RIP Rick Parfitt, Status Quo Telecaster blaster!

[Ritchie200]

I missed this last month.  I was fortunate enough to see these guys back in the 70's.  What a live show!  There is no way you can stay in your seat during one of their sonic onslaughts!  Loud, loud, loud boogie woogie all night long with barely enough time to take a breath.  Great stuff and one of the few 60's psychedelic bands to change with the times and go on to define their own sound.  Although not as popular in the US, they are certainly much loved in Europe.  I have several of their albums in my collection.  Brilliant stuff!  Just goes to show that if you add enough of Marshall to a Telecaster, there is hope!  He plays .014's for gosh sake!!!  Rick was THE guy.  He will be missed...


Jim


! Matchstick Men


! Down Down

[Ritchie200]

Ok Tubenit, when you have security dancing you know it's good!


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=67_Ult97kk8

[Willabe]

I remember Matchstick Men well from AM back in grammar school.

Has a lot of tape flanging on it. 

Some of those psychedelic pop songs used to weird me out when I was still a little kid, that's 1 of them. 

[Ed_Chambley]

I remember this too.  Man you are reaching.  14's on a telecaster?  The guys in Bakersfield used to wrestle with this since they had wound thirds.  The Don Rich, Buck Owens smiling partner, began tuning down a whole step.  Well, Buck could not be outdone so he added a Banjo string and moved up all the others and the first set of 10's were born.

You know, Steve Cropper played a Telecaster, but it must have been really a Strat in sheeps clothing cause he sure did get some wonderful tones using this and a Fender Harvard.

His Telecaster and amp is now in the Smithsonian.

Thanks for the Matchstick Men.  Had not thought of them in a while.

[Willabe]

Well, Buck could not be outdone so he added a Banjo string and moved up all the others and the first set of 10's were born.

Story goes Clapton did the same back in England. 

[Ed_Chambley]

Well, Buck could not be outdone so he added a Banjo string and moved up all the others and the first set of 10's were born.

Story goes Clapton did the same back in England. 

Yep, I heard that too, but the guys in Bakersfield were playing tele's with unwound thirds in the mid 50's, how old was clapton in 55?


We probably will never know all the correct things.  You know you cannot believe much of what you read on the internet.

[Ritchie200]

Per Ritchie Blackmore....


You're still using Picatos? They were the first string sets to come out in England with a plain third, weren't they?
- (Laughs) Yeah, that's right! I like them. I heard that they went bankrupt and were out of business, so I didn't use them for a couple of years, but then I found out they were still going. So I just got more strings from them. On the electrics I use 010, 011, 013, 024, 034, and I usually like an 048 on the bottom. But the acoustics, I use bigger strings, I like a 050 on the bottom.


Do you remember when we all used to charge down to Clifford Essex and buy those 008 banjo strings?
- Yeah, it was Clapton who turned me on to those - I said, what are you using, and he told me about these Clifford Essex strings.



On a side note, I used to use Picato strings back in the 70's because they were recommended to me by Mr. Mel Bay at his store.  They were really cool!  They used to be packaged in a red and black round plastic "tin" about 5" in diameter with red thread on the windings by the ferrel.  They were awesome, I'd have a set on for months of whammy bar hysterics and they never broke and once you stretched them out they stayed in tune forever.  I think that is were I got into the habit of never changing my strings until they broke.  Cant find them anywhere local now.  I had no idea Blackmore used them until I saw an interview about it back in the 80's.  He used to be a whammy bar wild man - especially back in the late 60's early 70's.  On all those old videos I never saw him break a string.  UK was known for their steel back in the day.  Picatos were about twice the price of the ernie ball and fender sets and about three times the price of the black diamonds!  I'm sure they are sourcing their wire from China these days like everyone else, so I'm sure the quality is not what it used to be.  When I was a kid with no money I used to boil the wound strings when they got dull, and then pray they didn't break when I restrung them.  Something my dad told me he used to do back in the depression.  Anyone else do that?

Jim

[Willabe]

On the electrics I use 010, 011, 013, 024, 034, and I usually like an 048 on the bottom.

That's an odd sized set. 

When I was a kid with no money I used to boil the wound strings when they got dull, and then pray they didn't break when I restrung them.  Something my dad told me he used to do back in the depression.  Anyone else do that?

Yeah, 1 of the blues guys told me about that in the 80's. (I think he learned it from the older blues guys?)

But the winding gets worn out from rubbing on the frets so it's only a so/so temporary fix.

[HotBluePlates]

...  When I was a kid with no money I used to boil the wound strings when they got dull, and then pray they didn't break when I restrung them.  Something my dad told me he used to do back in the depression.  Anyone else do that? ...

Bass players do that more often, as their strings are 4-6 times the price of similar brand/quality guitar strings.

As Willabe says, the problem is the strings get divots in the winding due to the frets.  That's a small additive factor in why intonation suffers.  I suppose you could carefully re-string to have the divots facing up...

[Willabe]

That's a small additive factor in why intonation suffers.

Yeah the balance of the string is off from note to note.

I suppose you could carefully re-string to have the divots facing up...

Might tear up your callouses sliding across those divots.