Hiall

I was Listenning to GYYYO 1969 tour and i wonder if anybody knows which guitar used MT (and Keith) on each song.I Love that CD.

Cheers
Nic.

There had been a thread about this long ago but let me if I can recall. For Mick it's easy. He used his '63 Gibson SG on every song except Love in Vain, where he he used his '59 Les Paul for the slide bits. Keith would use this same guitar on Honkey Tonk Women. Keith on the other hand used a '59 Les Paul Custom for Jumping jack Flash and Street Fighting Man, a Gibson ES-355 for Midnight Rambler and I think for Little Queenie. For all the rest he used a Dan Armstrong Lucite. I'm working from memory but I'm sure there will those who will correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanjks Chris. So the Guitar in Midnight Rambler is a Gibson ES-345?
It shure sounds Bassy.
Did they get their distortion from pedals or the amp?

I fairly certain it was an ES-355. Keith gets that sound by being him and cranking his Ampeg SVT. No pedals baby!

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ChrisM
For Mick it's easy. He used his '63 Gibson SG on every song except Love in Vain

is that the guitar on the cover?

You mean the SG hung on the donkey's neck? Indeed it is!

yep! alongside the jewels & binoculars--thanks Chris.

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ChrisM
except Love in Vain, where he he used his '59 Les Paul for the slide bits. Keith would use this same guitar on Honkey Tonk Women.

It's been a long time, but I thought LIV was in open E while HTW was in open G on this recording.

Also, why do you think Taylor switched from LP ('67) to SG ('69-'70) back to (almost exclusively) LP ('72-'73)?

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ChrisM
There had been a thread about this long ago but let me if I can recall. For Mick it's easy. He used his '63 Gibson SG on every song except Love in Vain, where he he used his '59 Les Paul for the slide bits. Keith would use this same guitar on Honkey Tonk Women. Keith on the other hand used a '59 Les Paul Custom for Jumping jack Flash and Street Fighting Man, a Gibson ES-355 for Midnight Rambler and I think for Little Queenie. For all the rest he used a Dan Armstrong Lucite. I'm working from memory but I'm sure there will those who will correct me if I'm wrong.

Ya-Ya's Midnight Rambler was played on the Armstrong for sure, although there are pics of the 355 with the capo on the 7th fret. Judging on the very limited amount of film and pics we have available Keith seemed to use the LP Custom for all capo'd open G tracks, Taylor's Bigsby LP for HTW, and the Armstrong for all standard tuned songs, with the 355 being a spare for both Taylor and Richards. Richards played Queenie on the Armstrong in LA, but on the 355 in New York.

Taylor's SG has been refered to as a '61 and a '63, as far as I know there is not a way of telling really. The added a pickguard screw in '64, so it certainly is pre-64.

Taylor's SG was either stolen during the '71 tour, or stolen from Nellcote in July '71, it is unsure. He replaced it with two LP's.

Mathijs

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Mathijs
Richards played Queenie on the Armstrong in LA, but on the 355 in New York.

Mathijs

Gimme Shelter outtakes show Richards playing Little Queenie on the black LP Custom although I don't know which show this is from. He also uses the black custom on JJF and SFM.
The '59 sunburst sounds quite different to the custom due to the Bigsby tail piece. Also, I think Keith might play the 355 on Love in vain.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2009-04-23 15:55 by terraplane.

Imho on the GS soundtracks Keith sounds horribly out of tune.
IS it because he played a Dan Armstrong. Didn't these guitars barely keep in tune?

Strangely Keith sounds fine on Ya-ya... The result of massive overdubs?

Mathijs, care to say how you know Keith used the Armstrong on Midnight Rambler on the Ya Yas version? Second hand knowledge, ears, or pics perhaps? The sound is noticeably different to my ears where the Armstrong is known to be featured, such as on Sympathy for the Devil.

Terraplane, you might want to look again at the Gimme Shelter outtake. I'm fairly certain Keith is using the ES-355 for Little Queenie. I of course will look again too. Regarding the difference in sound between the LP Custom and the Sunburst, I'm not so sure they Bigbsy had so much an impact on the sound as the type of wood used on the Custom (all mahogany, ebony finger board) and the Sunburst. (mahogany body, maple top, rosewood finger board) Because of the denser all mahogany body, the Custom tends to accentuate the high end a little more than Sunburst does. My tuppence any way.

Did Keiths Flying V go on that tour? Was it used much?

I just ask because I done a thread a while back about that guitar and what become of it. It apparently was stolen from Nellcote but I'd like to know how much he used it before then.

I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

Keith used the V live at Hyde Park but I know of no other time when he used it on stage.

The V and Keith/Brian's Gibson ES330 made it on tour but didnt get as far as the stage - they can be seen in miscellaneous rehearsal pics taken from the tour. And don't forget the Dobro Acoustic used for the Mick/Keith acoustic slot on the tour.

I wish someone would force a damn Gibson into Keith's hands for Open G songs again.....

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terraplane

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Mathijs
Richards played Queenie on the Armstrong in LA, but on the 355 in New York.

Mathijs

Gimme Shelter outtakes show Richards playing Little Queenie on the black LP Custom although I don't know which show this is from. He also uses the black custom on JJF and SFM.
The '59 sunburst sounds quite different to the custom due to the Bigsby tail piece. Also, I think Keith might play the 355 on Love in vain.

Gimme Shelter outtakes show Keith playing the 355 on Queenie. The Custom was used for open G tuning only, and Love in Vain is standard tuning. The Bigsby does make a difference in tone, but most probably only to the player. I can't hear the difference for sure.

Mathijs

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ChrisM
Mathijs, care to say how you know Keith used the Armstrong on Midnight Rambler on the Ya Yas version? Second hand knowledge, ears, or pics perhaps? The sound is noticeably different to my ears where the Armstrong is known to be featured, such as on Sympathy for the Devil.

A combination of this board and my ears! For years I thought it was the 355, but then someone pointed out it's actually the Armstrong. And indeed, it's the raspy, fuzzy sound of the Armstrong. Compare the sound of Rambler with the outtake of Oh Carol -it's exactly the same!

Mathijs

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Tricky76
The V and Keith/Brian's Gibson ES330 made it on tour but didnt get as far as the stage - they can be seen in miscellaneous rehearsal pics taken from the tour. And don't forget the Dobro Acoustic used for the Mick/Keith acoustic slot on the tour.

I wish someone would force a damn Gibson into Keith's hands for Open G songs again.....

I've noticed Keith playing 335s a lot more from the '97 tour on...don't know if they were for the open G songs or not, though?


BTW, this has been a great informative thread.

Not for Open G sadly - he uses them for Standard Tuning songs only these days, Open G tends to be songs like Honky Tonk Women, Tumbling Dice, Happy, Jumpin Jack Flash, All Down the Line etc...Telecaster territory only these days.

Also, different bridges change the tone of a guitar a hell of a lot, however the Ampeg amps that the Stones use tend to obscure much of the individual character of each guitar used.

If you get the chance go into a guitar store and try a Bigsby Gibson then a stop tail one, then hit up a Telecatser with thru body stringing versus one with a Strat style bridge - thats what I told my wife when I walked out the store clutching 2 new guitars anyway....

Come to think of it, you're right, that riff which Keith uses a lot, with the suspended 4th in it (beginning of Brown Sugar, Start Me Up, etc...he mixes it up in different keys and phrasing, but the fingering is always the same) he plays in open G and it seems to always be on a tele these days.

And you're absolutely right about electric guitar bridges - I've got an epiphone LP with a stop tail, and acoustically it has a much different sound than my Mexi Strat or my two teles (well, ones actually a Peavey but it has a string-through body very inspired by the tele).

I'm not a big bigsby fan, but I do have an Ibanez hollowbody with one, and it has its own unique sound too. Did Keith ever actually ever use the Bigsby on his '59 sunburst LP? I can't remember Keith ever using a whammy bar at all (but then again, my memory ain't that good!)

Wives can never understand the need for more than one guitar! Hey, if you can only have one wife, then you oughta be able to have a harem of guitars, I say!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009-04-23 23:35 by Keefan.

He never used the Bigsby in anger, I think it was probably more cos Chuck Berry went thru dozens of Bigsby Equipped Gibsons in his time, and maybe it was a homage? Or he might have liked the different sound compared to the stop tail Gibsons he had.

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ChrisM
Armstrong on Midnight Rambler

I don't recall whether this is from NYC

Ah! The smoking gun! It's hard to tell looking at Keith but Mick kneeling with the belt certainly indicates they are most probably performing Rambler in this pic. Thanks Smokey! I'm fairly certain that this is not at MSG however.

Regarding Bigsby and stop tail LPs, I have owned both and have had Bigsby B7 on my '58 reissue for some years now. I didn't really notice an appreciable difference in tone with the Bigbsy off or on but what really made the guitar improve in tone was swapping out the stock pots and caps for vintage style bumblebees and CTS pots. Wow! The guitar really woke up and had a more mid range honk to it than before.

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Tricky76
He never used the Bigsby in anger, I think it was probably more cos Chuck Berry went thru dozens of Bigsby Equipped Gibsons in his time, and maybe it was a homage? Or he might have liked the different sound compared to the stop tail Gibsons he had.

Mick Taylor certainly used the Bigsby during his stint with the Bluesbreakers. Listen to Anzio Annie from John Mayall's Diary of a Band. He makes liberal use of it!

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Tricky76
He never used the Bigsby in anger, I think it was probably more cos Chuck Berry went thru dozens of Bigsby Equipped Gibsons in his time, and maybe it was a homage? Or he might have liked the different sound compared to the stop tail Gibsons he had.

I guess the main reason is that there were only 1700 or so Les Paul's made, and half of them had bigsby's. In '66 they already cost big bucks and were hard to find, so if you did in the end found one you took whatever was offered. Even Taylor's main LP which he used from ~70 to ~84 (his main LP for the '72 tour) originally had a bigsby (during CB's Love in Vain you clearly see the screw holes).

Mathijs

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ChrisM
Ah! The smoking gun! It's hard to tell looking at Keith

Capo appears to be @ 7th fret

OK, I see it now, I was looking at a small screen before, I have seen pics of Mick wearing the same outfit during the Prodigal Son/You Gotta Move set. I'll check the Ethan Russel book to see if I can get a venue and get back to you.

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Mathijs

Gimme Shelter outtakes show Keith playing the 355 on Queenie.
Mathijs

Yes, you and Chris M are correct. On checking the footage it is indeed the hollow body he uses for Little Queenie.

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ChrisM

what really made the guitar improve in tone was swapping out the stock pots and caps for vintage style bumblebees and CTS pots. Wow! The guitar really woke up and had a more mid range honk to it than before.

OT: This is something I wanted to do on my LP for a long time. Q#1 where did you buy your replacements? Q#2 did you also replace the PU selector?

Thank you!

C

...so at the end of the day, the sound from Ya Ya's is probably due to the AMPEGS rather that the guitars??