Very advanced beginner.....

[sumgai]

WARNING! Music known to cynical1 to cause nausea is involved. If your name is c1, or if you are offended by Country/Western music, you have been warned.



Every once in awhile I get a burr under my saddle blanket and go out looking for trouble. This time I stubbed my toe on a video of a steel guitar player who can remain nameless, because I want to point out the guitar used in this group.... it's a Nutz version of a Fender Mustang, which you'll all recall was a Student Model with a 22" scale neck. Check it out:

(The guitarist we want to check out comes in at 0:54 seconds.)





Note three things:

a) the two additional knobs where Fender had blank scratch plate;
b) the Neck pup is not stock, nor in the stock layout position; and
c) the "reverse" bend of the whammy bar.


Further perusal reveals that this was in 1970, quite a ways before most of you Nutz were born!


Doesn't hurt either, that the guy is well qualified. Jazz flavorings (straight out of Jimmy Bryant's playbook) mixed right in there, which in the 70's had lost favor with most recording artists/labels. The rest of the video is "meh". (But don't go away, I've got plenty more of that ready for posting in the very near future, coming soon to a browser near you!. )





sumgai

[cynical1]

OK, I took my Dolasetron and checked out the clip.

I agree, the guy is well qualified. So, what's the speculation? Are the two additional knobs for the neck pickup? Good catch on the whammy bar.

Interesting. Well, the meds are wearing off...back to some Albert Collins...

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[sumgai]

My guess? I'd say he modded the whole setup into a 2V-2T (1 ea per pup). The slide switches may still be active for quick changes, and for the OoP value (which crops up once in awhile in C/W as a trademark "sound").

The Mustang always had a pair of pups, ditto the DuoSonic. It was the MusicMaster that had only one pup, in the Neck position. Later reissues didn't always follow this pattern, but when we were on a tear, back in the 60s, student models appealed to parents (less investment), but more than one pickup was required for the "cool factor", or else the kid didn't bother.

HTH





sumgai

[Deleted]

I remember SG had posted a black&white video of some folk/country american guitarist (i dont recall his name) who in addition to being a very very good player he also was very funny when playing. Great talent. Same goes for the fender mustang player here (besides the mods/nuts related stuff). I was blown away by John 5 (former marilyn manson) and his telecaster playing. Fantastic american/folk stuff.

[ux4484]

Now going upstairs to see if I can get something approaching that sparky tone...

[sumgai]

Aug 22, 2013 9:46:49 GMT -5 ux4484 said:

Now going upstairs to see if I can get something approaching that sparky tone...

May I suggest that you use both hands, swapping between the two before RSI sets in.....


gd, I'm 99% sure you're thinking of Roy Clark, a true legend in the entertainment business.

So just for you gd, let's swing the other way around and go from legendary old farts to the new talent. I was gonna hold this for a few weeks yet, but now's as good a time as any, I guess.

'dude, just because you like/want/crave/demand sustain so much, I'm gonna have to advise you that you're playing the wrong instrument! Here, try this:





For sure not your particular style of music, but no one can deny that she's putting her heart and soul into it, let alone some fine skill.


On the other hand, if you want both sustain and shred like it was invented to mean, then you can't do both any better than this pair of players:





Note that this was in black & white because it was from a show called Hometown Jamboree, in something like 1956 or thereaboots. I wanted to show that they had a rapport that couldn't be more amazing than if they'd been born as twins. Also, this was one of the few live videos from that period, what else I'm about to link have only still images. That give-and-take between them was half the show, IMO.

Additionally, in the above vid you can see one more thing that explains some of the tones coming from the steel guitar - see how Speedy hits the strings once in awhile, towards the middle of the neck? Watch and listen closely - he's hitting a harmonic, almost exactly like what we call a "pinch harmonic", only it's quick - damned quick! And then he slides the bar up the neck, holding that harmonic tone. That's what I call craftsmanship.


But my alltime favorite by the duo is The Stratosphere Boogie. Watch out for those jazz-chord changes!:





Who needs caffeine?!

I could post more of 'em, but I'm sure you can do your own lookups, if yer interested.


OK, that's it, back to the Salt Mine for me. Later!






sumgai

[ux4484]

Heh... In the middle of Flying high, Jimmy switches pups and the click through the amp is a rhythmic device it's so in time.

[newey]

it's a Nutz version of a Fender Mustang, which you'll all recall was a Student Model with a 22" scale neck.

OK, here comes the G-Nutz2 Certified Stickler for Minute Details . . .

. . .who, without wanting to correct 'gai or go all judgmental, feels compelled to correct the record.

Mustangs were first issued in 1965 with a choice of either a 22.5" scale (which was the same as the '50s-era Musicmaster and Duo-Sonics), or with a 24" scale (same as a Jaguar). That same year, the Musicmaster and Duo-sonic were rejiggered as the "Musicmaster II" and "Duo-Sonic II", likewise with the same choice of scales.

Virtually all of the Mustangs produced had the 24" scale; 22.5" versions are pretty rare. I didn't check the video close enough to see which version was in the video, but I'd bet on the 24" (the longer scale had an extra fret).

Later, the Mustang was only available with the 24" scale, and I think the reissues as likewise 24". AFAIK, Fender has never issued a 22" scale guitar.

[/history lesson]

[sumgai]

newey,

Perhaps a stroll down History Lane would be enlightening, eh?


web.archive.org/web/20090513113416/http://fendermustangstory.com/default.htm


The website in question doesn't seem to be coming up right now (and I can't be arsed to check out why), so I grabbed an archival copy from Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. In essence, it comports with my memory at the time, although I admit to forgetting that it also came in the Jaguar scale length of 24".

I was working in the local music store's shipping/receiving department slash storehouse slash workshop, doing simple amp repairs like replacing speakers and such, so I saw just about everything that came through the doors. I'm no longer certain if we carried that model in both scale lengths, or in only one of them. I do recall that we had about a dozen Strats, another dozen Teles, and several JMs, Jags, a few less Mustangs and Duo-Sonics, and something like 10 or 12 basses, split between the two models. Of course I was a Fender-holic at the time and didn't pay any attention to any other brand of instrument, so I can't say what else was hanging off the walls.....

Later in life, after leaving the Army, I encountered a 22½" Mustang in a pawn shop, well used/abused, and copped it for 50 smackers. Put in a couple of mini-humbuckers (genuine articles, this was before Duncan, DiMarzio, etc.) and it sounded pretty good. Enough so that I sold it for $225 to a friend who was in love with it, less than a year later.

Other life adventures aboound, but not for repetition at this time.

HTH





sumgai

[gumbo]

I think my neck size is 42..
...wait.. I'll take the shirt off and check...

[newey]

I had forgotten that Fender later contoured the body on the Mustang. That was about the time I got into guitars, and I badly wanted a Mustang but couldn't afford one. But I didn't want the new "Competition Mustangs" 'cause I thought the racing stripe was hokey-looking.

A while back, Squier was making a '59 Duo-sonic "reissue" (not really accurate, but it looked the part). I played one of these a while back and I really liked it. They do have the really glossy neck finish, which some don't like.

They don't make them anymore, but I see them on Ebay in the $225 range. I may have to add one to the stable soon.