Awesome Taylor playing live outside at night at a festival vibrato to the heavens

Classic stuff. Looks like he has a new strat and a hot rod deluxe?

Wonderful to see him like this. Thanks for the link.

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terraplane
Classic stuff. Looks like he has a new strat and a hot rod deluxe?

His string (Gibson) was tear to begin, he had played the rest of the gig with this Strat. What a genius! Paris - will be there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-09 14:03 by honkytonkwomen.

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terraplane
Classic stuff. Looks like he has a new strat and a hot rod deluxe?

He's been using a Hot Rod DeVille 4x10 (or occasionally Deluxe) at most of his gigs for the last 3 or 4 years - in combination with a Marshall Combo JCM 800/900 when the size of the stage allows. He used to prefer a Fender The Twin but he changed to the DeVille a couple of years ago.
In late 2005 he suddenly took up a Strat, playing it throughout the gigs he did in November of that year. After that he went back to using the Les Paul Custom as his primary guitar but took a Strat along to practically every show.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-09 21:51 by Lightnin'.

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terraplane
Classic stuff. Looks like he has a new strat and a hot rod deluxe?

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honkytonkwomen
His string (Gibson) was tear to begin, he had played the rest of the gig with this Strat. What a genius! Paris - will be there.

Yeah, at the Highlands festival he broke a string during You Gotta Move, not long after the start. Apparently no guitartech around to fix it.

So awesome...still to this day the best guitarist the Stones ever had...

can't wait to see this guy in July 09, venue size 100 !!

Would like him to come to Copenhage area

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grubbetuchus
Date: May 9, 2009 01:33


The Les Paul in play now was Standard handpicked by Gibson people at the request from a CT Gibson retailer. It has the Gibson Burstbucker pickups. It's from their Historic series, if that's what it's called.

Prior to this he played a Les Paul Classic. And prior to that he played a Standard, but it was a reissue series, not a vintage. This guitar had a Bigsby trmelo. This guitar was stolen in London. The headstock cracked once, and it was repaired to perfection by a shop in Eastern Long Island (DeMarco's, or something like that).

...The Strat you see on the cover of that album was his 1962 Strat. The neck was replaced with this fat, baseball bat kind of neck. I loved that neck.

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Lightnin'
In late 2005 he suddenly took up a Strat, playing it throughout the gigs he did in November of that year. After that he went back to using the Les Paul Custom as his primary guitar but took a Strat along to practically every show.

So he has a handpicked Standard as well as a Custom in addition to the Strat, and perhaps still has his Classic (Classic??!) and historic reissue?

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Lightnin'
In late 2005 he suddenly took up a Strat, playing it throughout the gigs he did in November of that year. After that he went back to using the Les Paul Custom as his primary guitar but took a Strat along to practically every show.

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Smokey
So he has a handpicked Standard as well as a Custom in addition to the Strat, and perhaps still has his Classic (Classic??!) and historic reissue?

What I called Custom is in fact a Les Paul Standard Sunburst but since it was built to Taylor's specifications, I tend to call it "Custom".
I can confirm that from '96 till the end of 2002 he played a Les Paul Classic. This was also a Sunburst, but without a pickguard (see picture below). I think he retired that in early 2003.
Until '96 his main guitar was a bigsby equipped LP Standard, this was a somewhat unique model, which unfortunately was stolen on tour. The theft was reported to the police and some ads were placed but the guitar was never returned.
The LP Standard he tours with now is from the Gibson Historic series, it's a reissue based on the '58 LP Standard which I think was Taylor's favourite guitar ever (but the one he owned got stolen from Nellcôte during the recording of Exile on Main St).





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-10 01:41 by Lightnin'.

thankyou - great stuff from the main man

These were the impressive acts at the Highlands Festival:

Aynsley Lister
Eddy Clearwater
Ian Parker
Mick Taylor
Jethro Tull
Sonny Landreth
Ilene Barnes
Buddy Guy

Here's an impression of Buddy Guys set:

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Lightnin'

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Lightnin'
In late 2005 he suddenly took up a Strat, playing it throughout the gigs he did in November of that year. After that he went back to using the Les Paul Custom as his primary guitar but took a Strat along to practically every show.

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Smokey
So he has a handpicked Standard as well as a Custom in addition to the Strat, and perhaps still has his Classic (Classic??!) and historic reissue?

What I called Custom is in fact a Les Paul Standard Sunburst but since it was built to Taylor's specifications, I tend to call it "Custom".
I can confirm that from '96 till the end of 2002 he played a Les Paul Classic. This was also a Sunburst, but without a pickguard (see picture below). I think he retired that in early 2003.
Until '96 his main guitar was a bigsby equipped LP Standard, this was a somewhat unique model, which unfortunately was stolen on tour. The theft was reported to the police and some ads were placed but the guitar was never returned.
The LP Standard he tours with now is from the Gibson Historic series, it's a reissue based on the '58 LP Standard which I think was Taylor's favourite guitar ever (but the one he owned got stolen from Nellcôte during the recording of Exile on Main St).

Many thanks for the info and clarification. Do you know what particular specifications the Standard has? Did he change the pick-ups, electronics or neck profile?

Inicdentally, I thought it was odd that he used a Classic because I thought it had a very slim neck while the '58 reissue and '62 Strat have very fat necks. Whatever works . . .

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Lightnin'
Apparently no guitartech around to fix it.

Yes, just for the stage sound.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009-07-12 13:26 by honkytonkwomen.

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Lightnin'
Apparently no guitartech around to fix it.

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honkytonkwomen
Yes, just for the stage sound. He was there 30 min before the gig, has played his set and then he enjoyed the sun, meal & drinks ; )

Honkytonkwomen - A Guitartech, as the name already indicates, is someone hired to take care of the musical equipment of a guitarist during a show or tour. Normally with a guitarist of Taylor's stature the responsibilities of the guitartech would be: stringing, tuning and (if necessary) adjusting the Guitar. (If there are any problems with guitaramplifiers or effect pedals he might also need to fix those - unless another crewmember is covering that).

Since Taylor (or his roadmanager) will usually take care of setting up his guitars, amps and pedals before the show, the job of the guitartech would be limited to assisting with any strings he breaks during the performance. Obviously this is because he can't put a new string on his guitar without interrupting the show.

We already established that nobody came out to help him with the broken string on You Gotta Move, causing him to switch to the Stratocaster for the remainder of the set. Ergo, there was no guitartech around at the Highlands festival - at least not during Taylor's gig.

By the way, the people in charge of the sound during the performance are called sound engineers.
The person hired to mix the sound that the performers hear on stage (this is done by adjusting the monitors) is called a monitor engineer. In many cases, bands will bring their own front of house engineer, particularly for club and theater dates, to mix the sound that the audience hears. At festivals, the local promoter will usually provide a FOH engineer.

I was at this show too, frontrow off course. And I was also very surprised nobody was there to replace the broken string. Next time I'll make sure I'll take care of this...

Maybe Mick just should have asked someone, I mean there were a lot of guitar players backstage, all capable to do this simple piece of work.

Let it rock!

Lightnin', perhaps my formulation was wrong - the difference sound engineers/guitartech is indisputable. Just want to say that no guitartech was there, just a sound engineer. But thanks for your words! ; )

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Lightnin'
What I called Custom is in fact a Les Paul Standard Sunburst but since it was built to Taylor's specifications, I tend to call it "Custom".
I can confirm that from '96 till the end of 2002 he played a Les Paul Classic. This was also a Sunburst, but without a pickguard (see picture below). I think he retired that in early 2003.
Until '96 his main guitar was a bigsby equipped LP Standard, this was a somewhat unique model, which unfortunately was stolen on tour. The theft was reported to the police and some ads were placed but the guitar was never returned.
The LP Standard he tours with now is from the Gibson Historic series, it's a reissue based on the '58 LP Standard which I think was Taylor's favourite guitar ever (but the one he owned got stolen from Nellcôte during the recording of Exile on Main St).

Many thanks for the info and clarification. Do you know what particular specifications the Standard has? Did he change the pick-ups, electronics or neck profile?

Inicdentally, I thought it was odd that he used a Classic because I thought it had a very slim neck while the '58 reissue and '62 Strat have very fat necks. Whatever works . . .

Just to be correct:

1) All amps played by Taylor are hired. When he performs he requests a Marshall JCM 900 and any Fender of over 50 watts to be present on stage. The Fender is then be default either a Twin or Hot Rod Deluxe.
2) The Historic he plays since '04 is a Gibson Les Paul 1959 (not a '58)Historic that was not build to his specifications, but selected from a batch for its ligth weight. It is a regular model from the custom shop, with standard '59 neck profile and standard Burstbucker pickups.
3) The Bigsby LP that got stolen was not a Gibson, but a Gibson copy by a unknown maker.
4) Most of the time Taylor only brings his LP, and uses whatever is available or whatever he can borrow as a backup. The Strat seen here is most probably not his, but borrowed.
5) Taylor does not have a guitar tech because he does not need one (eveything is set-up and he only brings his own guitar), and judging on the payment he recieves from a gig he probably can not afford one.

Mathijs

I play guitar too but not professionally. But you don't easily break strings (at least playing this kind of music). Therefore, the strings must have been very old. Or the plectron very old with rough edges breaking the string. Shouldn't a skilled musician be aware of the time of a change as all of us are car drivers aware of inspecting our cars and getting our oil changed in regular intervals?

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Mathijs


2) The Historic he plays since '04 is a Gibson Les Paul 1959 (not a '58)Historic that was not build to his specifications, but selected from a batch for its ligth weight. It is a regular model from the custom shop, with standard '59 neck profile and standard Burstbucker pickups.
Mathijs

Thanks for the info.

By the way, have you ever been able to locate your Detroit 69 SFTD video?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009-06-11 05:40 by Smokey.

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Smokey

By the way, have you ever been able to locate your Detroit 69 SFTD video?

No, I don't have any of my old VHS tapes anymore, threw them all away. But there must be many people on this board who will have it, it has been traded widely.

Mathijs

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Mathijs

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Smokey

By the way, have you ever been able to locate your Detroit 69 SFTD video?

No, I don't have any of my old VHS tapes anymore, threw them all away. But there must be many people on this board who will have it, it has been traded widely.

Mathijs

OK, thanks