Manufacturers of electric guitars and the sounds of their guitars

[Buried Alien]

Certain makes and models of electric guitars just have a characteristic sound that ties them in with a particular style of music and makes it difficult to imagine a musician of a different style playing that particular make or model of guitar. For example, we can imagine the mid-1960s Beatles and Byrds playing Rickenbacker guitars to get that chimey rhythm or arpeggio sound (or R.E.M.'s 1980s sound), but you just can't picture Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen shredding on a Rickenbacker. Similarly, Gretsch guitars are associated with 1950s rockabilly and early British Invasion Merseybeat sounds, but can you imagine Jimmy Page or Tommy Iommi trying to do a heavy Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath riff on the kind of guitar that George Harrison used when the Beatles played the ED SULLIVAN SHOW in 1964?

Interestingly, no one has really tried. I really wonder if Eddie Van Halen could make "Eruption" work on John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325. When you get right down to it, a guitar is a guitar, right?


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[CaptMagellan]

Sometimes it's the extra pedals, custom amps, etc. that make a specific tone. Hendrix and Santana would have had a drastically different sound without their Electro-Harmonix Big Muff distortion pedals and they might have had a similar tone on a different guitar still with those pedals.

Also, Brian May... it was the custom amp (built by his dad if I'm remembering right?) that gave him that signature Brian May/Queen sound.

But with others, yeah... the guitar's gonna be key. I can't imagine Brian Setzer sounding like Setzer with a Strat. But that might be an hollowbody vs. solid body sort of thing.

[Spike-X]

Billy Duffy (of The Cult) managed to get a pretty heavy sound with a Gretsch Falcon.

And it was Brian May's guitar that was custom-built, not his amp (he uses Vox AC-30s).

[CaptMagellan]

Billy Duffy (of The Cult) managed to get a pretty heavy sound with a Gretsch Falcon.

And it was Brian May's guitar that was custom-built, not his amp (he uses Vox AC-30s).

I remember an article about his real early days... something about a custom amp setup that his dad and him built... it's the basic design that went into Vox's current "Brian May" amp. But maybe it WAS the guitar. I'll see if I can dig up the article to make sure I'm not misremembering.

[Adam Crocker]

Similarly, Gretsch guitars are associated with 1950s rockabilly and early British Invasion Merseybeat sounds, but can you imagine Jimmy Page or Tommy Iommi trying to do a heavy Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath riff on the kind of guitar that George Harrison used when the Beatles played the ED SULLIVAN SHOW in 1964?


No, but I can picture some playing heavily distorted noise rock on a Gretsch. Lou Reed played one in the Velvet Underground (and from the pictures I've seen this was back when John Cale was still a member) and I saw one of the members of Fly Pan Am play a Gretsch as well. (Strictly speaking they're a post-rock band, but the guitarists play white noise drones on their guitars.)

Besides the styles you mentioned above I also tend to associate the Gretsch sound with 50s country music, even if it is largely due to Chet Atkins.

The 70s post-punk band Television on the other hand I primarily associate with the clean, glass-like tones of Fender guitars. I have seen Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd have other guitars in their hands like a Danelectro or some guitars fitted with humbuckers that I cannot identify, but mostly its Fenders, something that both critics and the band themselves associate their sound with (besides vintage tub amplifiers). Lloyd tended to use a Stratocaster while Verlaine most mostly associated with the Jazz Master (though in recent years he seems to be using Strats, including one with a jazz master neck and lipstick tube pickups).

Interesting thing is, that while their choice of guitars weren't necessarily uncommon (except for the jaguar and jazz master back in the 70s) they had a pretty unique sound that I haven't heard anyone really come close to replicating.

[Adam Crocker]

Interestingly, no one has really tried. I really wonder if Eddie Van Halen could make "Eruption" work on John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325. When you get right down to it, a guitar is a guitar, right?

When you mentioned this B.A. I tried really hard to think of an example of a guitarist playing a Rickenbacker who either isn't from 60s pop or bases their music heavily on it. I couldn't think of anyone* until I remembered Guy Picciotto of Fugazi. I don't know if you have ever heard any of their work, but their early stuff is basically heavy, bonecrushing, yet arty (and very musical) punk rock based on twin guitar interplay and a thick layer of distortion that provides texture to the music. As far as I know Ian Mackaye (who played two Gibson SGs while in the band) and Piciotto split vocal and guitar work down the middle. Moreover, both of them claim heavy influence by 70s hardrock and Jimi Hendrix.

So if Piciotto can play crushing post-hardcore heavily based on white noise for texture on his 330, I guess that maybe EVH could make "Eruption" work on Lennon's old 325 with his standard set-up and maybe a good distortion pedal.

(* Okay besides the Edge, who only just occurred to me only as I say down to type this, though don't know what songs he has used a Rickenbacker on or what they sounded like. I've also seen a few pictures of Hubert Sumlin playing a Rickenbacker while Howlin' Wolf was performing back in the early 70s.)

[Hiromi]

Interestingly, no one has really tried. I really wonder if Eddie Van Halen could make "Eruption" work on John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325. When you get right down to it, a guitar is a guitar, right?


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

Not in the slightest, every guitar, even ones made by the same company, is to some extent different, depends on what wood was used, the strings, how its tuned, etc.

To put it another way, no two pieces of wood are identicle, therefore no two Guitars are identicle.

That said I think Eddie is a sensational enough Guitarists to pretty much do whatever he want with whichever axe he wants.

[howyadoin]

I tried really hard to think of an example of a guitarist playing a Rickenbacker who either isn't from 60s pop or bases their music heavily on it.This is cheating ('cause he's a bass player), but what about Lemmy?

[Adam Crocker]

This is cheating ('cause he's a bass player), but what about Lemmy?

To be honest, I didn't consider basses at all in this question since it focused entirely on guitars.

In which case the Rickenbacker bass seems like a very different matter since I've seen it pop everywhere besides just jangle pop bands (i.e.; Roger Waters, Peter Hook, Chris Squire, Paul Simonon in the Clash's early days).

[Punchy]

Interestingly, no one has really tried. I really wonder if Eddie Van Halen could make "Eruption" work on John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325. When you get right down to it, a guitar is a guitar, right?
[/COLOR]

Not at all. You see those Rickenbackers were what we call hollow-body guitars. The instrument is hollow to give it a different resonating quality. Eddie couldn't get the sound he did for "Eruption" from a hollow-body because of the amount of distortion and type of EQ required.

Same for the old Gretches. One thing I love about Paige is the sustain he gets from his axe, he wouldn't have that with a Gretch. And Zep's riffs wouldn't sound nearly as heavy.

Could they physically have done it? Sure. But the sound would be totally different. And sound is everything.

[Pinball]

I was recently thinking about so-called "jazz boxes" used in other modes besides jazz, and not sounding much like jazz either. Of course there's Scotty Moore and some other old time rock & roll cats with the Gibson L-5 type thing, and Ted Nugent put fear into many a picker's heart with a Byrdland. And then there's Geordie from Killer Joke, delivering that mean "Rumble" tone with a ES-175...