Keith Richards Tone

[Chrismo]

There's been a lot of debate as to what pickups make up Keef's tone.

I've heard everything from a Duncan '59 to a Seth Lover to a Gibson styled PAF in the neck, to a Duncan Broadcaster to a Fred Stuart Lap Wrap in the bridge.

Has anyone else tried getting his sound? To me, that is THE essential tone for a humbucker equipped Telecaster.

To me, a Duncan 59 is loud, rounded and warm, but just doesn't sound vintage enough to my ears, at least for this type of sound.

 

[beandip]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Any good PAF styled pickup (from any maker) will get you close. There's also the Fender Twins sometimes driven with Marshalls (amp is always half the equation), the individual brass saddles and brass bridge plate.

I'd say an Ant I in the neck and a CS Broadcaster Ant in the bridge will get you extremely close as well as the mods stated above.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

The bucker he uses is an early PAF but he puts the adjustable poles towards the bridge!!! Maybe use a chrome covered bridge Seth!

Bridge pickup may or may not be the original on his '52 tele... prolly is tho.

I am a huge Keef fan. I have used the Fender alnico III nocaster reissue set and can get pretty close as far as the bridge pickup tone. The neck humbucker middle position plays a big part.

The brass bridge setup is a big part. maple fretboard!!! He uses different string gauges on his main Open G axe, which is the guitar in question...

Remember he used an all original '72 custom tele in the 70's and 80's! Especially for anything in standard tuning. The Blonde tele was for open g stuff.

The amp setup is KEY. F'ing loud ass fender and marshall gear. usually no effects, just straight in.


oh yeah he also used Les Pauls a good bit in the Mick taylor days. Now he uses Es-335s, an Ernie Ball Music Man, and his teles.

 

[doesitmatter]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Don't forget the open D tuning, and throw away the lowest string.

I just tuned my Tele to open E. I don't play it much so it might as well have a specific purpose. With a little crunch it's hard to NOT play like Keef.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Don't forget the open D tuning, and throw away the lowest string.

I just tuned my Tele to open E. I don't play it much so it might as well have a specific purpose. With a little crunch it's hard to NOT play like Keef.

Keith uses open G!

 

[Chrismo]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

I think I'm going for the Antiquity or the Seth Lover in the neck, leaning more towards the Antiquity.

Still debating the bridge pickup...I called SD today and they stated the last pickup they did for Keef was a BG-1400...interesting.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

This is pretty funny...guys talk about Keith's Teles like he only has one...one of them happens to have the neck pickup in upside down the others however do not.

Also, I've only seen Keith with a Marshall a handfull of times and as for the brass bridge one of the first thing he does is ditch the box bridge with 3 brass saddles in favor of a flat plate with 6 saddles...

I can tell you this...when Fred Stuart worked at Fender he took SEVERAL vintage Blackguard Tele's and routed them for neck buckers and rewound the original bridge pickups to around 10k and then installed a replacement bridge...the neck buckers were more often than not original PAF's or PAT# pickups.

I don't at all doubt that Keith recently got a BG-1400 but I can tell you for sure than A BG-1400 will not get you the classic Keef tone...

Get a fat neck maple neck Tele with an ash body and a neck PAF style buckers...I'd go Antiquity, Seth or 59 and a nice hot bridge pickup...Stuart makes his Lapwrap and that pickup is based on the 10k wind he used to do for Keith, a Fender 10k Nocaster pickup would also be a good choice...this is the pickup Fender made based on the pickup that Fred used to wind for Keith that was made for a while after Fred left Fender.

Don Mare also winds a 10k 50's style pickup as do several other guys...

If I were you I'd order a Custom Shop Broadcaster form MJ in the Duncan Custom Shop and have it wound to 10k...get alnico III magnets and 43 gauge wire wrapped to 10k...flat poles, mate that with a Ant or 59 and crank it through a box box (80 watt) tweed Twin or a big Ampeg from the 70s and you'll be there.

 

[Chrismo]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

This is pretty funny...guys talk about Keith's Teles like he only has one...one of them happens to have the neck pickup in upside down the others however do not.

Also, I've only seen Keith with a Marshall a handfull of times and as for the brass bridge one of the first thing he does is ditch the box bridge with 3 brass saddles in favor of a flat plate with 6 saddles...

I can tell you this...when Fred Stuart worked at Fender he took SEVERAL vintage Blackguard Tele's and routed them for neck buckers and rewound the original bridge pickups to around 10k and then installed a replacement bridge...the neck buckers were more often than not original PAF's or PAT# pickups.

I don't at all doubt that Keith recently got a BG-1400 but I can tell you for sure than A BG-1400 will not get you the classic Keef tone...

Get a fat neck maple neck Tele with an ash body and a neck PAF style buckers...I'd go Antiquity, Seth or 59 and a nice hot bridge pickup...Stuart makes his Lapwrap and that pickup is based on the 10k wind he used to do for Keith, a Fender 10k Nocaster pickup would also be a good choice...this is the pickup Fender made based on the pickup that Fred used to wind for Keith that was made for a while after Fred left Fender.

Don Mare also winds a 10k 50's style pickup as do several other guys...

If I were you I'd order a Custom Shop Broadcaster form MJ in the Duncan Custom Shop and have it wound to 10k...get alnico III magnets and 43 gauge wire wrapped to 10k...flat poles, mate that with a Ant or 59 and crank it through a box box (80 watt) tweed Twin or a big Ampeg from the 70s and you'll be there.

Right, I know it's a bit vague, but it's usually in the ballpark of the same tone, at least in my head. A lot of people mention the PAF with a vintage singlecoil, so I assume most won't be too much of a stretch.

I believe the 10K Nocasters are hard to find, am I correct?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Right, I know it's a bit vague, but it's usually in the ballpark of the same tone, at least in my head. A lot of people mention the PAF with a vintage singlecoil, so I assume most won't be too much of a stretch.

I believe the 10K Nocasters are hard to find, am I correct?

Thpse 10k Nocaster pickups are out there...they are not easy to find but I wouldn't call them hard to find either...if you want quick and easy just order a CS Broadcster from the Duncan CS wound to 10k...done...match that up with an Antiquity neck pickup and slap them in a Telecaster...remember the fat maple neck, American Standard style bridge and your guitar is done...plug it into the afore mentioned tweed twin (big box) or a big ass Ampeg...say a VT-40 or V4 (of it ya really wanna get nuts a V9!) and crank it till it grunts...your there. If ya need lower volume a tweed Bassman or even Deluxe will get you into Keef tones quickly.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

I really enjoy keith's stage tone with the black 335 he uses. That thing's awesome. I miss the 72 custom he used to use a lot.

I saw him use one in SLC at the delta center on the bigger bang tour, I was like woah nice!

 

[eggman]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Howdy,

I'm a disciple of Keith Richards. These days I'm using (get ready for this) a Rickenbacker 360/6 tuned to open G plugged straight into a new Dr. Z Carmen Ghia.
With a capo applied and the amp's volume around 11 AM, I get into "Ya-Ya's" territory.
Neither of my Teles have a neck 'bucker. I figure that perhaps only half of my favorite riffs by Keith were recorded on a Tele. In the 60s, he seemingly never played the same guitar twice! Casino, Guild, Les Paul Std, LP Custom, Harmony to name a few of the electrics.
For me, "Keef tone" means the sound he achieved on the Get yer Ya-Ya's Out album. I can't get enough of a youtube clip from the '69 tour, where the 'Stones are onstage in Dec. '69 in London. Keith is using Hi-Watts and turned up LOUD (The clip wherein Mick shouts "Get the F.... outta here"). My Ghia gets into that territory, with my humble Rickenbacker. I also favor a Les Paul Sp. with SD Vintage P-90s and my trusty ES-335 loaded with SD '59s. Good luck finding Keef's tone; the journey is the fun part, IMHO.

Eggman

PS: Great thread; thanks for starting it, Chrismo!

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Interesting about the Hiwatts, eggman. Of course, "loud" is the only way to play a Hiwatt, yes?

 

[eggman]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Howdy,

LaughingKookaburra: Heh, I'd give my left trussrod to play through a cranked HiWatt! I'll bet "Jumpin Jack Flash" would be a real gas with this amp and a P-90 LP Sp!

Eggman

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Like, my thing hasn't been to nail Keef's tone per se, it's to capture his playing style.
If you play similar to keith you'll sound good through a lot of guitars or amps.

I was demoing a Fender HRDx with a les paul and was playing Hang Fire when people in the store just had to stop and check it out.
I play All Down The Line or Midnight Rambler on a strat and does the tone sound like the record? Nope. Does it sound good? I think it sounds great.

Keith's tone really isn't as important as how he plays. Tunings, chord voicings, the numerous chuck berry licks...yeah that's what i'm after.

If you used keith's rig to play something you wrote, chances are you'll sound like you and not Keith Richards....

On that note lets get a Ron Wood thread going! Mick Taylor fans sure like to dis on Ronnie but i think he's awesome when he's not completely sh*t faced.

 

[Pink Unicorn Horsey]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Got this with an ASAT into a Celtic Caitlin. I think the tone is fairly close, and that's a single coil.

(Yes, open G tuning indeed.)

- Keith

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

yeah the phrasing is a bit off but the tone is great! Good job.

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

i got a squier 52 copy, single coil and put it through a laney 5w lionheart. I get pretty close!

 

[kaligula11]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

Don't forget the open D tuning, and throw away the lowest string.

.

Not sure about the tuning, I read he used open G, D, E and standard but of course he throws away the lowest string. Add some sus2/sus4 chords and there you go.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Keith Richards Tone

nowadays he uses open G almost exclusively when playing live or on Stones recordings. Some songs have a Capo on the 4th fret like Tumblin Dice, Street Fightin Man (live version, originally was in open D), Jumpin Jack Flash (the live version, the original was standard tuning). You can't always get what you want is usually played with open G and a capo on the 5th.