Grateful Dead Music Forum

If you feel the wood is nice and resonant you could always swap out the electronics for new pickups and a 50’s wiring harness….I just had a great experience doing as such with my Strat. The guys over at Fralin are really great if you explain what you’re after with some tone examples.

@slewfoot2000 you were definitely spot on about the full hollowbodies for that jazzy 73/74 sound. I swapped one of my Fender style guitars for an Ibanez AMH90. It has a switch that allows you to toggle between series and parallel modes on the neck humbucker. Pretty happy with the sound I can get out of it set to series mode with the tone knob rolled most of the way up. Have the twin set to 10 on treble, 7.5 on mids, 3 on bass, with the volume turned down and the guitar’s volume cranked up. I’m also strumming without a pick, which I think really helps get that more droney sound. I’m gonna need to eventually get a phase pedal of some sort too as that’s what comes to mind when I think of Bobby’s playing in 73

I did a little sound clip of Black Throated Wind [url] https://on.soundcloud.com/LdZ5dEDXcCnJVjbW9[/url]

So I was in TR Crandall (one of NYC’s top guitar shops) the other day. I was able to briefly play a 1961 and 1964 ES-335. Gotta say, those were like night and day compared to my 1966. The sound on those is so much bigger and softer. They both were much more 73/74 Bobby who used a 1959 it seems. Mine is much brighter and sharper.

Why is that?

Well, the way I see it there are two factors at play. One is simply the luck of the draw of the wood on each guitar. Nothing we can do about that.

The second thought does have to do with quality control. By 1966 the guitar boom from bands like The Beatles, Stones, etc was in full swing. In 1961, Gibson shipped 886 of the 335. Then in 1964 it was 1241. By 1966 it was 2524 and then 1967 basically doubled that. The factories just couldn’t keep up with the demand. So QC had to have suffered up and down the line.

Bobby’s Cherry 335 he used in 71/72 was apparently a 1967 so it makes sense that it sounds similar to mine in brightness…I am curious to hear other Casinos from 1966 era and how they compare to the one I use. Maybe I lucked out with a good one. Or maybe that tone is standard for those. We’ll see!

Just had a bit of a revelation regarding Bob’s sound in 73 / 74.

I recently got a new 335 that I love from the mid-80’s with Tim Shaw humbuckers and an upgraded harness with proper wiring from back in the day. As with previous similar guitars it was feeling too bright for that warm 73 / 74 sound. I was messing around with the settings on my vintage Deluxe Reverb and around 3 on treble and 3 on bass seemed to get close enough. The pickups position in the middle with each tone knob set in the 6 - 8 zone. It was close. But still not quite there and I got to looking more closely at his Furman PQ-3 (below) he was using at the time. It doesn’t have normal bass / treble controls, but things involving frequencies and bandwidth. It got me thinking about compression.

I hooked up an Analogman Ross style compressor with volume on low and sustain on high and wham! That really seemed to help. Provided more clear warmth by not having the high strings jangle too much which you can hear in Bob’s 72 era stuff.

Another option I found to work well is a Klon Klone set to more of a seasoning effect than actual gain. I have a Warm Audio version with Analogman mods that works well. Just need to be subtle with it or the gain and mids can get too pronounced.

It’s all about that balanced warmth in that era to my ears!

Feel free to give these a try!