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Les,
Thanks for the write up on his gear! I'd really like to see him play
someday.
Bill Aqua
--- In , Leslie Fradkin <lfradkin@e...>
wrote:
> Supertwang,
>
> "I'm still going to have to disagree with you as far as how
important
> > strings are to one's sound."
>
> I do not disagree with you on how important strings are to one's
sound.
> I simply said that I can't use heavy strings to get MY sound. I
don't
> doubt that heavy strings contribute very much to the sound you
prefer.
>
> "That's really cool your playing with Eddie. Could you tell us what
> > kind of gear he's using lately? Does he still use the Jaguar? "
>
> On to Eddie's gear. He likes to play Strats with 010 guage and
modified
> pickups, usually EMG's. Pickup noise drives him crazy, as it does
> distract from his tone. He, to my knowledge, no longer uses the
Jaguar.
> I'm not sure if he still owns it, because I've not seen it when
I've
> been over to his house. He has a lot of guitars, mostly, Fender
Strats.
> But he still owns the Showman rig from those days although he
nows
> likes to play with two Fender Quad Reverb Amps (4-12"'s in each).
He
> also plays thru rack gear, usually, some kind of tube preamp to
warm up
> the sound. I'll ask him what brand it is. He brought a lot of gear
to
> the Phil Dirt KFJC show that we did in June 1999. We needed a whole
> SUV, just for his stuff! :-)
>
> "That's great that you are trying to navigate into some new sonic
> > territories. However, I've heard Eddie's newer version of "Mr.
> > Rebel" (the on that Phil Tiki posted for us all to hear) and I
have
> > to say it pales in comparison to the original."
>
> Your statement contradicts itself. Eddie & I both believe in
uncharted
> territory. That philosophy is one of the prime reasons he's doing
this
> project with me. We do his old hits live, BTW. We just update them
a
> little bit for modern ears. We performed "Mr. Rebel" and "Squadcar"
at
> the KFJC show. They were extremely well received and sounded great.
> That's because we played them with passion and heart, which to us,
> matters more than the gear we choose to use.
>
> "I guess I'm a sucker
> > for that old surf tone."
>
> I love it as well.
>
> "You sound like yourself on all the guitars you try because your
> > sound just might not be that "old surf sound." "
>
> You're absolutely right! I don't want to sound like the old surf
bands.
> That turf is best left to them IMHO.
>
> My CD's prove your point. I just haven't done it with heavy
strings. In
> fact, if I had, I'd sound just like the old surf bands. Which,
IMHO,
> would be pointless.
>
>
> Regards,
> Les
>
>
>
>
>
> On Monday, September 6, 2004, at 06:39 PM, supertwangreverb wrote:
>
> >
> >> Well, Eddie Bertrand plays with me on my new CD's so the scoop is
> > that
> >> he now plays with 010's. And he sounds the same (when he wants
to)
> > as
> >> he ever did in the old days. Eddie and I have discussed this ad
> >> nauseum. Mostly, we're after new sonic territory which should be
> >> obvious to all who hear what we've done.
> >
> > Les,
> > That's really cool your playing with Eddie. Could you tell us
what
> > kind of gear he's using lately? Does he still use the Jaguar?
> > That's great that you are trying to navigate into some new sonic
> > territories. However, I've heard Eddie's newer version of "Mr.
> > Rebel" (the on that Phil Tiki posted for us all to hear) and I
have
> > to say it pales in comparison to the original. I guess I'm a
sucker
> > for that old surf tone. I think there are alot of places one can
go
> > with that sound that haven't been explored yet. The Treblemakers
are
> > a band that come to mind when I think of a newer band that sounds
> > sonically like the older bands.
> >
> >
> > I'm still going to have to disagree with you as far as how
important
> > strings are to one's sound. I'd really like to hear Eddie playing
> > his old hits with the lighter strings, and I can only imagine what
> > James Burton would sound like trying to chicken pick on my Jaguar
> > strung with flatwound 13s(obviouly better than me). I do agree
90% of
> > our sound comes from our hands but strings play a pretty big part
in
> > it. You sound like yourself on all the guitars you try because
your
> > sound just might not be that "old surf sound." You said yourself
yo
> > can't get the sound you want out of flatwound 13s.
> >
> > Bill Aqua
> > www.freewebs.com/reluctantaquanauts
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >> "For example Dick Dale's "Night Rider" that just sounds right
being
> >> double picked on heavy strings being forced through a reverb
tank."
> >>
> >> You're right, Dick gets a very large tone on that tune. But
that's
> > his
> >> sound. If I copied it, there would be little reason for the likes
> > of me
> >> in instro circles.
> >>
> >> " I've always thought that the guitarists who I enjoy that use
> > lighter
> >> strings have a weaker sound than those I listen to who use
heavier
> >> strings."
> >>
> >> It depends on your specific taste. We gravitate toward defending
> > that
> >> which we admire. We perceive our perceptions. By taking Dick's
> > double
> >> picking and mixing it up with neo-classical riffing from
Pagannini,
> >> Mozart, Bach and Yngwie, I've moved into my own turf (...err,
surf)
> >> with what I'm doing. Blend that in with Ventures melodicism and a
> > dash
> >> of Jeff Beck and you've got what I'm doing. The shift and
sacrifice
> > to
> >> accomodate all these things at once makes heavy strings for me a
> >> non-starter. For someone who likes the older trad style, heavy is
> > the
> >> way to go for nailing that sound. For my sound, quite the
opposite.
> >>
> >> "I agree, alot of tone does come from your hands, but still I
> > cannot
> >> imagine some surf songs sounding the same on lighter strings."
> >>
> >> I sound the same no matter which guitar I use and generally,
> > regardless
> >> of type of string. This is because I have my own sound. As does
> > Dick
> >> who picked up MY guitar that night in Denver and sounded the same
> > on
> >> mine as he does on his.My setup was, arguably, less suitable for
> > his
> >> level of hand attack but that's because he needs that big string
to
> >> acheive the sound HE'S after. (Of course, he broke a string
> > trying,
> >> but I forgave him for that! :-) I do prefer nickel wound because
> > they
> >> last and don't exaggerate finger noise. (Fender 150's to be
exact.)
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Les
> >>
> >>
> >> On Monday, September 6, 2004, at 03:02 PM, supertwangreverb
wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>>> Dear Supertwang,
> >>>> I swapped strings to get lighter sets as well. That became
> >>> especially
> >>>> important as the 60's moved along and blusier styles took hold.
> >>>>
> >>>> Like I said in another post, my palm muting skill (which I
> > learned
> >>> thru
> >>>> many years of messing about with pedal steel guitar) has served
> > me
> >>> well
> >>>> in achieving very fast double picking speeds on lighter
strings.
> >>> This
> >>>> was necessary to do both surf technique and bending on the same
> >>> guitar.
> >>>> I also use knuckle blocking for keeping strings under control
at
> >>> those
> >>>> speeds.
> >>>
> >>> That's pretty good that you can do that Les. I agree, alot of
> > tone
> >>> does come from your hands, but still I cannot imagine some surf
> > songs
> >>> sounding the same on lighter strings. For example Dick
> > Dale's "Night
> >>> Rider" that just sounds right being double picked on heavy
strings
> >>> being forced through a reverb tank. Also alot of Eddie Bertrand
> >>> stuff. For example his solos on "Scratch" would sound different
> > with
> >>> lighter strings. As much as you can say that tone comes from
ones
> >>> hands there is something to be said for using heavy strings and
> >>> hitting them hard, exspecially in the surf genre. I've always
> >>> thought that the guitarists who I enjoy that use lighter strings
> > have
> >>> a weaker sound than those I listen to who use heavier strings.
I
> >>> love James Burton and his playing was ahead of its time,
however,
> > his
> >>> tone wasn't really all that great. But that's just an opinion I
> >>> guess.
> >>>
> >>> Bill Aqua
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> .
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> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> >
> >
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> >
