Re: I just don't understand all the EVH tone fascination
I found that most tones from his era were lacking somewhere in the tonal spectrum. Too bright, too middy/honky, etc. He really shored up the EQ and produced tones that were more 'full range' for the time. His ability to excite a Marshall unlike anybody since Hendrix deserves notice, since EVERYBODY used Marshalls except for Brian May, Ted Nugent and a few others. He took junk guitars, plugged them into old, used Marshalls and changed the way most viewed playing guitar at that time. Some even gave up and retired after he came on. Others tried to copy him.
String gauge? Gimme a break. Using fat strings on a guitar is like swinging at a pitch with three bats. The ability to hit a ball with three bats doesn't make you a superior baseball player... neither does using huge strings. As mentioned, plenty of guitar giants used and still use light gauge strings and get the fattest tones around. EVH's hand strength is legendary. That things that he pulled off on nylon stinged guitars or whatever, required extreme finger dexterity and strength. On the other hand, he chose not to "fight" the guitar but for it to do exactly what he wanted it to do, crazy sting bends or whatever. The string gauge folks who think bigger strings mean "bigger tones" are lacking "somewhere else"... if you know what I mean.
I found that most tones from his era were lacking somewhere in the tonal spectrum. Too bright, too middy/honky, etc. He really shored up the EQ and produced tones that were more 'full range' for the time. His ability to excite a Marshall unlike anybody since Hendrix deserves notice, since EVERYBODY used Marshalls except for Brian May, Ted Nugent and a few others. He took junk guitars, plugged them into old, used Marshalls and changed the way most viewed playing guitar at that time. Some even gave up and retired after he came on. Others tried to copy him.
String gauge? Gimme a break. Using fat strings on a guitar is like swinging at a pitch with three bats. The ability to hit a ball with three bats doesn't make you a superior baseball player... neither does using huge strings. As mentioned, plenty of guitar giants used and still use light gauge strings and get the fattest tones around. EVH's hand strength is legendary. That things that he pulled off on nylon stinged guitars or whatever, required extreme finger dexterity and strength. On the other hand, he chose not to "fight" the guitar but for it to do exactly what he wanted it to do, crazy sting bends or whatever. The string gauge folks who think bigger strings mean "bigger tones" are lacking "somewhere else"... if you know what I mean.
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