Jack Pearson's guitar collection. Great interview with him as well. Very humble guy
I was impressed that Jack speaks so highly of the Indonesian Fender (Squier) models. My American-made snobbiness has led me to ignore them. I chose not to buy a couple of them at a recent estate sale. I'll certainly be more open minded them next time I see one.
Fun fact! Jimmy Page's Les Paul was purchased from Joe Walsh.
https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/forgotten-guitar-jimmy-page-offers-close-look-his-number-1-les-paul
@robertdee According to everything I have read, the pickups were swapped between the Goldtop and the Cherry Top.
The HotLanta bourbon/ darkburst has frets embedded in the back which supposedly was done by Twiggs after Duane's death when he had it refretted. He did not want to throw them away so put them on the back of the guitar.
Gibson did a small batch of Allman HotLanta signature models which go for big money now.
Here is a prototype being sold by a vendor in Japan for crazy big money
https://www.ebay.com/itm/265472886948?hash=item3dcf6ac8a4:g:ikwAAOSw69ZhyoG5
Here are great articles on the Bursts and Goldtop I post here often.
@porkchopbob Oh yes!! I would love to have one of those replicas. I connected to hearing Duane Allman in a most spiritual and profound way. He just grabbed me on Statesboro Blues, the first thing I saw him and the others do live and it was totally and completely unexpected!! I was impressed with Jimi Hendrix in 1968 when it saw him open for the Monkeys. Had never saw anyone play like that and it was so LOUD!!!!!! But I was impressed much like I would seeing a slick high wire act or an impressive magician. Nobody had gotten into me like Duane did and I didn't even realize a guitarist could. As that first show progressed, the entire band hooked me and 52 YEARS later I'm still hooked!!
Yes I would like one of those small replicas because of Duane and a Les Paul is my favorite guitar. But in my later years I came to understand what guys like Elvin Bishop said about makes and types of guitars. He said we all have our favorites we own but to Elvin it's the name of the person who's belly is up against the back of the guitar that is more important that what make it is:) I always thought Dickey had a very similar sound no matter what brand. I thought Dickey sounded like Dickey when he switched to a Paul Reed Smith. Surprisingly Dickey didn't stay with the PRS long. I like how it looked and sounded But Goldie was his main guitar for over 20 years. Dickey would play a red Les Paul or that red Ibanez Artist he used some when Charlie Daniels was on the bill or sitting in. And I think I know why! " People down in Georgia come from near and far to hear Richard Betts picking on that RED guitar" he he.
@bill_graham So when Derek and Warren play Duane's Goldtop it doesn't have the pickups it had when Duane Allman played it?
Yes the pickups in the Goldtop were moved to the 1959 Cherry Sunburst because Duane thought they were better. But it could have been the wood in the Goldtop was better.
Anybody familiar with the "black logo Squier SERIES Fender strats"?
https://spinditty.com/instruments-gear/The-Fender-Squier-Series-Stratocaster-Not-A-Typical-Squier
There are a lot of semi-myths and partial lies floating around about these things. Basically (in my mind) these are Fender made in Mexico Stratocasters that were built before the Squier (or is it Squire?) models were introduced. According to the article that I posted - which jibes with a friend who was a Fender rep' for 10 years (but kinda denied by the current Fender administration) - these models were assembled in Mexico using surplus American necks and bodies. In the part of the headstock that usually reads "original contoured body design" (or something) - it says "Squire Series". This, and the logo is in bold black as opposed to gold.
I picked mine up about 5 years ago for nearly nothing. My aforementioned "American snobbiness" had me find a loaded American pickguard (American Standard model) and swap it out. The American pickguard is a double-ply (?) one with the black trim. I did some recording when the guitar had the stock pickups/pickguard (with something called Emerson wiring?) - the end result sounded so good (relative to my $hitty playing) that wonder if I made a mistake in swapping it out. I still have the Emerson wired pickguard - not sure if the neck pickup is original to the guitar. Anyway, this ended up being one of the best Strat's I've ever played. I love the maple neck!
Here's mine before the pickguard transplant.
@robertdee Yeah, Dickey always sounds like Dickey. A lot of it is just in the fingers, but Dickey always used JBLs in the Marshalls, which is pretty distinctive.
Dickey's PRS was one of the early McCarty models, which was designed to sound more like a Gibson Les Paul. I read PRS made it even thicker than their normal McCarty models to get it even closer to a LP. I read he also swapped out the PRS pickups for the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates he had in his LP.
I actually had a cheap Les Paul at the time, and decided to save up for a PRS Custom 24. I still have it, but never liked the way it sounded so a couple years ago I got a LP Studio which I really like. Just something about the hum of a Gibson.
I liked Dickey's tone on the PRS, but it definitely didn't have the sustain Goldie did.
@bill_graham They have a blue one at the big guitar store here for $125.00. Looks just exactly like a Stratocaster except on the headstock it says "SQUIRE by Fender".
But they always discourage someone from buying a Squire unless it's someone about 14 and their folks are buying their first guitar. The Epiphone line of discount electrics by Gibson are way better according to them. And they don't cost as much as their Gibson big brothers but they are more expensive than a Squire by Fender.
Jack Pearson plays Squires he orders from Singapore. He claims he only puts Fender Stratocaster volume and tone knobs and pickup switches and the frets and neck, tuners, bridge etc are stock!! Hard to believe and Jack is always smiling when he says that so I don't know if he is joking.
@porkchopbob Oh cool. I remember now you said some time back you had a Paul Reed Smith. I didn't know Dickey had it swapped out the Pearly Gates by Seymour Duncan with the PRS pickups. Didn't know it was made thicker to lean close to a LP.
I did read some years ago, maybe you did too, that Paul Reed Smith took note of the fact that Les Pauls and single coil Strats were the guitars most rock and blues players wanted. And research showed musicians who could afford it would have a Les Paul and a single coil Strat and would switch around depending on what sound they wanted on a particular song.
Paul Reed Smith figured if he could market a guitar that threaded that needle right in the middle, he could sell his guitars to musicians who liked the idea of having ONE guitar that fit between the Humbuckers and the single coil. I'm not sure that worked. Plus today Fender puts a variety of pickups in if you spec it. Jimmy Herring likes PRS and Stats but he ordered his recent Strats with just TWO pickups both Humbuckers and it was factory built.
Dickey said in an interview I read in 1994 he switched to PRS because two decades of sweat, smoke and travel had taken its toll on Goldie. But not long he told a guy doing an interview he was mad at Gibson for ignoring him so he went with PRS. But just the next year he had a Gibson ES-335. But maybe he was still signaling because it wasn't a Les Paul. Then Dickey had a Hot Rail pickup installed in the neck pickup of his old 1956 Stratocaster and a shell pick guard which are prettier than the plain white or black and that was his main guitar for four years. Years before Dickey said he thought a Strat was a hell of a rhythm guitar and he sometimes used one in the studio.
I haven't a clue why Dickey was mad at Gibson for 6 years but when they did a Dickey Betts signature Les Paul Goldtop in 2001, Dickey was happy and playing a Les Paul again. The 56 Strat became his slide guitar. It must have been they did signature Les Pauls for some players or player who hadn't been around as long. Got me?
@rusty Here is this guy talking about how cheap the Squire is built. He had one he bought for $45.00 dollars. And he goes over some of the cheapness it has compared to it's big brother Fender Stratocaster.
And here is Jack Pearson playing a Squire by Fender Bullet Stratocaster he bought in Singapore for $120.00 !!!! In a interview he said he did upgrade the pickup switch, tone and volume knobs but the rest is stock. Hard to believe.
@robertdee yeah the PRS is designed, both sound, body, and neck, to be halfway between a Les Paul and a Strat. A lot of players like them (Herring, Grissom, Santana, Tom Johnston) but I think they are a jack of all trades, master of none. I recall reading that Dickey wasn't happy with the highs and he lows on the PRS, which tracks in comparison to a Les Paul.
Strats have such a good separation and high end that they make for good funky rhythm guitars. Gibsons can be really chunky because of the sustain and low end, why you get a lot of power chord players using LPs or SGs. Pretty sure Dickey used the Strat on the studio "No One to Run With".
@robertdee The import models do cut corners on wiring and electronics. Tuners eventually wear out. I'm not sure, but I think the recent American Fenders use imported tuning heads. Probably the biggest cut is made on the type of wood used. Most all of the "cheapies" are painted a solid color. Fancy mabled/flamed woods are used in more expensive guitars where they're stained over so that the flame shows through. They use cheaper, more common woods too. My red one is Poplar - as opposed to ash or mahogany. Perhaps to prove that cheaper woods are alright (perhaps, I said) - they made a Stratocaster out of paper a while back. I think it came in a mahogany case. 😉 Hey! If an Indonesian Squier works for Jack Pearson ...
@porkchopbob Yes I read he did. On the driving rhythm track Dickey said he used an old Strat he had had around for sometime. But he said he used Goldie on all the leads and didn't use his new PRS until they hit the road. This was 1994.
That song was written in the early 80's for something else. Maybe an album that didn't come out. Nancy in the Dreams box set was one that never got released until the 1989 Dreams box set.
I think they were going to record a Bob Dylan song to be the lead track on Where It All Begins but Kirk West brought in a tape which had Nobody Left To Run With on it recorded something like 12 years earlier. Everyone supposedly liked it so they did it instead.
Then after the blow up in 2000 Butch on his blog was boiling about that album and how much he disliked Mean Woman Blues. And that Warren showed them a much better song, Rocking Horse. But Dickey got hot and said we are not doing that, we are doing Mean Woman Blues. Butch said Where It All Begins was one more album where Dickey hogged all the tracks and some were not good songs just to get the lions share of the writing money.
I loved Butch and his drumming in the band. But I sure got tired of him ragging on Dickey which never really let up. You posted an interview with Butch and Dickey together and Butch even complimented Dickey on Ramblin' Man lyrics. Another I found Dickey had Butch check his nose before the interview officially began but it was already rolling. Cocaine residue I guess.
I sometime wonder if Butch had been that mad at Dickey all the way back to the early 1970's??!! Butch ragged on Gregg back then. In an interview about the difficulty getting their follow up to Brothers and Sisters recorded, Butch said " You can't depend on Gregg Allman for anything. And I mean anything!"
I don't know. I think it may have gotten started in the early 1990s when Butch got upset because Gregg and Dickey made a pile of money off the Decade of Hits CD released in 1991 and it sold two million copies and Butch got nothing. Then when he created business opportunities for himself involving the band, Dickey kept voting no. I could be wrong but that may have been the beginning of Butch on the outs with Dickey. Oh well it all water over the dam and too late to fix it.
@robertdee "No One to Run With" was written (with John Prestia) for BHLT. It might have been written early, but that was the first band that performed it. They cut a demo album in hopes of getting a record deal, but I don't think it's ever been leaked to the public. I assume that demo was what the band was listening to during the Where It All Begins sessions.
"Nancy" was for Dickey's aborted country album, Night, the demos are available on YouTube. I believe Night was recorded in 1981 for Arista while the ABB were still together. At some point he re-recorded "Nancy".
@porkchopbob Yeah BHLT failed to get a record deal. And Gregg was without a lable from 1981 to Epic signing him in 1987. Gregg and Dickey were back playing smaller places and even clubs and bars. That must have been perplexing and disappointing. I remember about 1982 or so reading Gregg filed for bankruptcy.
It's amazing a band with Dickey, Jimmy Hall, Chuck and Butch couldn't get a deal. Jaimoe was in a band that played a small dive in Forsyth, Georgia and was living near poverty. All the fame and fortune and they are back to Second Coming and Hourglass popularity. Well Hourglass had a record deal. It was not a good one but it was one. But when Gregg filed for bankruptcy, one music rag said his partner Dickey Betts was a millionaire and okay.
Then in 1989 I saw the new lineup for the Dreams box set and the arena was almost full with several thousand. Had to have made them feel good to see that.
Thank you for the link to the Nancy sessions. I had heard about Dickey's country album that didn't happen. Gregg even bragged about it in a 1982 or so interview that may still be on YouTube. Plugged Dickey's country album coming out soon and said it was killer.
Good idea for a thread. I always dig watching guitar, amp demos, gear breakdown and etc. I can get lost for hours on You Tube. So many out there would not know where to begin. Andertons always does a good job. Troglys is pretty solid. Any guitar manufacture will have videos of there gear.
Premier Guitar Rig Rundown has a alot of videos . Link below and the latest
https://www.youtube.com/c/Premierguitarofficial
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
This is a good one!
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
This is an older demo. One of my fav amps, great overdriven tones.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
This guy has a good channel and many videos worth checking out.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@robertdee based on everything I have read cherry goldtop has the cherryburst pickups and that guitar now has the goldtop pickups. Duane had them swapped into the cherryburst when he traded the goldtop away.
But the goldtop no longer has the original pickups that were in it when Duane used it on the Layla Sessions. Those pickups are now in the cherryburst.
Here are some good drums ones.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Nigel Tufnel talks gear.
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,
@jszfunk Oh wow. I've been watching a movie on TV. You have a lot of stuff here. I'll have to watch some of it or most of it tomorrow. Too late. I can't burn the candle at both ends anymore. Born 1946 same year as H. D. Allman. Heck some days can't burn it at one end long.
I'm not familiar with Nigel Tufnel. But he has gear to show. Want to see what it is.
Hope there isn't one someday with Keith Richards showing his 3,000 guitars. It would takes hours!!! Zzzzzzzzzzz. What is he doing with 3,000 guitars?
The old black and white footage of the Rolling Stones Keith is usually playing a Les Paul with a Bigsby whammy bar. And when he took his guitar off and smashed a fan in the face with it for running up on the stage,that was a Telecaster. Okay that is enough. Two is fine.
@jszfunk Well I've listened to the John Bonham video a few months ago. And Jeff with Toto and Rosanna. And the one where the guy didn't pass away.Gregg is still living after all last I checked.
But not the last one with Chad and Ian.
Says John Bonham was influenced a lot by jazz drummers Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich but I think Joe Morello was the biggest.
Buddy was the goat of the drummers. Too bad it's not rock and roll.
