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PART 15 "THE FAB SIXTIES A.K.A. THE GLORY YEARS PART 7" (lotīs of Beatles gear)
Gee, now we can get back to one of the most important time periods of musical history...the Sixties.LATE BREAKING NEWS FLASH!
I received a call today from a guy in Florida who happened to be recording at Abbey Road Studios in London at the same time The Beatles were doing their "White Album" and "Abbey Road" records.
Tom Hartman of Boca Raton used to be in a band called "The Aerovons" that were based out of St. Louis, Missouri. Their band was extremely popular during 1966-1969. This information should dispel some of the myths about what equipment The Beatles used for some of their more well-known songs as Tom befriended George Harrison during the "Aerovons" three-month stay in London. He got answers straight from the horse's mouth, not mention others such as producer George Martin and tape operator Alan Parsons as well engineer Geoff Emerick, too.
On top of that, it's what Tom SAW that really solves quite a few questions. I stated before that we would analyze some of the Beatles' songs. Well, let's start by listing some of the familiar instruments that the "Fab Four" used, as well as some of the not-so-familiar ones that were used.
John Lennon's favorite axe was the Epiphone Casino model equipped with the "dog-ear" P-90 single- coil pickups. This guitar was Epiphone's answer to the Gibson ES-330. It is a fact that John used his familiar Rickenbacker 325 three-quarter scale six- string at the start, but once he got his hands on the Epiphone, he couldn't take them off the darn thing! Three of the Beatles had one of these Casino guitars, but Paul's had a Bigsby vibrato on it while John had a non- vibrato model. These instruments were used heavily in the rhythm department by the mid-Sixties, but they were also relied upon quite a bit for a few of their neater tunes in the lead guitar's role in addition to some guitar "fill" parts.
For example, the lead fills by Paul on "Help"'s "Another Girl" and the end tail-out was indeed the Bigsby-equipped Casino. Also, Paul's lead solo in "Ticket to Ride" was the Epiphone, too! From this account, George did not use his Casino all that much as compared to the other guys. How about this? "Nowhere Man" was recorded using two Fender Stratocasters with the toggle- switch jammed in-between the middle and bridge pickups with a bit of heavy compression and a bit of top-end added at the desk! Sounds like Mark Knopfler's "tone" before "Dire Straits" came to be, doesn't it? Those clever guys!
Another great example of "winging it" and coming up with a cool sound in the process. Also, remember that these Strats did not have the flexible ability of the later five-way switch! As far as amps, I've been told that they had used Vox AC-100s in the studio as well as a bunch of other things. One fellow sent me a great photograph of a studio session where John's side had a Black-face Fender Showman (in piggyback) along with what looks like a Deluxe Reverb and a Twin Reverb (all in Black-face). In the same picture, you can see a Vox 7120 on the other side with Vox P.A. columns which were used so they could hear any orchestrations to the song. So, the guys were using a combination of the hybrid tube solid-state amps as well as straight tube gear. We also know now that they used Neumann U-47s, U-67 and U-48 tube microphones for everything in the studio. This makes complete sense when you hear the warmth and clarity of the sounds on tape.
Other interesting facts; George used an SG Standard for the signature riff to "Paperback Writer" and other songs during the "Rubber Soul" period around 1965. Tom really believes that the hybrid 7120 Vox amp with it's MRB control (midrange boost) in the distortion circuit of this amp could really fool you because of the control's ability to completely change the sound of any guitar and "mask" it's real obvious tonal characteristics.
The S.G. was also used for the song "Rain" for the sustaining chords during the chorus, as well as for the rhythm guitar parts. "Doctor Robert" from the "Revolver" album kinda smells of the S.G., too. For acoustics, it was relatively simple; Gibson J-160E's were used for most songs miked up with the Neumanns. The only song that the guitar's built-in pickup was used for was for "P.S. I Love You" according to this source. That wouldn't surprise me at all since those guitars had a thin sound due to their very thick tops. I've heard the reissue J-160E has a much thinner top, so it will sound much bigger.
A German-made Framus 12-string of no particular model other than it was possibly made in the `60s, was used for the "Help" track. Maybe someone out there knows which model that Framus is, you never know sometimes!! This instrument was also seen in the movie of the same name for "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (the couch scene).
Electric 12-strings were of course Rickenbacker double-bound 360s as far as I know ("Ticket to Ride", "You Can't do That", etc.). Paul first used his Ricky bass on "Paperback Writer". Another photo shows Paul playing this guitar for the bass line to "Lady Madonna" through a Vox amp. It's also known that Paul played through a blonde Bassman as well. Those amps probably sounded waay better than the Vox units. One of the coolest guitars sounds the Beatles ever made was the lead solo to "Good Morning, Good Morning" from "Sergeant Pepper" done on a Fender Esquire by Paul. You could always tell when Paul played lead, because of that "sitar" influence. My guess is either that solo was a Selmer amp with an external fuzz-box like the "Maestro" unit, or the guitar being run through that distortion circuit of the Vox 7120. What a screamin' tone! I still love it, especially the last three notes.
I believe that "Taxman" could of been that same Esquire, except this time his solo was played through a smaller AC-30 Top Boost amplifier. "Yesterday" was recorded using an Epiphone "Texan" along with the string section. "Michelle" was Paul playing a Martin Dreadnought (I believe a D-18 or D-28) it sure doesn't sound at all like those Gibson J-160Es, that's for sure! By the time the "White Album" was on the record store shelf, the group had switched to Fender amps for the vast majority of their final recordings.
The Vox 7120 amp's fuzz-tone circuit had been introduced due to the influence of say, the "Rolling Stones'" hit "Satisfaction" in an effort to improve upon fuzz-tones of the time, but after their short reign, Jim Marshall had already begun to do "his thing", which of course was the new sound for a new era. Tom Hartman remembers opening up a couple of the Beatles' guitar cases to find a red Les Paul Standard and John's famous 325 during the sessions for the "White Album". He also recalls seeing John's Fender Deluxe and a blonde piggyback amp of some sort hanging around. The red Les Paul can be seen on the "Let it Be" album photos.
Okay, let's talk about the strings that were used as stock on the Rickenbacker 12-strings at the time. They were equipped with flat-wounds of German origin ( Maxima, I'm pretty certain). Again, these flats have a tremendous amount of tension, so if you think Wes Montgomery had a problem with six strings, think again!! I get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome just thinking about it! There have been many advances in string winding machinery over the past few decades, and we'll explore the changes in design and technique of string manufacturing in the very near future. Once we get into that, then you'll really understand the evolution we've been going through. Let's just say that the strings around the Beatles first appearance were REAL stiff and HARD to play comfortably.
That's why us old guys have such calloused finger tips...we had to grind our teeth to learn how to play in the first place! Our kids really have it easy, because of the lighter gauges available today. The only problem is, is that a lot of string companies have all these silly and downright stupid gimmicks to make you want to buy their strings. You see so much "hype", and when you actually try them out, they don't live up to their claims. Sad but true! If all of these big corporate companies started to put their money into their product instead of worrying about their profit margin, the situation would be better for all of us. Passion for an art-form is really where it's at! Enough said...
Mr. Hartman told me a really funny story about a question he asked George Martin about the song "A Hard Day's Night". Tom had bought all the right equipment to duplicate the sound of this song ( Vox amplifiers, Hofner bass, the right strings, guitars, etc) after listening to this song for about three years. He hadn't been able to recapture the exact sound of the record. When he asked George about the recording techniques et al, George (with folded arms and half-smiling) replied " Well, first of all, it's a really good song, wasn't it?!! Tom said "Yeah, it is a good song!" That comment has remained with him to this day and rightfully so.
The SONG was the thing, and any amount of equipment in the world would not duplicate it simply because the song's structure was the entire key to it. All the other stuff was just "paint" according to George Martin! Well, you can put the nail in that one. I hope that this column clears up a lot of confusion regarding this subject. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. If it works, use it! It shouldn't be long before the new books on the Beatles' gear come out in print, so we'll keep you posted. Many thanks to Tom Hartman for being so kind in helping us get more facts, I feel that telephone call was just destined to occur...not bad for a guy who wanted to ask me a couple of questions about what would sound nice on his Gretsch Tennessean. God, the things that happen around here really make me wonder sometimes...
One last comment about the strings that the Beatles used, they used anything that would work whether they were flat-wound or round-wound. Listen real carefully for "finger-noise" and that will pretty much tell you what was used on which song. Besides, that exercise alone will help your ear out more than you even know! Before we sign off, I would like to thank Bruce Zinky of the Fender amplifier Custom Shop for participating in our interviews. See you next month with more crazy stuff.
Copyright 1995 by Dean L. Farley
Reprinted from "Vintage Guitar" May 1995 issue.