New Gibson Les Paul feature!
First of all I want to wish everyone a happy new year! The christmas went by all too fast but I hope you’ve enjoyed the week and that you got many hard presents!
Gilmourish.Com is kicking off 2010 with an all new feature covering David’s Gibson Les Pauls. Although mainly associated with Fender Strats and the occasional Tele David has recorded many of his guitar parts over the years with Les Pauls – the most famous of course being the solo on Another Brick in the Wall (part 2).
Check out the new feature here – David Gilmour’s Gibson Les Pauls.
I’ve also updated the Black Strat, the Red Strat, Slide Guitars and Telecasters features. All with lots of new info, historical facts and new pictures!
Copyright: gilmourish.com 2003-2008
Very cool! Thanks, Bjorn!
Great new article Bjorn! I really enjoyed it, even though I’m all Fender. Also great updates and photos.
Thank you Bjorn. Great updates. I have a question, What would be the pickups to get the sound of the ‘55 Esquire?
[I'm actually not that familiar with Tele pickups but I've seen people use Duncan STL1 (bridge) and Duncan Antiquity Duo Sonic (neck) for this tone. - Bjorn]
Great updates man!! I wonder why theres no pics of the ZB lap steel used on the wall.
[Never seen it. It's referred to in the Comfortably Numb - History of the Wall book by Fitch and Mahon (Phil Taylor being the source) but it doesn't say which songs it's on. - Bjorn]
Hi Bjorn, happy new year ! Another great article as usual.
I love the sound of P90’s. Gilmour’s tone on the “island Jam” and the “another brick…” solo is so fantastic. A great bluesy sound, very typical of this powerfull single coil. Do you have more informations on the effects (compression, overdrives, … ?)and amps used for the recording of theses two songs ? On the “island jam”, David plays without pick, did he develop this technique recently ?
[I've never seen him play without a pic before although he often just use his fingers on slides. He also used his fingers on Where We Start from On an Island. I'm not sure which amp he used for these songs from On an Island - perhaps the Fender '56 tweed Twin. Effectswise he mainly used a Tube Driver with some delay (MXR Digital Delay) and occasionally a Demeter Compulator. The Another Brick solo was recorded with the neck pickup heavily gated/compressed into the mixing desk, then fed through a Mesa/Boogie amp and back into the mixing desk. - Bjorn]
Funny. I had assumed that he only had one LP Goldtop and had added the Bigsby sometime after 1979. I didn’t realize that he had two Goldtops and a 3 pickup Custom!
The Goldtops definitely had an effect on his sound going into the 80’s and beyond. The p90’s being more powerful than Fender single coils probably influenced him to open up more options when he modified those red 57 strats. The EMG’s and the active EQ would give him the option to get into P90 territory.
Great stuff Bjorn. Onto the DuoJet next?
[Yeah the P90 has definitely effected his tone. Not much to write about the Duo Jet actually. David got it sometime in the mid 70s and used it on his first solo album, Meltdown and a couple of songs on Island. Next article will cover the acoustics. - Bjorn]
Great feature Bjorn! I knew he used the occasional Les Paul, I didn’t realize how much. I’ve been a big fan of the Workman Tele since About Face first came out. Any information or pictures dealing with that guitar are greatly appreciated, many thanks. You are certainly off to a fine start this year.
Jae
[The info I have is posted in the Telecasters article. Cheers! - Bjorn]
Excellent info as always, Bjorn! I’ve always loved those guitars – I’ve actually gone through 9 Les Pauls to get to the two I still have. Never had a gold-top, though – but the “Snowy” in our band does, and I still drool over it every rehearsal. Of my two, one is a Black Beauty Historic R4, which is the one with the Bigsby and the single-coil pickups. Very cool guitar, and I’m often tempted to bring it to shows to play the Another Brick solo; but our “Roger” won’t let me bring any more guitars ha ha. The other is a plain-top standard which has been permanently set up in D to be used by our Snowy during Dogs…
Gilmour once said that you don’t get as much of the personality of the guitarist through Gibson guitars, and in a way I understand what he’s getting at – but the Les Paul is still a wonderful thing! And everyone owes it to themselves to try one with P90s. It is a revelation!
[Your Waters sounds like the real one :) I think a lot of Strat players (me included) feel that a Strat demands more of your own personality and a different technique than a Les Paul. Les Pauls are perhaps easier to play but to me that's also the downside of it. I like to get challenged by my Strats and feel that I really need to work with the neck and push it to get sustain etc. - Bjorn]
Over the years, I expanded my guitars from just a Strat, to a Tele, and then to a Les Paul.
I figured if Gilmour and Knopfler can show their personalities through the playing of Strats, Teles, and Les Pauls, then surely it was a goal worthy of undertaking…hey, we all need to shoot for something, right?
I don’t find that a Les Paul is ‘easier’ to play but what I *do* find is that I need less EQ’ing, less pedal dirt (overdrive), and less compression and such to achieve a great sound that cuts through the mix. There is also a nice acoustic-y sound when all the dirt and effects are turned off.
For versatility, the Strat will never be matched, IMO, and I feel that its single coils perhaps react with pedals better (if that is what you need).
I am a firm believer in music being like cooking and sometimes one needs to introduce new ingredients and even use classic recipes just to keep things inventive and fresh.
Hi Björn,
many thanks for all your good articles and advices. One really great (and budget !) substitute guitar for a Gibson LP Goldtop is the Reverend Warhawk 390 with three P90 and a famous bass contour circuit. This kind of “Gibder/Fenson” guitar is one of my favourite over Gibson classic LP and SG. There’s also many other models with only two P90 which are perhaps closer to a LP but I only own the Warhawk.
Kind regards,
Wan
[Thanks for the tip Wan! - Bjorn]
Thanks Bjorn!
Happy New Year!
[Happy new year! - Bjorn]
Hey bjorn,
Happy new year,
Well can you tell that if the pots on the black strat are 500k or 250k
If the later then what is the resposnse of the ssl-5
Thanks mater cheers
[The pots are 250k as far as I know. - Bjorn]
Hey Bjorn, did David ever purchase a surf green ‘57 American Vintage RI strat when he got all the others. i saw this vid of him playing one. At first I thought maybe it was somebody elses he used but it looks like it has the EMG set and it looks like it also has one of his custom tremelo bars.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbCXOLtzCsA
-Thomas
[Thanks for the clip Thomas! I've actually never seen this. I think it's from 1990. I've never seen the guitar either. Looks very much like the EMGs and the custom trem arm. The neck looks like a standard to me but it might be the lights making it brighter. In the back there you can see the Hiwatt SA212 amp with a MXR digital delay, Alembic preamp and a Conn strobo tuner. Seems like there's a second rig as well with a Mesa combo and a Boss CE2. I'm guessing based on his tone, that he's using a Chandler Tube Driver and a Boss CS2 for his tone. Cheers! - Bjorn]
Bjorn, I’m absolutely inlove with that super thick neck pickup tone on the Paul Young / Gilmour clip. Its the ultimate. I’ve also found this clip
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cIdJFmFkag,
wether you have seen it or not but, it is from the same year and David appears to be using the same guitar while Mark Knopfler is evidently using the red strat. Too me the neck doesn’t look like a 57RI, but it deffinately has EMG’s as on the Paul Young / Gilmour clip David is seen moving the furthest tone control (SPC correct?) before switching to the neck pickup and if it wasn’t the EMG system the furthest tone control would be servicing only the middle pickup so hmmmm.
What is this mistery guitar? thoughts?
[See my reply above. I think it's a late 80's Clapton with Lace, not EMGs. Thanks for the link. I've seen this clip a couple of times but never payed attention to the guitar :) Cheers! - Bjorn]
Just an edit from my post above, the guitar looks like Sonic Blue not green haha oops. Figured i’ll edit myself before somebody calls me out on it.
You seem right on the neck Bjorn. I cant get a really good look at it but i also dont see a truss rod adjustment at the heel, which is whats on the ‘57. But the body seems like a ‘57 because of the 8 hole pickguard. hmmm, the mystery of the blue strat lol
[I've done some research and to me it looks very much like a late 80's Eric Clapton signature. Daphne Blue body, maple neck with 22 frets, Lace Sensor pickups (notice that the logo is higher than the EMG) and the lower tone control is a mid booster. The new Clapton feature Noiseless pickups, Lace were used up until '96 I think. - Bjorn]
Funny to de-rail this into a discussion on that blue strat – perhaps we should get back to Les Pauls again ha ha.
I’d never seen that clip before either, and I was sure I’d seen ‘em all. At any rate, I thought I might weigh in because I do in fact have an ‘89 Clapton strat (it was my first guitar, imagine that) and it is a wonderful instrument – but I am as near as dammit sure they never came in the colour from that clip until some custom versions last year, I believe.
I guess that won’t actually help identify it – but as far as the colour is concerned, I am partial to believing it’s not a Clapton… At least, not with a factory finish.
All of that being said, the original Clapton strat is a _wonderful_ guitar. I would recommend it to anyone. The neck is to die for – I used mine on my Gilmour partscaster until I got the real thing, and I still think it’s my favourite neck of all time. Too bad mine isn’t red (it’s the admittedly quite cool and rare 7-up Green), or I could use it as a “Pulse” strat!
[The Daphne Blue appeared as a custom version in 2009 and the first '89 series featured only these finishes: Olympic White, Black, Pewter, Torino Red and Candy Green. So I guess you're right - it's probably not an EC Strat. Still, I don't think it's a '57 reissue neither. The neck is definitely a 22 frets with a much brighter tint and the guitar feature Lace pickups - not EMGs- as far as I can see anyway. Strange... - Bjorn]
Well, sorry for my mistake a few post ago, I should have wrote “advice” instead of “advices”… Hope I will be better at english next time !
hey Bjorn, you probably know that, but in about 4 Months, the black strat will be 40 years old :D at least David bought it at Manny’s 40 years ago ^^ I hope you’ll prepare something big for it :D
cheers!
[Thanks for the reminder! There's not much left to write but I'll try to think of something :) Cheers! - Bjorn]
I always wondered about his les pauls but… i know this is off topic but do you know how ge got this sound in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-RckhhQQeI
[What you see is the Bill Lewis guitar, which he used on several songs on Meddle and Dark Side. The tone is created by the tall Leslie 900 rotating speaker cab standing behind him. There's also some delay there. - Bjorn]
yes but what is that slight overdrive effect and how can I obtain Something like that because I think this tone is heavenly.BTW great work on the site it must take alot of work to do something like this.
[Thanks! The Leslie can produce some overdrive it self although I think he's using a pedal for this clip as he's not playing that loud. Had to tell which, but it's natural to assume a Tube Driver. On the album he used a Colorsound Powerboost, which is very similar to the Tube Driver. - Bjorn]
that was a good read… i always do think the whole selection of guitars need to be looked at. I think some research should be applied to his stint with steinbergs…
[Well, David's been using lots of different guitars over the years that doesn't relate to Fenders or Gibsons. The Steinbergs are among these. I have an article on the list for future posts but I'm not sure when it will be done. Stay tuned :) - Bjorn]
Thanks for creating this site. In your Black Strat article, you mention you shielded the cavity with copper foil to reduce noise. When you did that, did you also rewire the ground? Or does shielding the cavity alone help to reduce noise?
[I've grounded onto the copper foil as well as the cable that goes to the claw. - Bjorn]
Hi Bjorn,
Love the website keep it up! I have always been a strat player but am currently looking at getting a les paul for that fatter sound. Do you have any recommendations for Les Paul guitars (epiphone, tokai, gibson) ?
[I'm really no Les Paul kind of guy. Unless you want to spend a fortune I'd go for an Epiphone. Replace the stock pickups with Classic 57s and you'll have a great guitar - just stay away from the supercheap European models. I like the LP Custom... great instrument. - Bjorn]
I like Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd. And believe noise is caused by vibration coming from somewhere; sometimes where it is not meant to come from. That can interfere with the vibe of the music. For example: A buzzing transmitter. A building can also be acoustically dead. Some buildings are brilliant for carrying the vibe. Like Holy Trinity Church Oswestry. Not sure what it would sound like just to have the music coming through and no buzzes or unintentional noise. Thankfully in case of Pink Floyd it doesn’t interrupt the music, but compliments it.
Very nice site. Keep it up! I`m also big LP fan. Cheers!
[Thanks! - Bjorn]