Re: Jake E Lee tone
Here's a recent interview with Jake that confirms some of the things that have been said in this post. The rest of it is at the Dinosaur Rock Guitar website
I've seen discussions on various message boards regarding what pick-ups Jake is using and asked him to straighten the matter out.
"The single coils have always been DiMarzio SDS1's, the only great sounding pickup I think they ever made. The humbucker was at one time a Duncan Holdsworth prototype, but mostly it's been a Duncan Jeff Beck. Presently I'm trying out different pickups. Don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but hopefully I'll know when I hear it. I've always loved the sound of P-90's and Lipsticks, but they can be so noisy it ultimately becomes grating, same as my old Uni-Vibe. I loved the glassy, liquid sound I got from it, but it was so noisy I'd avoid using it. I ended up selling it because of that, even though I've yet to hear anyone else's version of it come close to sounding as good," he says.
Another thing I've noticed is Jake is never using a whammy bar. How come?
"Back in '75 my only guitar was a Gibson SG standard and I wanted to add a Strat, so I worked at a local music store in exchange for any Strat in the store. I thought they all came with wiggle-sticks, but when I went through all the guitars, about 20, to find the one I liked the best, there was one without the bar that sounded way better than any of the others. That's the one that became my favorite. Later it was repainted by my roommate who worked in the Charvel paint shop. Ever since, I've felt that any tremolo (vibrato, really) system on a guitar takes away from the tone, at least the tone I'm looking for."
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