Eric Claptons Tone

[James Rock]

One of my favourite lead tones I have heard is eric claptons tone on (the george harrsion genius of a song) while my guitar gently weeps.
Does anyone know the exact gear he used for this song (I take it was a les paul into a marshall) and settings if known

 

[jimo]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

I believe he used a strat. Its has LOTS of whammy bar.----cheers!----JIMO

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

Wine Red Les Paul :wink:

http://www.fridhammar.com/londongear.html

Although I think it sounds really good with my Tele!

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Eric Clapton's Tone

Re: Eric Clapton's Tone

I believe he used a strat. Its has LOTS of whammy bar.----cheers!----JIMO

Clapton used Harrison's "Lucy" Les Paul. No whammy bar there either...not even a Leslie or any other guitar effect. Instead they used a studio flanging effect that involved "really wobbling the oscillator in the mix" according to George Martin's assistanat, Chris Thomas. A manual and very boring job that had a fantastic effect that's nearly impossible to reproduce live. Whammy bars, Leslie speakers or the like may get you close but you'll never get the exact same sound.

Martin was a genius.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

Talk about a guitar with a pedigree...

The guitar used to belong to John Sebastian of the Lovin' Spoonful- it then went to Rick Derringer- he removed the Bigsby and had it refinished to the red because his dad thought it looked too beat- it then went to Clapton and then George Harrison. Wowsers.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

I had seen him perform this Live for I believe the concert for Bangla Desh. He played this on a Gibson Arctop. I believe this was a Super 400 with 2 PAFs I am not certain about the model, but it was definatley a Gibson Archtop. As far as the record. I am uncertain, but I had read something to the effect that George handed him a Les PAul,

 

[jayK]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

BTW, why is Claptons "Cream" tone known as the "woman tone", which is that real thick, distorted sound. I've never heard the explanation of that.

 

[Armotron]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

BTW, why is Claptons "Cream" tone known as the "woman tone", which is that real thick, distorted sound. I've never heard the explanation of that.

I believe they got that name because they said it sounded like a woman's voice, for some reason.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

I had seen him perform this Live for I believe the concert for Bangla Desh. He played this on a Gibson Arctop. I believe this was a Super 400 with 2 PAFs I am not certain about the model, but it was definatley a Gibson Archtop. As far as the record. I am uncertain, but I had read something to the effect that George handed him a Les PAul,

The Bangla Desh guitar is/was a Super 400 body with (probably) a Byrdland neck.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

I had seen him perform this Live for I believe the concert for Bangla Desh. He played this on a Gibson Arctop. I believe this was a Super 400 with 2 PAFs I am not certain about the model, but it was definatley a Gibson Archtop. As far as the record. I am uncertain, but I had read something to the effect that George handed him a Les PAul,

I think the guitar for the live show was a Byrdland or ES-350. Shorter scale length than a Super 400. Looked like one of those anyway. Lew

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

"Sweet Cherry" is an entirely different guitar than "Lucy." "Sweet Cherry" is a 58 Les Paul that is/was owned by Ronn David, it was a special order guitar in that finish. "Lucy" is a 1957 former goldtop that was resprayed cherry red by Gibson.

 

[James Rock]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

i am confused was it "lucy" or "sweet cherry" used and was the amp a bluesbreaker

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

Lucy was used for the "...Gently Weeps" recording but I'm not sure what amp he used. It may actually have been a Fender amp; the Beatles had steered toward those amps during the Abbey Road sessions. But like I said, I'm not sure which amp he used.

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

I think the guitar for the live show was a Byrdland or ES-350. Shorter scale length than a Super 400. Looked like one of those anyway. Lew

It's been a while since I went through the Bangla Desh book, but that's definately a full size body, and it looked much like a Super 400. It also had a Super 400 tailpiece- with "Super 400" inscribed on it. The fingerboard also comes to a point where the end of the fingerboard meets the body like it does on a Byrdland. However, it has double paralellogram inlays, unlike any other Byrdland I've seen...

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Eric Claptons Tone

Meet Lucy:

Notice the discoloration of the wood in the top quarter or so of the guitar. It was supposed to have been a goldtop- which would have concealed the off center join and any differences in the two pieces of wood.