Subject: Brian's Gretsch Baritone Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:10 pm
Hello all! Anyone know what kind of strings Brian slaps on his Gretsch C baritone? I hear a lot of bending going on songs like Mystery Train (live from Japan DVD). TIA
I was thinking the same thing but it looks and sounds (live from Japan DVD) like an unwound third. D's and all I've come across have a wound third. I'd love to know if he's even using a baritone set or just a heavy gauge standard set tuned down.
gretschoholic
Posts : 455 Join date : 2008-04-19 Age : 55 Location : Elverum, Norway
I've used heavier gauge strings on my baritone guitar, and IMO bending a wound third isn't as hard as you'd think. Now, THAT is something somebody should've asked at those meet n' greets....
Now, THAT is something somebody should've asked at those meet n' greets....
How about it?
That tone on Mystery Train (LIJ) has me gassing for a b-tar. I have the DVD and I swear it looks like an unwound 3rd. He might use those D's and makes a set with an unwound? I'm guessing he's tuned to C? Funny thing it don't look like that guitar has a Magnatron in the neck like the production models.
I just checked the DVD, and to me it looks like a wound third. If you pause Mystery Train at the 0:19 mark and look at the string on the headstock, it's pretty easy to see. Not as easy on YOUTUBE as on the DVD, of course...
IF he uses the EXL158 set, the third string is a wound .026. The same gauge unwound is a whole lot harder to bend, since the core of the wound .026 is a lot thinner than a plain .026.
I don't think there are Magna'Trons on that guitar either, but as far as I remember reading somewhere, that's a TV Jones prototype, made BEFORE Gretsch started building them (and before TV Jones ultimately started building'em themselves), and it's likely that they've changed the specs.
BTW; Rick, I think that's a different SpectraSonic. It has a Gretsch headstock, while the one he used on the LIJ-DVD has a brown faceplate and no Gretsch-logo.
Here's some more derailing, with Brian's double-necked guitar. Not a baritone guitar, but a great, low-end sound. (And it kinda goes with the Mark Dubya Winchester topic down in the cave):
Come Back '68 Comeback-a-billy
SnorkelMonkey
Posts : 12 Join date : 2010-01-03
Subject: Re: Brian's Gretsch Baritone Thu Jan 07, 2010 7:30 am
Great stuff guys. Thanks for all your help!
Love that use of a double neck Dano. I never thought of using one like that. Pretty cool.
tvthewiredturtle
Posts : 3646 Join date : 2008-04-20 Age : 59 Location : so cal.
Setzer is using Rich Modica's Baritone in that video and at that time it was strung with D'addario .013-.060 strings.
Setzer first took delivery of his own Tvjones built C-melody baritone that is lime green with herringbone binding. Tom told me he found the wood for setzer's baritone body in the trash behind a furniture store.
Both these early guitars are not built of the same woods that Gretsch licensed from tom jones and manufacturered first through Hamer guitars and then the Gretsch Terada factory. The Gretsch versions use an alder body with a spruce top, mahogany neck with paduak fretboard.
i'll find that darn pict of the lime green and post it in a few
Brian drags out the baritone now and again when he performs I Won't Stand In Your Way.
Kansas City, 31 July 2007
Ahhh, that must be this guitar. I knew it was tuned differently so it would better fit his vocal range after his "balls dropped" (Brian's words, not mine). But it's definitely not a baritone guitar, like he used for Mystery Train on the 2001 Japanese tour. My mistake.
It might be the lighting but that one looks like it has a black headstock. The one on LIJ had a brown one, but it might be the same one? I'm pretty sure that is a baritone in that shot. The scale length looks longer than standard.
No, Brett, actually I'm not sure. I'll take your word for it. I don't play guitar, but as soon as the Falcon was mentioned, I could have sworn that was the guitar I saw. But the body type looks different from a Falcon, now that I look at it again. I'll revert to my first answer: Baritone. I'm betting that if he used it in 2001 and 2007, he probably used it in 2004 as well.
I should let the guitarists talk about the gear, and I'll stick to nurturing my early Alzheimer's.
Guitarded-billy
tvthewiredturtle
Posts : 3646 Join date : 2008-04-20 Age : 59 Location : so cal.
Brian drags out the baritone now and again when he performs I Won't Stand In Your Way.
Kansas City, 31 July 2007
Ahhh, that must be this guitar. I knew it was tuned differently so it would better fit his vocal range after his "balls dropped" (Brian's words, not mine). But it's definitely not a baritone guitar, like he used for Mystery Train on the 2001 Japanese tour. My mistake.
Never Mind.
Jump, Jive, and Derail-a-billy
Brian is holding the C-melody. From the neck length and seperation of pkups from eachother its evident(as opposed to the standard scale Lead model). Yes my friends this is a Baritone guitar but not in the traditional sense..
This guitar is a "C-Melody-Baritone". In laymans terms it lets the guitarist/singer play in a standard scale "format" which is EADGBA so if Brian has a song where he is playing in say an "open E" chord position. he is actually playing then in the key of C.
As you say, when your ballz drop.. you cannot sing with the range you once had and this guitar not only lets setzer do that it also creates a huge low mids sonic palette not afforded on a standard scale neck. On this particular guitar through a Fender blonde bassman..the pair is made for eachother and in the video it is sonically evident because it sounds like a freakin piano freighttrain.
Scale on the Spectrasonic G6144 C-melody Baritone is 29 1/2, standard Spectrasonic lead model is 24.6 In the Live in Japan Video, that particular one(natural headstock) was built by Tvjones for Rich Modica and Brian took it on tour. Brian subsequently has a few of his own.. In the picture you see here, this is a gretsch model..whether or not this one was built early on by Tom Jones of Tvjones, or by Hamer (gretsch had hamer guitars making the first models before they ended up with final production at the Gretsch Japan-terada factory) I'm not certain. Brian Also has a tvjones custom model made for him in Lime..
tidbit from a tvjones interview: Q: When was the first Spectra Sonic designed?
TVJ: Back in about 1994 my friend Paul Ackling, who works for producer T Bone Burnett, brought me an old K guitar to repair. It had a similar look, a very large body with a flat top and I was intrigued by the way it felt and looked. I wanted to design a guitar that was similar to that, one that was lighter with large chambers. Something with a classic quality to it, not a retro look, but just a classic look. I started drawing a big boxy body and I wanted it to have good access in the upper register. I thought it would be cool to have a large stylish pick guard with a finishing touch, sort of a tuxedo look. I think the pick guard shape kind of resembles the shape of the state of Texas. Paul Ackling owns the first original Spectra-Sonic. He was working for John Fogerty in the 1990s and Johnny Cash was at one of the shows. He noticed Paul’s Spectra-Sonic and he loved it. He thought it had a great look. Paul had Johnny sign the pick guard. So Johnny Cash’s signature is on the very first Spectra-Sonic!
Q: I recall seeing a few photos of Brian Setzer with a Spectra Sonic.
TVJ: Brian played the first Spectra-Sonic Baritone that I made for his technician Rich Modica. Rich brought it over to Brian’s house one day and Brian flipped. He asked to borrow it for a tour. I believe that was back in 2000. He used it the whole tour. Fred Gretsch was in the audience one night in Atlanta, Georgia. He saw Brian play it. Right after that I talked to Fred about Gretsch Guitars producing the Spectra-Sonic.
Q: What about the green Spectra-Sonic you made for Brian Setzer?
TVJ: Oh yeah! He has a TV Jones lime-green metallic Spectra Sonic that I made back in 1999.
That Lime green spectra sonic with the single f-hole is killer! I'd love to have a spectra sonic in silver sparkle ala silver jet.
I think that Live In Japan clip of Mystery Train solidified my lust for a Spectra Sonic. The tone of the C-Melody and blonde were just about as fantastic as tone can get. I couldn't really get a C-melody, because I wanted a standard guitar. The (Gretsch branded) Spectra Sonic lead is great though, but since I don't have a blonde yet (or Brian's talent) I can't produce that twanginess...but that also probably due to the longer/snappier neck and scale and the pickups. I can get into more Brit-pop and 80's Tom Petty land, or crank it for some psuedo ZZ Top with the spectra sonic and my TopHat Club Royale.
need some more low mids thwap -n- growl
tvthewiredturtle
Posts : 3646 Join date : 2008-04-20 Age : 59 Location : so cal.
That Lime green spectra sonic with the single f-hole is killer! I'd love to have a spectra sonic in silver sparkle ala silver jet.
I think that Live In Japan clip of Mystery Train solidified my lust for a Spectra Sonic. The tone of the C-Melody and blonde were just about as fantastic as tone can get. I couldn't really get a C-melody, because I wanted a standard guitar. The (Gretsch branded) Spectra Sonic lead is great though, but since I don't have a blonde yet (or Brian's talent) I can't produce that twanginess...but that also probably due to the longer/snappier neck and scale and the pickups. I can get into more Brit-pop and 80's Tom Petty land, or crank it for some psuedo ZZ Top with the spectra sonic and my TopHat Club Royale.
need some more low mids thwap -n- growl
it actually in your guitar, you just dont have the right amp to bring out the full spectrum. the club royale tophat amp is a very very lean sounding amp mostly because of its small openback 212 design. I guarantee when the spectrasonic goes into a normal channel of the blonde bassman and out of a closeback 212 bassman (not any old closeback) cab with V30s( these are heavily doped high output rock speakers) your guitar will cause your pants to wave at you. Plus twang the hell out of your ears like you aint heard yet. yeeehaaa
That Lime green spectra sonic with the single f-hole is killer! I'd love to have a spectra sonic in silver sparkle ala silver jet.
I think that Live In Japan clip of Mystery Train solidified my lust for a Spectra Sonic. The tone of the C-Melody and blonde were just about as fantastic as tone can get. I couldn't really get a C-melody, because I wanted a standard guitar. The (Gretsch branded) Spectra Sonic lead is great though, but since I don't have a blonde yet (or Brian's talent) I can't produce that twanginess...but that also probably due to the longer/snappier neck and scale and the pickups. I can get into more Brit-pop and 80's Tom Petty land, or crank it for some psuedo ZZ Top with the spectra sonic and my TopHat Club Royale.
need some more low mids thwap -n- growl
it actually in your guitar, you just dont have the right amp to bring out the full spectrum. the club royale tophat amp is a very very lean sounding amp mostly because of its small openback 212 design. I guarantee when the spectrasonic goes into a normal channel of the blonde bassman and out of a closeback 212 bassman (not any old closeback) cab with V30s( these are heavily doped high output rock speakers) your guitar will cause your pants to wave at you. Plus twang the hell out of your ears like you aint heard yet. yeeehaaa
TWAAAANG! I don't know how I used to think this was a bad thing back when I first started playing?
I've come to the conclusion that I'll probably be a one amp guy, and the blonde 6G6-B bassman is it. It seems that maybe a hotplate would help out in gigging situations (ok maybe a vintage deluxe or princeton would be in order?). The 2x12 bassman cab is a definite. I always wonderd about speakers. It seems like some guys are going nutty for a blonde bassman and cele golds. V30's are just the ultimate rock speaker, though...do the treble damper mod to the bass channel and you pretty much have a rock rig that will take you from NYC to Nashville through Chicago down to TX and on to the sunset strip...and maybe take you through the Pac Northwest?
I will hold off doing anything to the spectra sonic until then
mjcodina
Posts : 273 Join date : 2008-09-22 Age : 38 Location : Salt Lake City, UT
A very lightweight guitar, easy to play and the sound somewhere between a 6120 and a Duojet. I had the opportunity to play it at the Hamburg Vintage show last year. (or the year before?) But it is not a baritone anymore.
I'm Incinerator
Posts : 507 Join date : 2009-01-27
Subject: Re: Brian's Gretsch Baritone Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:48 am
Brett wrote:
A very lightweight guitar, easy to play and the sound somewhere between a 6120 and a Duojet. I had the opportunity to play it at the Hamburg Vintage show last year. (or the year before?) But it is not a baritone anymore.
While, I've never played a filtertron equipped duojet. I can see where that might hold true about the spectra sonic that I have. It also has a good amount of tele characteristics, and if you roll back the tone, it slays my les paul studio for tone and playability. Not to mention there is a mysterious rickenbacker-ness about it.
I've heard that a TV brand Spectra Sonic baritone is in the works.
I'd love to try out that Model 10 he has as well.
SnorkelMonkey
Posts : 12 Join date : 2010-01-03
Subject: Re: Brian's Gretsch Baritone Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:07 am
Brett wrote:
the sound somewhere between a 6120 and a Duojet.
What you're saying is basically it sounds like an ES-335 with Filtertrons in it?
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Subject: Brian's Gretsch Baritone 
Wed Jan 06, 2010 3:10 pm
no offense, 
