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Post by peterbower on May 15, 2009 22:07:59 GMT
Hi Charlie Good question and i have no idea why Hank never used a Vox Long Tom although rumour has it that he did try one out. Out of all the old tape echo machines, the Long Tom is my favourite. It doesn't quite give you those early shads echoes but a great sounding echo never the less.
Peter
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Post by jacques on May 17, 2009 14:38:12 GMT
The best Strat I have ever had and still have now isn't a real Fender and it sounds good through just about any decent amp. It has thin cellulose finish and is probably the most untidy guitar I ever had (it was built to look like a relic), but it sounds wonderful. Hi Charlie, what strat might that be? something you've built yourself? or a nash or so?
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Post by Charlie Hall on May 17, 2009 15:01:26 GMT
Hi Jacques, It was built by a friend for himself, not for me, but I liked it so much when I tried it I bought it from him. The body and neck are by Allparts. All nitro cellulose finish in Fiesta Red with relic look. Vintage style hardware, which was either secondhand or somehow artificially aged. It was fitted with David White Old Glories pickups which sounded good with the heavier strings that were fitted when I bought it, but I found that they sounded much thinner with the thinner string gauges, basically 10s, and 3 tremolo springs that I use, so I fitted Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s pickups which sound excellent for me. I also did a little other work to tidy up the playability and modified the wiring to add tone control on the bridge pickup. It is the best sounding Strat I ever had, and easily gets all the classic Strat tones from Buddy Holly, Shadows, Lynard Skynard (Sweet Home Alabama as an example). It even sounds good with almost any amp, very handy if I am playing somewhere when the backline is supplied by the venue. It is currently being re-fretted and I hope it hasn't lost any magic when I get it back. Regards, Charlie
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Post by jacques on May 17, 2009 15:13:43 GMT
Hi Charlie,
What you describe sound like a Nash ;-) I have one, great stuff. It really " sings" .. I think, in your search for "that sound" you really need a strat with a (professional) set-up. Nashes are great out-of-the-box (if not; don't buy it!). It really should sing, like you say, sound good acoustically. It shouldn't be a dead piece of wood.. It should shake if hit well ;-).. Last week I tuned my nash half a step down, and somehow lost the bell sound on the g-string.. Tuned it back and there it was again.. Weird, but prooves to me a good set-up is key.
No bell sound, no sweet echo, right?
Secondly, for " that sound" ; it looks like Hank Marvin is hitting the strings quite softly. Is that right?
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Post by Charlie Hall on May 17, 2009 15:40:57 GMT
Hi Jacques, I always do my own setups but for any major work like re-fretting I use Richard Bartrum who lives not far from me. He is an excellent luthier and builds many fine acoustic instruments too. He is also a very good player, and when I see him play his jazz style it makes me feel like not playing much in front of him, although at one time I had learnt a piece that was a similar style to a jazz part and played some of that. I have forgotten how to play it now, though. Richard likes a higher action than I do, so I usually find that I have to finish off any set up work that he does to suit my own taste. I think you are right, the sound of the guitar can translate to a good or bad sounding echo. I don't think that Hank was picking the strings very softly on many of the older tunes. Now, I think he has many ways of picking the strings and seems to do it in a way to totally control his dynamics. It is possibly one reason why some of us think he doesn't have the same sound as he used to have. Regards, Charlie
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Post by peterbower on May 17, 2009 18:05:05 GMT
Hi all
I can vouch for how good Charlie's guitar sounds as i have heard him play it on a couple of occasions, once with his band and at home.
One small factor that contributed to Hanks early sound was his guitars action and his playing style. Hank had a pretty low action and he was quite heavy with his picking. This gave a slight 'buzz' to some of the notes which the echo chamber picked up and reproduced faithfully. A good example of this is Man Of Mystery. There are other examples from that period, if you listen carefully.
I have an 84 Tokai Strat that is a copy of a 64 Fender Strat with a rosewood veneered fret board and a steel sustain block. Its in Torino red which is very similar to Hank's/Cliff's first Strat. It sounds more convincing to me any way than some custom shop Strats that cost thousands. I will never sell it because i doubt i will ever match the sound.
Peter
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Post by jacques on May 18, 2009 8:16:36 GMT
so I fitted Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s pickups which sound excellent for me Hi Charlie, you fitted those in neck, mid and bridge? Or bridge only? What amp do you normally use? Nashes do come with a set of lollars (blondes) with a hotter pickup in the bridge. But i never got it to play Shadows.. But it does sound very good. I am at the point of learning how to set a guitar up properly (using books ;-) . Using an old Squier to practice . Wish someone lived close by to show me the tricks of the trade. peterbower: I always hear good things on Tokai. I think you're right on not aiming on a cs strat.. There's more out there, and maybe a lot cheaper aswell... These last post show btw that you don't need a "fender logo" to achieve good sounds ;-)
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Post by Charlie Hall on May 18, 2009 9:06:43 GMT
Hi Jacques, The Custom Shop Fat 50's that I fitted are a complete set. I like my Fender Bassman 59 reissue amp. I modified it to be closer to an original 59 Bassman. It is a good amp for rock and roll music, but not so good for Shadows music. At the moment I am using an amp that has a circuit based on the Standel 25L15 that was used by Chet Atkins. I have modified it to my own taste and I am very pleased with it. It has a bigger sound because it has a 15" speaker. As for custom shop instruments, I have seen few that impressed me. In some cases they weren't as good as the regular production models. I think a far better idea is to build with available parts from various manufacturers. That way, if something needs changing or modifying later, it will not devalue the instrument. Regards, Charlie
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Post by peterbower on May 18, 2009 10:44:52 GMT
Hi Jacques
Not having a genuine Fender has never bothered me that much. I have 2 Tokai Strats one is the Torino red one as i described and it used to belong to Ray Davies of the 'Kinks'. All the wiring is the old cloth covered ready tinned wiring and the switch is a copy of Fender's old 3 way switch. The head stock logo is the old 'Spaghetti logo.
My other one is a much later model in 2 tone sunburst and maple neck with the modified head stock shape which they were forced to do after Fender sued Tokai.
Both these guitars sound extremely close to Hank's early sound and would never part with them. Peter
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