can be used for necks and fingerboards. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Satine (Brosimum paraense): We know this as bloodwood because of its dark red color. A very dense hard tropical wood with a waxy smooth feel. No finish is required and may be used as neck or fingerboard wood. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Walnut (Juglans nigra): Walnut is the only North American dark wood. It is somewhat softer than maple though stiffer than mahogany. Looks and sounds good when combined with ebony fingerboards. This wood must be hard finished. *Used for necks only
	Wenge (Millettia laurentii): A black hard wood with chocolate brown stripes. Very hard, coarser textured wood with open grain. This wood makes awesome bass necks with strong midrange tones and warm lows. Combine it with an ebony fretboard for more brightness. Used primarily as Neck shafts but may also be used as a coarse fretboard. This wood is usually played raw. No Finish required. *Used for both necks and fingerboards
	Ziricote (Cordia dodecandra): This dark gray to black wood is similar to ebony in weight, density and tone. Some pieces have gorgeous striping and spider web grain patterns. May be oil finished or left raw. Suitable for both necks and fingerboards. Limited availability and expensive *Used for both necks and fingerboards

Clarence Leonidas (LEO) Fender - Greek American inventor

Did you know one of the guitars very well known brand around the world? Fender electric guitar is a type taken from the name of the maker, Clarence Leonidas Fender, a Greek American who lived between 1909 until 1991. Clarence Leonidas Fender, known as Leo Fender, born on August 10, 1909, and left this mortal world on March 21, 1991. He died, after long suffering complications from the “Parkinson’s Disease”. Leo Fender started making guitars in 1946, from just a small shed that had a radio repair shop in one remote corner of California, until now a huge conglomerate of world-class producer of high quality guitar with the name “Fender Musical Instruments Corporation” or F MIC. Fender brand has become famous as a producer of electric instruments, such as Guitar, Bass Guitar as well as amplifiers. after famous Fender successfully designing a guitar that easily held, easily in tune and also most importantly very comfortable playing. Excellence is parallel with the ability to make sound from a guitar that can neutralize the voice feedback the resulting string guitar through the amplifier is also designed specifically.

Getting a lot of input, the form of suggestions and criticism from many players are skilled and experienced guitar, Leo Fender working hard with several employees to perfect guitar fender. Then Fender released its new product in the form of a refinement of previous models (fender tele) to a guitar that became known by the name Fender Start or a Stratocaster. Fender Stratocaster was launched in 1954. Leo with a highly intelligent, retaining the model Telecaster that has been overdo has its own fans, and then also market the new variant of the Fender Stratocaster, a guitar which is a product of redesigning the Telecaster.
Fender had already toppled the popularity of its predecessor guitar maker Gibson. Gibson guitars have been circulating in the market since 1902; America is more popular with his acoustic guitar products. But until now, fans both well-known brands that are relatively fixed spread evenly in the world. It is not known who among them the superior, because each has advantages and disadvantages of the product. That’s a quick story about the fenders, a success story from someone who has a high spirit, endless creativity and incredible love of the music world.

The forms that Leo Fender adopted

The Telecaster in the 1950s

Early 1950s Fender ad for the then-new Telecaster.

Uncluttered and straightforward it may have been, but those are the attributes that remain at the heart of the Telecaster’s appeal.

-Tony Bacon, Six Decades of the Fender Telecaster


While Leo Fender and the staff of his small Southern California instrument- and amp-making company knew that they’d built a revolutionary new guitar when they introduced the Telecaster in early 1951, they had no idea of the size and scope of the musical revolution their unusual new invention would start. They couldn’t possibly have.

It was not a foregone conclusion that such an instrument would succeed; indeed, some scoffed and laughed at the Telecaster when it was officially unveiled that year at the industry's largest U.S. trade show, mocking it as a “boat paddle” and a “snow shovel.” This kind of derision didn’t last long, though.

That’s because players quickly realized that Fender had given them something not only new and unusual, but something well-designed, easy-playing, efficient, rugged, affordable and, above all, great-sounding. Although electrified guitars had been around in various forms since the 1920s, Leo Fender and his inner circle had labored mightily throughout the close of the 1940s and the earliest dawn of the new decade to design and perfect something that really didn’t exist before—a mass-produced solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar.

European Staufer guitar, circa 1830s. Note the headstock, with all tuners on one side and straight string pull over the nut. Leo Fender adopted these design elements for the Telecaster.

As innovative as it was, little if anything was fancy about the Telecaster. Several of its features were carried over from the Hawaiian steel guitars Fender had already been making since 1945, such as the “ashtray” bridge cover, knurled chrome knobs, Kluson tuners and combination of bridge and bridge pickup in one integral unit. If the maple neck broke or became too worn, there was no complex luthiery involved—you just screwed on a new one. It had a simple black pickguard (of fiber or Bakelite) held on with five screws. Unlike many existing guitars at the time, the Telecaster’s strings were pulled straight over the nut, with all the tuners on one side of the headstock—ideas that Leo himself said he borrowed from 19-century Istrian folk guitars and Viennese Staufer guitars.

The controls were another matter. True, the layout was simple—two knobs and a three-position switch, but their combined function was not as simple as might be supposed at first. The front knob always controlled master volume, but the rear knob was not always a master tone knob. In 1951, putting the selector switch in the rear (bridge) position delivered both pickups, with the rear knob serving as a blend control that governed the amount of neck pickup sound mixed into the bridge pickup sound. The selector switch in the middle position delivered the neck pickup only with its “natural” mellow tone (its chrome cover soaked up extra capacitance), and the switch in the front (neck) position delivered the neck pickup only with extra capacitance that produced a bassier tone; the rear knob affected neither of these settings.

This control arrangement was “simplified” in 1952 to what became known as the conventional Telecaster control layout. After this change, putting the selector switch in the rear (bridge) position delivered the bridge pickup alone, with the rear knob acting as a proper tone control. The selector switch in the middle position delivered the neck pickup alone, with the rear knob again acting as a tone control. The selector switch in the front (neck) position delivered the neck pickup alone with the preset bassier sound and a non-functioning rear knob (as before). In this control scheme, there was no switch setting in which both pickups were on at the same time, an arrangement that lasted until the late 1960s. However, players were quick to discover that the Telecaster’s three-position switch could be precariously balanced in the two “in-between” switch positions to deliver in-phase or out-of-phase sounds (depending on the polarity of the pickups) in which both pickups were on (an unintentional design feature exploited by players to even greater extent on the Stratocaster).

So there was quite a bit of tonal versatility there. Unlike any guitar that came before it, the Telecaster had an incredibly bright, clean and cutting sounding, with a piercing high end and thick midrange and bass. It made a distinctive and irresistible sound, and through the sturdy amps that Fender had been making since the mid-1940s, it was loud.

Two monumental early Telecaster albums; 2 Guitars Country Style by Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant (1954) and Johnny Burnette and the Rock ‘n Roll Trio (1956).

Outside the factory, the western swing guitarists who helped Leo perfect his new guitar were the first to fully understand how good the Telecaster really was. Early players such as Jimmy Wyble, Charlie Aldrich, Jimmy Bryant, Roy Watkins and Bill Carson took to the instrument with missionary zeal, and Fender Sales chief Don Randall’s carefully built sales network made sure the appeal of the Telecaster slowly but surely radiated from Southern California all the way to the East Coast.

With the introduction of the even more revolutionary Precision Bass less than a year after the February 1951 debut of the Telecaster, Fender had unknowingly helped set the stage for a musical explosion—rock ‘n’ roll. It bears remembering that when the Telecaster was introduced in 1951, rock ‘n’ roll was still a few years away; Leo Fender and his staff were building guitars and amps mainly for the western swing guitarists whose touring circuits often brought them near the company’s home in sunny Southern California. Nonetheless, Fender’s innovative new instruments fed the rise of the small, loud bands that, by the mid-1950s, had largely supplanted the big bands of the 1930s and 1940s, a phenomenon that in turn fueled the concurrent explosion of U.S. youth culture.

Fender and its new Telecaster guitar were ideally placed to take advantage of all of this, because Fender didn’t belong to the stodgy old world of high-end guitar craft. Fender was brash, young, innovative and West Coast; not old, staid and East Coast. Fender instruments and amps were fun, tough and affordable rather than delicate and expensive. All those kids who found themselves with a powerful new cultural movement of their own in the post-war mid-1950s could get their hands on great-sounding, solidly built Fender guitars easily enough.

Consequently, by mid-decade the Telecaster was finding its way into the inventive hands of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and country guitarists and onto their recordings. In Nashville in July 1956, Johnny Burnette and the Rock and Roll Trio recorded an energetic rock ‘n’ roll version of 1951 jump blues song “The Train Kept-A-Rollin”; lead guitarist Paul Burlison used his Telecaster to play one of the first recorded instances—if not the first recorded instance—of a contemporary fuzz guitar sound. In July 1957, Dale Hawkins scored what was probably the first Telecaster-fueled U.S. Top 40 hit with “Suzie Q,” a song built on a catchy guitar lick by his band’s young guitarist, James Burton.

Telecaster master-in-the-making James Burton plays “It’s Late” with Ricky Nelson on the April 8, 1959, episode of ABC TV’s The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

When Burton later joined teen idol Ricky Nelson’s band (at age 18), thousands of U.S. TV viewers saw Burton play his Telecaster on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in the late ’50s and early ’60s, playing songs such as “Hello Mary Lou,” “Just a Little Too Much,” “It’s Late” “Believe What You Say” and many more.

And in what is widely regarded as the greatest rock ‘n’ roll film ever made, 1956’s The Girl Can’t Help It, the Telecaster (in its single-pickup Esquire version) puts in a pair of appearances. It’s first seen in the hands of Little Richard’s guitarist (likely either Ray Montrell or Ed Blanchard) during the hard rocking “Ready Teddy” and “She’s Got It”; guitarist Russell Willaford plays one later in the film during Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps’ smoldering “Be Bop a Lula.”

In the R&B world, players such as B.B. King and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown took readily to the Telecaster. And when the great Muddy Waters, the man who electrified Delta blues, first visited England in 1958, he shocked audiences who were expecting folksy acoustic sounds by blasting out loud, stinging blues on his Telecaster. For many young players in the U.K., Waters’ October 1958 tour was the first time they ever saw a Telecaster in real life. The dramatic effects of this would become palpably evident in the decade that followed.

Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps guitarist Russell Willaford brandishes a Fender Esquire on this lobby card for 1956 film The Girl Can’t Help It.

In the country world, Luther Perkins accompanied Johnny Cash from 1954 on by playing bright, catchy lines on a Telecaster and an Esquire. Farther west, in Bakersfield, Calif., a soon-to-be rising star named Buck Owens was discovering how to put the Telecaster to work in a loud and stripped-down country style that stood in stark contrast to the slick, string-heavy country sound then in vogue in Nashville. The Telecaster would become the foundation of the “Bakersfield Sound” pioneered in the later 1950s and popularized in the 1960s by Owens and his band, the Buckaroos, Merle Haggard and the Strangers, and others.

The Telecaster also made great inroads in the 1950s as a must-have studio session instrument. It didn’t take long to become an essential element in the arsenal of studio veterans nationwide because it quickly became an in-demand sound. A-list session veterans Barney Kessel, Howard Roberts and Tommy Tedesco all got Telecasters, like it or not (in Six Decades of the Fender Telecaster, author Tony Bacon recounts a 1956 interview in which jazzer Kessel, “the busiest session guitar man in Hollywood,” snorted about the Telecaster that “I had to buy a special ‘ultra toppy’ guitar to get that horrible electric guitar sound that the cowboys and the rock ‘n’ rollers want”).

Through all of this and through the entire decade, the Telecaster remained remarkably unchanged (even today, 60 years after its invention, a basic modern Telecaster outwardly differs very little from its ancestors of 1951). Its simplicity and efficiency as a solidly reliable workhorse guitar remained hallmarks of its design throughout the 1950s, as indeed they would throughout subsequent decades.

A few minor changes to the Telecaster were implemented in the guitar’s first decade. The color of the pickguard was changed from black to white in 1954; its pickup selector switch tip was changed from the original round type to the “top hat” type in 1955. Perhaps the biggest change of the decade came in 1958, when the once blonde-finish-only Telecaster first became available with eye-catching custom color finishes for an additional 5 percent cost. The first significant new version of the model didn’t appear until 1959, when the Custom Telecaster was introduced, with a bound body and rosewood fingerboard.

Pre-1954 “blackguard” (black pickguard) Telecasters are now highly valued among collectors, as chronicled in 2005 book The Blackguard.

All in all, the Telecaster was a great success story in the decade of its birth. The 1950s saw it rise from regional obscurity to nationwide indispensability (with worldwide acclaim looming) as rock ‘n’ roll proved to be more than a passing fad and youth culture bloomed as it never before had in the United States. The Telecaster had both the style and substance; the form and function to endure indefinitely as both a valuable tool and a potent symbol. It was a great idea whose time had come, and it changed music in the ’50s-era United States.

And half a world away across the great Atlantic, on the shores from which the Colonies had long since asserted their independence, a talented and hungry new generation of upcoming guitarists regarded the Telecaster and Fender’s other wares with envious eyes and ears. Up and down the length of Great Britain, they devoured every record Burton played on, sat enthralled by Waters’ roaring electric blues and studiously dissected every Cliff Gallup lick until they’d mastered them completely.

In late 1959, with the decade rapidly closing, quite a few of these English kids were eagerly soaking up every Telecaster-fueled note they could get their hands on. These included 16-year-olds Keith Richards and George Harrison, 15-year-olds Jeff Beck and James Page, 14-year-olds Eric Clapton and Peter Townshend, 13-year-old schoolmates Roger “Syd” Barrett and David Gilmour, 17-year-old Andy Summers and a great many more. They all immersed themselves in the sounds of the Telecaster in the 1950s, and they all eventually got their hands on Telecaster guitars.

Which boded extremely well for the wild and adventurous decade to follow …


When blues great Muddy Waters took his Telecaster to England in 1958, a lot of British kids were paying attention.

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Best Guitar Strings for the Blues

Playing Blues guitar is all about feel and tone... so what are the best strings for the Blues? Not an easy question to answer (along with "what is the best guitar for the Blues?"), but we'll try to give some tips and look at what strings the best blues guitarists use...

Do you need Heavy Strings for Blues?

Conventional wisdom is that you need heavy gauge strings for a great Blues tone. Certainly early Blues players would use heavy strings, as there wasn't much alternative - it's only since the sixties and seventies that custom gauge strings have been widely available. People often quote the fact that Stevie Ray Vaughan played with very heavy strings, sometimes taking this to extremes and playing with .018 to .074 sets. But remember he did tune down half a tone to Eb (and sometimes used superglue on his fingertips!). There's little doubt that heavy gauge strings can help you achieve a great tone, but be careful not to sacrifice playability. If you're not used to heavy gauge strings they can inhibit you from plying well and you might be better off with, say, 10's and a natural style than 12s with a great tone but weak bends.

Why use Heavy Strings?

Tone is a combination of many things - your guitar, strings, pick-ups, amp you use, your amp set-up and, of course, your skill and playing style. But it is true that, all other things being equal, thicker (heavier gauge) strings generally give a better tone. 9 gauge strings will sound much weaker than 11's, giving a thinner sound and less sustain; with heavier strings you get more mid and low frequencies. The problem with heavy gauge strings is that they're really tough on the fingers and difficult to bend notes - something that's essential for playin' the Blues. The best way around this is to either just build up your strength with hours of practice or to tune down a semitone - an instant fix to the bending problem but a challenge in playing everything in strange keys...

But I can't handle Heavy Strings

It's worth remembering that the feeling you get playing with different gauge strings will also differ depending on what kind of guitar you use. You can bend strings much easier on guitars with a longer scale length, such as Gibson, whereas Fender guitars have shorter scale length and will be more diffilcult to bend thicker strigs as the tension will be greater. If you're used to playing 9s, you obviously don't want to go straight to 13s! Work your way up and remember that it is possible to get "half gauge" strings, so you can try 9s, 9.5s, 10s, 10.5s, 11s...

What about Pure Nickel or Stainless Steel Strings?

Most modern electric guitar strings are Nickel-plated steel and these offer a good compromise between cost, longevity and tone. However, there are two other common options - Stainless Steel and Pure Nickel. Stainless Steel strings are generally too bright for a classic Blues sound, but Pure Nickel can be a great choice for the Blues guitar player. You'll pay a little more, but Pure Nickel give a warmth and depth of sound that is ideal for a Blues tone.

What do/did the great Blues Guitarists play?

John Lee Hooker used both open A and standard tuning and Endorsed Dean Markley Strings
Stevie Ray Vaughan always used heavy strings, bt often changed gauges, depending on the condition of his fingers - a typical choice would be .013, .015, .019, .028, .038, .058. Sometimes he used a slightly lighter high E string (.012 or .011), but with there other strings the same. He always tuned down one half step, to reduce the string tension and make tehm more playable.
Buddy Guy uses 10's
B.B. King uses 10's or 11's and endorses a special Gibson Signature gauge set - .010 - 0.54, with Pure Nickel wraps. (see below)
Scott McKeon is recognised as one of the best blues modern guitar players and has sharing stages with Buddy Guy, Sonny Landreth, and the North Mississippi Allstars. Scott uses Dean Markley Jimi Hendrix NPS strings, Regular gauge .010 - .046

Best Strings for Blues?

Here's a small selection of some great guitar strings for the Blues. Which are the best? Only you can decide...
DR Pure Blues
Pure Nickel Electric Guitar Strings wound on Round Cores. The totally real Vintage string.
In the DR tradition of using old style construction to improve modern performance, Pure Blues electric guitar strings are designed with pure nickel wrap wire, round wound upon round cores. While this is a slow, expensive method of string making, it does produce a string acclaimed for increased sustain, vintage tone, and great low tones for playing rhythm to lead. The extra step of winding pure nickel around a round core gives the Pure Blues a punch that players say they are surprised to get in a vintage style string.
Lite PHR-9 9 11 16 24 32 42
Lite-n-Heavy PHR-9/46 9 11 16 26 36 46
Medium PHR-10 10 13 17 26 36 46
Big-n-Heavy PHR-10/52 10 13 17 30 44 52
Heavy PHR-11 11 14 18 28 38 50
Extra Heavy PHR-12 12 15 24 32 42 52
Gibson B.B. King Signature Strings
B. B. plays with a style that matches his intensity, and every note he plays has something vitally important to say. This unique string set is B.B.'s own special gauge, meant to give your guitar a firm, yet extremely playable feel. The pure nickel wrap yields exceptional tone, from the lows all the way to the highs. The premium Swedish steel "hex" core means your guitar tunes up fast and stays in tune longer.
Model No.: SEG-BBS
Gauge: Signature Gauge
.010, .013, .017p, .032, .045, .054
Dean Markley Jimi Hendrix NPS strings
The legacy of famed guitar deity Jimi Hendrix is not to be taken lightly. And when it comes to getting involved in a Hendrix guitar-related project, one better know what one is doing. After extensive research, company president Dean Markley and his staff were able to determine with some certainty that Hendrix played different types of strings at different points in his career. Using the knowledge gained from their research, the engineers at Dean Markley Strings have developed two types of Jimi Hendrix strings, both of which deliver the string qualities the guitarist would look for were he playing today.
These Jimi Hendrix Nickel Plated Steel strings reflect the type of string used by Hendrix later in his career. Also available, Jimi Hendrix Pure Nickel strings are based on the type of string Hendrix played in his earlier days.
8860 RR .009 .011 .017 .026 .032 .038
8861 LT .009 .011 .016 .024 .032 .042
8862 REG .010 .013 .017 .026 .036 .046
8863 MED .011 .013 .020w/18p .030 .042 .052
D'Addario EPN115 Blues/Jazz Rock 11-48
D'Addario XL Pure Nickel strings look back to the '50s, when nickel was the primary alloy found in electric guitar strings. Into the '60s, these pure nickel strings would be supplanted when guitarists required brighter tone and enhanced magnetic properties/characteristic of the D'Addario XL nickelplated steel string line, Pure Nickel delivers classic, warmer timbres that define many genres including blues, classic rock, rockabilly, and more.
.011, .014, .018, .027, .037, .048

A guitar masterpiece from 1928

Archtop Guitar, L-5 model, 1928

Gibson, Inc.
Archtop Guitar, L-5 model (serial number 87083), 1928
Spruce, maple, ebony, steel, celluloid, mother-of-pearl; sunburst finish; 8 1/4 x 6 x 24 1/2 in. (21 x 15.2 x 62.2 cm)
Private Collection

Orville Gibson of Kalamazoo, Michigan, invented the archtop guitar and the mandolin in the 1890s and obtained a patent for them in 1895. These instruments have a carved arched top and back, a feature of violins. Gibson sold his designs and patents to a group of Kalamazoo investors that opened the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Company, Ltd. In 1922, under the direction of Lloyd Loar, the firm introduced the L-5 guitar as part of its Master Model series. The L-5 incorporates additional violin features such as the floating bridge and tailpiece and the use of f-holes. The first L-5s had body widths of sixteen inches and were used by such prominent jazz guitarists as Charlie Christian and Eddie Lang and by scores of important musicians in nearly every genre since that time. John D’Angelico copied his first archtop guitars

From Broadcaster to Telecaster

Fender Broadcaster
with Amplifier
Fender Electric Instrument Company
Fullerton, California
1950 

The Broadcaster, Fender's first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar, initially was derided by competitors as too simple and lacking in craftsmanship. Yet everything about its patented practical design, such as the bolt-on neck, was optimal for production in large quantities.

This guitar, serial number 27, was one of the first Broadcasters sold. In 1951, due to a trademark infringement claim, the model's name was changed to Telecaster in honor of another popular invention—television.

The many famous artists who have played the Telecaster, such as Jimmy Bryant, Buck Owens, Keith Richards, and Bruce Springsteen, propelled it to the status of a classic.

XI TELECASTER DELUXE GUITAR FOR SALE

One of the most desireable guitars in tele category is the XI Tele Deluxe !!!

The real sound of Jimi Page, Keith Richards, Andy Summers and more in one guitar which is a really workhorse!

• 3-Color Sunburst,
• Body Alder Neck 1-Piece Maple
• Modern “C” Shape
  Fingerboard Rosewood, 9.5" Radius (241 mm)
• No. of Frets 21 Medium Jumbo Frets
• Pickups 1 Custom Vintage Style Single-Coil
• Pickups 2 Seymour Dunkan – Seth Lover PAF Humbucker
• Volume, Master Tone Pickup Switching
• 3-Position Silver Blade:
• Position 1. Bridge Pickup
• Position 2. Bridge and Neck Pickups
• Position 3. Neck Pickup Bridge
• Vintage Style Strings-Thru-Body Tele® Bridge with 3 Threaded Steel Barrel Saddles
• Machine Heads Vintage Style Tuning Machines Hardware Chrome Pickguard
• 3-Ply Mint Green Scale Length 25.5” (648 mm) Width at Nut 1.625” (41.3 mm)
• Unique Features Double-Bound Body,
• “C” Shape Maple Neck,
• Knurled Chrome Control Knobs,
• Vintage Tinted Neck,
• White Pearloid Dot Position Inlays,
• “Top-Hat” Blade Switch Tip,
• Synthetic Bone Nut
• Strings ELIXIR, (.009 to .042)
• PRICE: 1.100,00 $
• SHIPPING WORLDWIDE

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Prices from 50 $ (telecaster style - stratocaster style pickguard) price includes the pickguard (3 ply)
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ERIC CLAPTON "Blackie Story"

The year was 1970, and after years playing several
different guitar makes and models, Eric
Clapton, the British bluesman, began searching
for his next muse.
Eventually, he ended up in the Sho-Bud guitar
shop, a small music store in Nashville. There he
found a rack of vintage Fender Teles and Strats.
He was astonished to find that each instrument
was for sale for a mere $100. He bought six of
the instruments and, upon returning to England,
gave three of the guitars as gifts to George
Harrison, Pete Townshend and Steve Winwood;
keeping the remaining three for himself.
After playing each one, Clapton decided to do
something he’d never done before—to
build one “ultimate” instrument out of the best
parts of each Strat. He began by selecting a ’56
alder body finished in black nitrocellulose lacquer.
He chose a one-piece, hard V-shaped maple
neck from a ’57; the pickups and hardware
were pulled and installed. Clapton knew that
by tampering with each of the vintage
instruments, he was lessening their value;
what he didn’t know then was that the resulting
instrument – which he affectionately nicknamed,
“Blackie,” due to its finish – would follow
him through some of his most creative and
successful periods.
Blackie quickly became Clapton’s favorite
instrument, and would be his main guitar
during one of his most prolific periods,
1973 to 1985. He introduced Blackie to
the world on Jan. 13, 1973, at the Eric
Clapton Rainbow Concert—an all-star
performance at London’s Rainbow
Theater that later yielded the Eric
Clapton’s Rainbow Concert album.
Clapton returned to the studio with Blackie
in tow to record his second solo album. 461
Ocean Boulevard yielded one of his most recognizable
hits, the Bob Marley-penned “I Shot the
Sheriff.” The album flew to number one and reestablished
Clapton’s artistry and status among
rock’s elite. He remained highly prolific throughout
the rest of the ’70s and into the ’80s,
recording 13 solo albums from 1973 to 1985, all
with Blackie.
While each album had its merits, few of his recordings—
solo or otherwise—match the popularity of
1977’s Slowhand. The album cover featured a photo
of Clapton playing Blackie, and featured several of
his biggest hits, including “Wonderful Tonight,” “Lay
Down Sally” and “Cocaine,” and a tour-de-force guitar
solo on “The Core.”
In addition to Clapton’s studio recordings, Blackie
was also heard live as part of some of the most
monumental rock concerts of all time, including
the star-studded 1983 ARMS benefit tour, featuring
Ronnie Lane, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Steve
Winwood, Joe Cocker and members of the
Rolling Stones, and Live Aid in 1985. Eventually
Blackie would be auctioned off in 2004 to benefit
the Crossroads Centre, Antigua—a charity founded
by Clapton. It sold for $959,500, making it the
most valued guitar ever to have been sold at auction
at the time.
For the Tribute Series Eric Clapton Blackie
Stratocaster, the Fender Custom Shop has recreated
the legendary instrument down to the last
detail. From the worn-to-the-wood body, the
neck reshaped by Clapton’s own hand, the
unmistakable cigarette burns on the headstock to
the world-weary “Duck Brothers” flight case,
every historical detail is recreated. All the parts,
pickups and electronics are aged and matched to
the unique specifications of Blackie, right down
to the flaked-off finish, which was lovingly filled
in with pen ink—just like the original.

Roy Buchanan's - 53' Nancy Tele

Nancy's bridge pickup never would give up its OHM reading - not even for Roy or Danny Gattons Tech..etc..
the ohm meter always stayed blank when trying to read that pickup!... and yet it was LOUD and working - just like it is currently today,
and so whatever else was going on inside the coil was also responsible for that high treble and unusual AM Transistor Radio type tone,, it also enhanced the harmonics! & made the Tone knob act way different then while your on the neck pickup.. it makes the tone knob way easier to do swells - as if the sweep is drastically changed while in Bridge Position.

However.. all this Buchanan Tone-Chasin' really depends on if your after Roy's style?, or Nancy's tone? = HUGE difference! IMHO..

I'm about ready to blow the bubble off of Nancy's Bridge Tone secret... but I really have not decided to _release it publicly?_ or keep it under my hat and for my new customers..??

Mainly because It's taken me 8 years of really CARING and always testing and trying to get "Nancy's tones, and to get them "Right on the mark..
all these years of R&D I've endured here - when no one else in the manufacturing world seemed to really care at all if they got it _Dead Right_ or not..
I did all this R&D over these years - because I've always felt Nancy was the best sounding Tele ever used on recordings! and its only fair that its made available to us players who really-really know and understand the truth and want that sound.. and not just a close proximity..etc..
With a little practice most guys can cover Roy's style.. BUT NO ONE HAS EVER NAILED "Nancy' Tone"... or offered a 100% real version of it, I know I've been thru _Running Changes_ and was always a step closer then whats out there.. but that was NEVER good enough for me.. but for that time being Closer was much better then being further away - and that worked well for for me and my 2324 pickup product customers... ( Closer was cool )
but DEAD on was the quest!..

As for R&D with me, its not half way or 50%... that was never ever good enough with me.. its got to be 100% or I do not stop R&D... or stop making _Running Changes_ to my 2324- aka "The Real Nancy" product here.

Well... GREAT NEWS.. its actually ( out of the blue) gone and hit 100% - just a few weeks back and a few customers got the recent _Running Changes_ added into their Nancy orders here..

keep in mind - Nancy's bridge pickup NEVER EVER ( while Roy owned it) gave a Ohm Reading...there's always been something _screwball_ going on inside that pickup... its the pickup causing the _Unusual sound_ takes _no genius_ to figure that out, once you plug her in and listen _ U get it_
so did a big crowd at the Vintage show in 2004 when I first Plugged and Played Nancy.. they knew _nothing_ they did not know who Roy was, They did not know anything about Roy's Nancy_ etc... and all day long they all blew past me while I played numerous other 50's Tele's that day at the show.. same licks same chops all day.. yet when I played Nancy they gathered around and would not leave ( even came from the back of the room)
and I was playing WORSE then I had all day = why?... well to tell ya the truth... I was scared/shocked,,, etc.. all that stuff... just to even be holding Nancy was ghostly - let alone playing her thru a little white tolex 12" speaker Gibson vintage amp amp.. with a huge crowd starting to form around me, as I was positioned behind a table and setting in a chair ..

She was like holding a real ghost in my lap.. I was totally freak-in!
I was feelin' her vibe too.. shes almost human like.. ( like a golden voiced angel that was being let out of her Glass Jail for the first time in 10 years - her and Roy were a Team - I do not care what anyone says she really did HELP Roy too better ease into all that outer-space style he pulled off and he dang well knew it too.. he knew she helped him and he knew people liked to hear that guitar.. she lends you that direction,and it happens that fast.. shes that different and awe-inspiring,,etc.. and that's really a true fact) (maybe unknown? but very true!)
... gosh...that whole day was very dreamy to me.. it still is when I recall the turn of events that lead me there --and what all transpired and ultimately lead to the Owner of Nancy getting her out of that - Glass Case - and letting me actually have a go on her!...

I mean lets face - it in a POLL ( even today) she always gets top billing as the best sounding Tele ever made, and were talking on the very same planet we all live on..

Nancy also has a .1 cap in series full time at the switch connecting the two pickups thru it no matter where its switched.. ( Nancy has no two pups On option on the switch - its just neck-neck-bridge)

And after you hear her, please then try to convince yourself that she was stock or normal.. or miraculously Roy's Fingers were all that was responsible to get her sounds... cause that's my fingers on that tape..
he~he!

PS.. amps do matter regardless that Roy used Twins, Deluxe's or on occasion a 70's Pevey Classic 2x12"... best to use a Vibrolux which was always his main amp of choice with Nancy in tow...

Treble 8 or 9
Bright Switch OFF
Bass at 4 to 6
Reverb 2 to 3
Volume 6 to 10

Most Expensive Guitar in the World

“Blackie”, Eric Clapton’s favorite mid-career modified Strat has been surpassed in value and is no longer the most expensive guitar ever, despite that it was bought for $950,000 USD in 2004 by a guitar archaeologist.

The latest most expensive electric guitar in the world dethroned its predecessor at an auction in Doha, Qatar on November 16th, 2005. The Strat was signed by several rock musicians to benefit a tsunami charity, ‘Reach out to Asia’. It was bought one year ago by Qatar’s royal family for a million dollars and donated back to the Asia Program, bringing in $2.7 million USD at the more recent auction, whose attendees included Former President Bill Clinton. Technically, the guitar has generated a total of $3.7 million USD, making it the most expensive guitar yet.
Signees of this expensive electric guitar included Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Pete Townsend, Mark Knopfler, Ray Davis, Liam Gallagher, Ronnie Wood, Tony Iommi, Angus & Malcolm Young, Paul McCartney, Sting, Ritchie Blackmore, Def Leppard, and Bryan Adams, the coordinator of the project.

The most popular guitar

The first Fender solid body guitar

The very first solid body electric guitar the Fender company made was the Esquire - very similar in design to the Tele and introduced in June 1950. By September the Esquire had been discontinued, possibly because it didn't have a truss rod and necks were warping. In October 1950 the Broadcaster appeared, essentially the same guitar, with two pickups and, importantly, a truss rod. The name Esquire appeared again on a single pickup version of the Broadcaster guitar. Due to complaints from the Gretsch company regarding a naming conflict with a drum kit they manufactured, Fender changed the name of the guitar to the Telecaster and it proved such a serendipitously well designed piece of musical equipment that todays Teles are essentially the same as those from the early fifties. A pure case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it." Bruce Springsteen holds an Esquire from 1952 (upgraded with a Telecaster neck pickup) in the famous cover picture from his album Born To Run. He still plays that guitar to this day. And why wouldn't he?

Why Is The Tele So Popular?

George Fullerton, one of the designers at Fender, was also an astute and intuitive marketing mind. He gave an early Broadcaster to Jimmy Bryant, legendary country/jazz/swing guitarist. Fullerton later likened this act to "starting a prairie fire." Bryant loved the guitar. He played it in countless live dates, on TV, on record and amateur and professional guitarists alike did what they have continued to do to this very day ie try to emulate their guitar heroes by playing the same guitar. The Tele is such a versatile guitar that it has been the guitar of choice for many famous players from all kinds of music who have inspired others to pick up the two pickup, single cutaway, slab bodied guitar.

La Bella Figura

But there's more to it than that - Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Francis Rossi, Andy Summers, Muddy Waters the list of famous Tele players goes on forever, so add the non famous players and you've got a mighty long list of musicians who love this instrument. There's something in a Telecaster that you'll find in any object that's exquisitely and perfectly designed, something Italians call "la bella figura". This translates as "beautiful figure" but means more than that - "a beautiful image" is perhaps closer. One look at a Tele is all you need to instinctively recognize the perfection of its design. Play one and you'll realize that the sound it makes can also be classified as "la bella figura". It's a remarkable guitar. The Fender company had an incredible strike rate as regards "la bella figura" - they also came up with a revolutionary electric bass that has remained virtually unchanged to this day.

What About The Stratocaster?

The Strat first appeared in Spring 1954. It has since become one of the most popular and most copied guitars of all time. The reasons are similar to those stated in connection with the Telecaster. It's perfection in sound and design, this time with a touch of the deluxe about it. The guitar was an attempt to improve on the Telecaster, though some will always prefer its slightly more rough hewn sister. The Strat is an asymmetric double cutaway guitar with a contoured body for comfort while playing. It has three pickups in comparison to the Tele's two. It also comes with a very sexy device - the tremelo or whammy bar. Players such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton (famous enough so far?) have made magic with the Stratocaster but the first really high profile guitarist to use them was Buddy Holly. Buddy did for the Strat what Jimmy Bryant did for the Tele. Hank Marvin, Mark Knopfler and John Mayer may have introduced the guitar to legions of fans, but Buddy was so enamoured with his Stratocaster that it is engraved on his tombstone. Now that's true love between a man and a guitar.

Secrets of great guitar players

Frank Zappa

One of the greatest musicians of the 20th century was also a damn good guitar player, he stands alone as a composer, instrumentalist and satirist beyond compare. His name was Frank Zappa. Frank is still IMHO the most underrated musician in the rock and roll era.

Frank was a master at the use of wahwah (check out his early wah solo on Orange County Lumber Truck from the album Weasels Ripped My Flesh), one of his techniques was using the wah as an EQ boost. His feel for the wah was so good he could feel the notch in the pedals throw that would give him (for most part) that growling round sound that Frank was known for during the 70′s. Try it yourself plug in your SG (or any humbucking solidbody guitar) and get your favorite distortion sound. Now go to the neck pickup crank it up but do not roll off the treble as you would if you were trying to cop the Clapton ‘Woman tone’, leave it up full and roll off the highs using the wah. This will give the wah a full spectrum signal for it to work with.

Another Zappa secret was his uncanny ability to combine exotic scales with the pentatonic blues scale. If you watch any videos of Frank playing you will notice he is not in the “normal guitar boxes”. Viva la Frank!!!

Speaking of Frank Zappa, it is well documented that growing up two of his favorite guitarists were Guitar Slim and Johnny Guitar Watson. Frank in a Guitar Player magazine interview said that his favorite guitar solo of all time was Guitar Slims Story of my life. This solo has a tone and approach that is very Zappaesque.

Guitar Slim

One of the secrets of Guitar Slims sound was the fact that he preferred to plug his guitar into a PA amp as opposed to a guitar amp. This was probably a Bogen or Premier. What Slim liked about these amps I am sure was the loudness (I have seen p.a. amps from the early 40′s using 2 6L6′s way before Fender used these tubes for his amps) their high end, and most important their reaction to the signal of his guitar (Slim was reported to be using a Strat and a 52 Les Paul) which gave out more signal than the microphones of that era. End result? Distortion mmmm yummy yummy!!!

Jimmy Page with his Fender Telecaster

How come I don’t sound like Jimmy Page when I play the intro to Heartbreaker when I use my Les Paul? Is it because I don’t own a 59 Burst? What can I do to make my Les Paul sound like Jimmy’s? Well first of all you would have to transform it into a Telecaster. That’s right a Telecaster. Now let me explain how this happened.

A young Jimmy Page was the protégé of British studio legend Big Jim Sullivan. Jim was a member of an elite group of cats who like their American counterparts the “Wrecking Crew” played on most of the hit records of the 60′s recorded in England. The fact is that 95% of the records we grew up listening to in the 60′s were made by the same two dozen or so musicians. The truth is no producer (the music industries version of a movies director) would put his reputation on the line using some prettyboys who were signed because of the haircuts or their trousers. (Rutles 101). This fact by itself is what separates the Beatles, the Stones from everyone else, they were the first truly self contained band.

Now back to Sully, Page and the Tele. Sullivan could be seen weekly in the UK and US as a featured player on the Tom Jones Show. Sullivan was known for his swarthy good looks and his White Telecaster. Being a studio player Jim knew the merits of the Tele, how it cut through the mix and was a safe bet at sessions as far as its versatility. (A side note; there was a guitarist across the pond making ground breaking records with his Telecaster, his name was Joe Messina one of the house guitarists of Motown’s Funk brothers).

When Jimmy took his formidable talent and studio experience to the studio to produce the first Led Zeppelin record Jimmy had an early 60′s rosewood board white Tele in tow just like Big Jims.

Jimmy had already toured with the Yardbirds using the Tele as well as the first go round with Zeppelin in the UK (check out Zep on the DVD Supershow). But Page felt that the Tele was not fat enough sounding for a power trio setup, Jimmy soon switched to the Les Paul for good.

Jimi Hendrix in Studio

Jimi’s tone using the Fuzz boxes of the 60′s. We all know how thin sounding the fuzz boxes of the 60′s were. Whether it’s a Big Muff, an Octavia,or a Tonebender, they were all pretty thin sounding. Jimi Hendrix used all of these at one time or another, yet his tone was mostly pretty fat and round sounding (unless he was looking for a special effect) This leads us to Jimi’s secret tone maneuver.

It’s a really simple one. We all know now that Jimi used Marshall’s most of his career and we also know that Jimi made use of the channel jumper cable (as seen in many of Jimi’s live video’s) Jimi’s trick was to boost the bass sounding channel to even out the thin sound of the fuzz box. This gave Jimi the desired fat tone he was accustomed to when he came up using Fenders and Ampegs. The other benefit was that when Jimi would simply turn down his volume for his rhythm sound it was still quite big sounding. Rarely in the videos I have seen (many) did Jimi ever step on a fuzztone for a lead, when you have seen him go to a pedal for a lead it was to a wah for the tone boost.

Surf guys outboard reverb unit trick. Boy did the surf records of the early to mid 60′s blow my mind. Imagine guitar records with no singing, simple melodies that almost everyone could cop, and tons of self important guitar slinger attitude. I ran into a surf guitar legend years ago and I asked him how he ran his reverb, because I could see that he had something funky going on there as I saw that his guitar was plugged directly into the amp.

He smiled and told me that he and some of the other cats of that era were using a primitive effects loop so to speak. Here’s how they did it.

He ran the guitar into input one of his Showman and then ran a cable from input two to the input of his Fender reverb unit and ran the output of the reverb to the input of channel two (or normal channel). This way he could not only tailor the sound of the unit with the onboard controls he could also utilize the second channels volume and tone controls.

One benefit he did not realize too, was that the guitar running direct into the first channel did not have its dry input signal colored by the reverb unit! This setup is also called the poor mans effects loop

Myths, myths, myths.... and some guitar lies

1. Myth: Les Paul/Leo Fender/Adolph Rickenbacher invented the electric guitar – While all had a very important role in developing the first solid body electric guitars, they were all nearly 50 years late to the party! The first documented application of applying electricity to a guitar goes to U.S. Navy officer George Breed who was granted US Patent no 435679 in 1890 for his “Method of and Apparatus for Producing Musical Sounds by Electricity”. However, his idea was actually the opposite of his later brethren using an electromagnetic field to force a string to vibrate, similar to what the Fernandes Sustainer or Ebow accomplish. You can read more on Breed’s invention by performing a patent search or checking out this excellent article on the instrument and it’s designer: http://polkaboy.typepad.com/polkaholics/2007/12/update-who-inve.html
2. Myth: All the vintage PAFs sound so good due to being hand wound – While there’s no doubt in my mind that a hand wound pickup can sound absolutely fantastic, the man himself, Seth Lover inventor of the humbucking pickup, only hand wound the prototype PAFs. All of the pickups which made it into production guitars were wound on a machine using an automatic traverse. However, before the 60’s there were no counters on the machines and they simply wound them until the bobbin was “full”. This variance in winding is likely the cause of the variation in tone between many early PAF’s. Of course, there is even some debate over what hand wound actually means as some will define guidance of the wire by hand even when fed by machine as hand winding. You can read an entire interview by Seymour Duncan of Seth Lover describing how it was done in the old days here: http://www.provide.net/~cfh/seth.html
3. Myth: A “breathing” nitro finish is the key to good tone – If you think you’re the key to your Fender guitar’s tone is its nitro finish, check the date. From 1955 until the late 60’s Fender sealed their guitars by submerging them in a vat of Homoclad; a heavy, oil based sealer product from Sherwin Williams. From the late 60’s into the mid 80’s, all Fenders had a polyester undercoat regardless of the final finish. From the 80’s until very recently all Fenders additionally used a poly based top coat. So the vast majority of those glorious tones made by our heroes on Fender guitars were made on poly coated instruments. You can see pictures of the Homoclad submerging process in Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars book as well as read a very informative post by Mark Kendrick from Fender here: http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=2000&topic_number=50113
4. Myth: Eddie Van Halen invented two hand tapping - Eddie Van Halen single handedly made two hand tapping a fashionable and must know technique in the 80’s and is routinely incorrectly credited with inventing it. The earliest recorded examples were by the late Jimmie Webster in 1958 who 6 six years earlier in 1952 published a instruction manual for the technique titled 'Touch Method for Electric and Amplified Spanish Guitar'. However, Jimmie learned this technique from none other than Harry DeArmond, inventor of the first commercially available attachable guitar pickup in the 1930’s, who created the technique to show off the sensitivity of his pickups. You can hear some Jimmie Webster recordings at a posthumous tribute MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/jimmiewebster
5. Myth: Good Tone – While I can’t argue that everyone has their tonal center by which they measure what they hear, everyone has their own subjective opinion of what defines a good tone. From a dual humbucking Dean into a solid state Randall to a vintage Tele into an all tube tweed Fender, there have been literally millions of variations of what a guitar sounds like and each sound has their fans. Therefore, there can not be a single universal good tone but rather only tone. It’s up to the player to make it good or move on…

XI

Half truth.... a lie !!!

Going back to the early days of 50's, there were men with big courage in thw music industry.

Many groups, many engineers, many manufactures were doing their best not only for profit but basicly because of their desire of success.

Leo Fender, Les Paul and many, many others were just the beggining. Small laboratories with lot of fun and first of all... desire. Things have been change year by year, the small labs are now big factories and the new bosses just see the numbers and the increase of profits because of a good marketing. I am not the person that judging all this stuff but only a man who started a relationship with music and sounds before 30 years and still running.

This is an open blog... You can write whatever your opinion is, and i quarrantie to you that i will never stop you.

You are gonna read in this blog stories that never been told about guitars, players and more that never been told before.

You will see amazing guitar instruments with the very first good sound of early years and maybe some of them will be yours. So stay tuned... you won't loose!!!

XI GUITARS

This is how the story begins...