Stevie boy
TDPRI Member
Anyone know what gauge strings Ed used and were
they round wound or flat wound?
they round wound or flat wound?
Ed Bickert's guitar set up
- Thread starter Stevie boy
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Blues Fuse
TDPRI Member
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Ed used roundwounds gauged .010 to .052 with an unwound G string.
Stevie boy
TDPRI Member
Thanks blues fuse. Do you happen to know what
amp he prefered?
amp he prefered?
Blues Fuse
TDPRI Member
- Joined
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He used one of the older Roland amps a lot. I'm not sure what model.
jonal335
Tele-Holic
One of my neighbors here in BC had lived next door to Ed, back in Ontario many years ago. She said he was the nicest person she had ever known and would baby sit her kids occasionally...heck of a jazz guitarist. I have heard that he used to play an old Garnet amp (made in Winnipeg) for years...
Crawz
Tele-Meister
Also, a Standel amp such as Wes had was used earlier on. Interesting that even though his single coil was swapped out for a humbucker (back in the 70s?) that his sound didn't really shift that much. I assume that this was just done to directly address field effect hum and RF when in the studio. Yes, you can tell the two pickups apart, hear that difference. But it's not super obvious to these ears, one over the other. Listen to 'Lollipops and Roses' on YT. Maybe it's a little more 'poppy' sounding than the humbucker, but no notable difference that I hear. Also noted > that he'd always run with the tone knob rolled off to that extent... and in spite of this always manage a pretty balanced sound where nothing was clearly going missing. I've always marveled at that. I'm pretty sure that he was just going straight into the board on 'Pure Desmond.' I don't sense an amp as a part of the sonic thing there. Been a devoted fan since that album emerged in what, '75? There's something deep that he naturally gets about how to work with the overtone series. He can suggest/imply more notes than he's actually playing. That to me is a key element of his mastery.
Chase TM
Tele-Meister
I heard he used 12- 52s rather than 10s. Not just to start an argument but FWIW i'm good friends with many of his colleagues/students. Also the amp he used was that brown cube as was already mentioned. here are a few things to know if you're trying to sound like Ed.
a friend saw ed amp shopping. he never actually plugged into an amp but just picked them up to gauge the weight. After a several amps he left disappointed.
Once a bass player (I think it was Jim Vivian) said, "this amp sounds like *******." ed replied, "find the knob that sounds bad and turn it all the way off."
Once the 12th fret repaired his guitar and taped an allen wrench to the pickguard so that it wouldn't be lost. He kept it there for ages thinking that it was part of the repair job.
What I'm trying to say is if you want to sound like Ed, forget about equipment and just focus on the tone of your fingers; worked for him, innit!
a friend saw ed amp shopping. he never actually plugged into an amp but just picked them up to gauge the weight. After a several amps he left disappointed.
Once a bass player (I think it was Jim Vivian) said, "this amp sounds like *******." ed replied, "find the knob that sounds bad and turn it all the way off."
Once the 12th fret repaired his guitar and taped an allen wrench to the pickguard so that it wouldn't be lost. He kept it there for ages thinking that it was part of the repair job.
What I'm trying to say is if you want to sound like Ed, forget about equipment and just focus on the tone of your fingers; worked for him, innit!
Blues Fuse
TDPRI Member
- Joined
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- Posts
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I'm not interested in arguing about string gauge. I got my information from a post on another board by Joey Goldstein from Toronto. He's an excellent player. Maybe, you're already familiar with him.
joaopazguitar
Tele-Holic
The most interesting man in the world?
I've been his fan for a few decades, so have some friends to see him directly.
Can say this much:
1. He performed/recorded on various gauges but almost always with plain 3rd, also he said he...
2. used to use lighter sets on his tele w/ the original single coil neck PU (I think it's 10s). Check out yourself the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9mpJ2b2g2EI had
3. started to use heavier sets after installing humbucker on his tele. But still w/ plain 3rd (I think it's 12s or lighter, maybe 11s mostly), roundwound (because flatwound with plain 3rd option is modern thing). See the video below, you hear the sound of thicker strings on the humbucker, and don't miss the light reflection say its a set w/ plain 3rd.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCnT8prUqFY
+1
I don't know anything about the string gauge but I spent a long time listening to that video of lollipops and roses and others from the same session, plus recordings spanning his whole career and I have to restate the obvious: the sound is really in his head and in his hands.
One thing that I noticed is how resonant the guitar is. He can keep a note ringing as long as he wants, with a very long and bright sustain despite the tone knob clearly rolled off. The amp settings must have a lot to do with that. My guess is that he played with a very soft touch but at relatively high volume and with a boost to the mids, producing as a matter of fact a natural dynamic compression. I could get similar tones (kind of) with a Roland JC-77, although it is a brighter and cleaner amp than those mentioned, including the old cube 60.
The other major thing, (forgetting for an instant his harmonic vision, voicing and choice of notes) is the incredible control that he has over the voices that he moves with the chords. He constantly moves the chords only partially, always keeping some common tone between adjacent chords, and that's common practice, but I never heard anybody controlling the voices the way he does. He can move to the next chord and let one note from the previous one ringing and flowing naturally into the next as part of a clearly identifiable line, and he does that all the time, carrying on simultaneously two melodic lines within his harmony every time he can with incredible fluidity and elegance.
To me that makes most of his sound: 90% hands and ears, 8% amp, 2% guitar, strings and all the rest. Oh, wait: did anybody ask what makes most of his sound? Did I go off topic?
In any case thanks for sharing the info, especially regarding the amps because I didn't know about the Garnet and Standel amps
Last edited:
ttle
Tele-Meister
Joey was one of my guitar teachers many moons ago.
I used to go see Ed play many times. He always favored a Roland 60 cube amp. that's why many jazz guitarists around Toronto used Tele/Roland Cube, and of course, none came close to Ed's sound.
there's a concert video i have of Ed playing in a trio. You can clearly see that he has a wound G-string, who knows.
