Les Paul for rockabilly?

[Big Kenny]

Nor does a Les Paul but don't tell Dave.........And I'm not sayin' it can't be done, it just doesn't sound as .......... Nashville? But at the same time if you ever listen to the Hellecasters ( Will Ray, John Jorgenson and Jerry Donahue) those guys have no trouble at all pulling those sounds out of their Tele's. So in that respect Dave, it definitely has a lot to do with playing talent and style

 

[LI_Slim]

I realize that there it takes a great deal of skill to copy the sounds of yesteryear really well. But it seems to me that unless one is in a pure cover band, it makes sense to apply different sounds to the classic music.

 

[metalj]

I think a good all tube fender, or musicman amp with alot of clean headroom is almost just as important as your guitar choice for that sound.

For sure use a Tele or hollowbody Gretchish guitar. THe P-90's are great pickups, but may distort your amp sooner than most singles.

 

[Unsprung]

I think a good all tube fender, or musicman amp with alot of clean headroom is almost just as important as your guitar choice for that sound.

For sure use a Tele or hollowbody Gretchish guitar. THe P-90's are great pickups, but may distort your amp sooner than most singles.

Big Kenny also suggested a Tele, as did someone replying one of my posts at the Surf Guitar 101 forums, and I have 2 Teles to chose from...a Squier Fat Telecaster (Fender American Telecaster HS knock-off), and a MIM Fender Telecaster. For the Squier I have GFS Lipsticks and a Fender 4-way switch, and for the Fender I have DiMarzio Twang Kings and a Fender 4-way switch. If the GFS Lipsticks perform anything like Seymour Duncan Lipsticks (for Strats), I should get some good rockabilly tones out of the Squier.

Another reply to my Surf Guitar 101 post suggested that Strats also sound great for rockabilly. I currently have a used MIM Fender Stratocaster on lay-away, with 2 or 3 payments to go. I'll be using my Strat quite a bit, with my (Fender) Tele...Tele lead/Strat rhythm, Strat lead/Tele rhythm...for country and psychedelic, but from what folks are telling me, about playing rockabilly, with two Teles and a Strat to chose from, I'll not want in being able to dial-in just the right rockabilly tone, for any given rockabilly creation. Since a Strat has a tremelo arm, it's likely I'll use the Strat quite a bit for surfabilly. I'm just trying to decide on which combination (neck/middle/bridge) of Seymour Duncan pickups to use, for the Strat - Lipstick/Lipstick/Lipstick, Vintage Rails/Vintage Rails/Twang Banger or Vintage Rails/Vintage Rails/Vintage Rails.

As to Les Paul for rockabilly, I wouldn't be the first. Carl Perkins used a P90 equipped Les Paul, as well as a Stratocaster, for rockabilly. In that, Carl's LP had a typical LP carved top, while the one I tried has a flat top, but I'll go out on a limb and say it's the P90s that are responsible for the good rockabilly tones from a Les Paul. I don't see myself buying a Vox Valvetronix AD30VT anytime soon, although that's what I'd tried the Peavey JF-2 EXP through, as well as ALL of the guitars I tried out at Guitar Center (Strats, Teles, '72 Tele Deluxe, Ibanez Artcore AFS75T, Epiphone AlleyKat, Gibson LP Melody Maker, Gibson SG Classic, Gibson LP FDC). The only reason I tend to test drive through the Vox is 'cause it's the closest to my Peavey TransTube 258 EFX I have at home. From two years of experience with the Peavey, dialing up and tweaking the effects are MUCH easier to do, than with the Vox.

With the Peavey JF-2 EXP eliminated from my to-buy list, my 6 years of G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) will come to an end at 15 guitars/basses in my collection, instead of 17, once I add a baritone, lap steel and electric 12-string to the collection. I'll be selling my Squier Bullet Special, sometime soon, since I've bought a Fender So Cal Speed Shop Strat, and I don't really need 2 guitars having the same configutation. Who knows...maybe some aspiring Tom DeLonge wanna-be will greatly appreciate the Squier Bullet Special, if they get tired of being out-bid on eBay, for a Fender Tom DeLonge Strat.

Matt

 

[ggunn]

With the Peavey JF-2 EXP eliminated from my to-buy list, my 6 years of G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) will come to an end...

Nah. Sorry to burst yer bubble, but GAS (and that's G for "gear") only ends when you die.

 

[Unsprung]

Nah. Sorry to burst yer bubble, but GAS (and that's G for "gear") only ends when you die.

HA! How true that is! Once I've bought all the guitars I'm wanting, I'll just move on to another gear type. Car stuff, computer stuf, electronics stuff, music stuff. I joke regularly, at a Hammond organ chat, that G.A.S. is somewhat better than H.A.S. (Hammond Acquisition Symdrome, with its corelary L.A.S. = Leslie Acquisition Syndrome). For this joke, I always ask "how many B3's and 122's do ya see hanging on somebody's 'music room' wall?"

Matt

 

[cephus]

Epiphone ES-295

I also wanted to try one out at some store before buying it, but my wife ordered one from Musician's Friend for me for my B-day. It's tits. I really like it. I like the lower output P90s vs humbuckers for rockabilly. I use just a little distortion and these keep a lid on the breaking up. If you like pretty guitars, you should pass on this. It looks good from across the room, but the Koreans get in a little hurry when finishing and there are a few marks here and there that some people may be put off by. I don't care. It plays great and sounds great. I am mostly a strat guy and play what I consider to be some authentic hillbilly rock and roll. I needed to get a guitar that had the middle position sound that you get on a 2-pickup gibsonish guitar. A tele can kinda do it, but I just don't like them very much except to look at. The cliche tele thing is a bit overdone and I really prefer other tonalities to two of the 3 that you can get from a tele.

So, having just bought my first online guitar sight unseen, I'd have to say it has been a great experience, although this was the first time in my life that I didn't have to talk my wife into something like this.