Grateful Dead Music Forum

Hey all, something that has been vexing me lately is what seems (sounds) to be two completely different preferences for Jerry regarding his action.

It has been widely documented that Jerry preferred high action on his electrics as he felt notes should be clean and clear and allowed to resonate.

It suddenly hit me that Jerry's acoustic persona is a completely different animal. The early stuff, for example the 1970 acoustic shows where he is on the Martin, the action sounds relatively high, or just about standard for an acoustic. In 1980, the sound really changes quite a bit. It is almost as if he intentionally is trying to get a little buzz as if to add some snarl and snap to the single note stuff. The epic Bird Songs from the Warfield and Radio City are good examples as he is working all over the fretboard. You can really hear the buzz, not a bad buzz, just what seems to be a deliberate action drop to generate a unique tone and timbre. I think he was on the Alvarez guitars in 1980 but I could be wrong. Was there something going on in his mic setupthat added something to the tone, or is it just lower action offering up that signature Jerry snap?

link to Radio City Birdsong: check out the snappiness from 3:30-4:30 or just kick back and listen to the whole thing. Seems to be a deliberate buzz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYA16z2-xFg

For a good example just listen to the opening notes of Arabia on the studio Garcia/Grisman disc. I think he was using the Gibson Super 400N there, the tone is amazing but definitely has some added buzz.

Anyone have any thoughts on all of this, I just find it pretty interesting that Jerry would have such a different approach to the acoustic. It could be as simple as him not wanting to overwork his fingers which can be easily done on a high action acoustic where you are playing tons of single notes. Or it could be a move for a distinct tone.

I think Jerry played a Takamine in the 80's gigs (Reckoning era). Later played the Alvarez cutaway with Grisman etc. I think both had piezo pickups which can create a buzzy sound. I also think that Jerry liked heavier strings on the acoustic and probably after years of playing the electric just didn't have the fingers to play high action on the acoustic. Finally -while he is a master - his acoustic chops were something that he even admitted he was always "trying to get back". Listen to the Pizza Tapes with Jer, Grisman and Tony Rice. You can easily tell who is soloing between Jer and Rice as Rice's tone and notes are so clean and Jer's still have a little sloppy buzz to them and are less assured. I think its just less time with the instrument. These are all just opinions.

Frankly, I can't stand to listen to the Reckoning acoustic set because the buzz and tone of Garcia's acoustic is just plain annoying. No other acoustic Garcia is anything close to this buzzing. Its also the worst acoustic tone ever. The ultra low action just killed his sound on those shows. My theory is that since he was going from electric to acoustic back to back in the same eveining, and not just a couple acoustic songs but a whole set, that he didn't want to fatigue himself on acoustic with two sets of electric to follow. Playing a high action acoustic is much more fatiguing than an electric. And swithching to electric is not that easy right after you've been playing acoustic, you tend to lose that light touch/feel and overplay the electric.