I missed the twang...

[Buckocaster51]

Friday night I decided to do something different. I took my Music Man Albert Lee to a job. I've never really played it. I figured, "Why not?"

You know, it is a decent guitar...

but...

it ain't no Tele.

For the life of me, I could not get it to "twang."

Zero twang.

Nada twang.

Finally decided it was just a funny looking Strat.

Not saying Strats are bad.

But I need my twang.

It lasted a set.

Then I went back to a Buckocaster.

Twang galore.

The night was saved.


Every GRINCH needs some TWANG now and then

[Brutalblues]

How does Albert Lee do it? Mebbe his is doctored up or something

[Telemarkman]

Originally Posted by Brutalblues

How does Albert Lee do it? Mebbe his is doctored up or something

I've actually always thought Albert Lee's Music Man sounded more like a Strat than a Tele.

He plays it like a Tele though.

[eryque]

Albert Lee doesn't get twang out of the new guitar, it quacks just like a strat even when he plays it. But he plays chicken-pickin style licks on it so the short stacatto notes lets us fool ourselves into thinking it actually twangs.

[Jellecaster]

I have a tendency to buy signature models of the players that I love the most, and although I've come close on both I just can't bring myself to buy the Albert Lee Music Man or the Valley Arts Brent Mason. I don't really like either of them.

Never having played the Albert Lee, I would have figured that it twanged like hell(?) IMHO Albert is the best country player in the world and I'm willing to bet he could make a Jackson Rhoads twang!

[art027]

I own an Albert Lee and i love it. I had Bill Bores from houston install a b-bender and a g-bender.
It is a little odd looking but this thing plays really great.





It is not a Telecaster, that's for sure but then again i think that the twang factor depends on which pu you are using.
Me, i love the sound of the bridge pu on it's own. i always played telecasters and i automatically look for a good bridge spank, twang etc.

Albert Lee only uses the two 'quack' sounds, positions 2&4. To my ears that is pure Strat tone.
When you want to twang like a Tele you need to at least try the bridge pu on it's own. Although Albert is originally a tele player i never heard him use the bridge pu on his EBMM signature guitar. I am a big fan and i know most of his recorded stuff.
i read somewhere that he got a little tired of the tele bridge sound and always loved a good Strat exept for the weak bridge pu. The bridge pu in the Albert Lee has a little baseplate for the tele type twang. I see this pu as a Tele/Strat bridge pu mixture.

Hey Buckocaster51, which pu position did you use last friday? Also, twang to me is an abstract term. I know what i think is twang but it might be very different from your idea of twang

Michell

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by art027

Hey Buckocaster51, which pu position did you use last friday? Also, twang to me is an abstract term. I know what i think is twang but it might be very different from your idea of twang

Michell

Well you know...twang...is twang.

I spent a lot of time, probably too much time, in the position between bridge and middle. The rest of the time on the bridge pickup.

I think some of the "problem" was that I had loaned the guitar out last weekend to a buddy to checkout. He put a set of 9 - 42 somethings on it. I usually use 10-52 so some (maybe most) of that low end growl that I like just wasn't there.

The guitar plays effortlessly. It is extremely well-ballanced. The neck is the TINIEST thing I have ever seen on a guitar.

and get this...it is BURGUNDY!

Cool guitar. It is just so different from what I normally play.

Probably too good of a guitar to lay around here in a gig bag and never get played. I might have to try to place it in a good home.

By the way, the one that Bill Bores put the bender in is cool. Looks like he did a bang-up job on it.

[art027]

Yeah, i can imagine changing strings to a different gauge has something to do with it.
Burgundy is a cool color never saw that color in person though.

A few weeks ago i posted a clip in 'twanger central' of my bender Al, using the bridge pu. there's no backing track, just me trying to play the pedal solo in Ricky Skagg's 'Highway 40 blues' Do you know that song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxUiUN3C2B0


Bill did an incredible job it think, almost no routing was done to install both benders. Even Albert's own bender Al is different from the original body design. There's actually no bellycut in his guitar.

a Telecaster is a telecaster and there's no other guitar that does the twang factor just as good as a Tele.
I have to admid i got interested in the Albert lee because i'm a big, big fan of his style of playing, i just had to have one.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by art027

A few weeks ago i posted a clip in 'twanger central' of my bender Al, using the bridge pu. there's no backing track, just me trying to play the pedal solo in Ricky Skagg's 'Highway 40 blues' Do you know that song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxUiUN3C2B0

Hey...great job! Not half bad for a Netherlander!

(I can say that because my paternal granddad was from Lochem.)

[JerryPro]

Man, that was great on Hwy 40 Blues.

[art027]

Hey cool, i know Lochem. It's a small world isn't it?

Not a lot of county fans here, i remember watching 'The Dukes of Hazzard' back in the early eightees, especially the background music. I remember hearing a lot of pedallicks. i think my love for country began at that point

Thanks Jerrypro for the compliment.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by art027

Hey cool, i know Lochem. It's a small world isn't it?

Yes it is...and this here internet thing is making is smaller every day.

I'm a little baffled about how you keep the B and G actions separate. I have a Bill Bores bender on a Tele that I put together...and just that baffles me.

Maybe more practice would help.

Cheers

Steve DIKKERS
aka Buckocaster51

[art027]

Another guy that watched the clip asked me to help him learn to play the solo, so what i did was i recorded another version of the solo but way slower and viewed from behind so that you can actually see when which bender is used.
As you will see the g is activated when 'pushing out'

The lick is mostly b-bender stuff but the g is in there too for some notes, the 6th intervals at the end are all g-bender. there's also some half steps on the be bender.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXb9Pvw7MSQ

[dross11]

Hey Buckocaster: I believe that you post to the flatpick newsgroup don't you? Anyway, I love my AL, and I get a pretty good Tele approximation from the bridge pup. So good that I'm probably going to let my double bound, tobacco burst G&L Bluesboy go. Those G&L pups are a little hot for my taste, but I love the G&L build quality. Maybe I'm getting a good tone because I'm so used to digging in on a flattop. If you ever want to sell the AL you shouldn't have a problem.