pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
- Thread starter Huntermb
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Lewguitar
Guest
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
That would be the Duncan Antiquity Surfer set.
That would be the Duncan Antiquity Surfer set.
F
Funkfingers
Guest
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Bare Knuckle Pickup Irish Tour set. (The model name should be a bit of clue.)
Bare Knuckle Pickup Irish Tour set. (The model name should be a bit of clue.)
Vasshu the humanoid typhoon
Unseen
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
.....magic dust and trebleboost, some old radiator amp that can boil eggs....
.....magic dust and trebleboost, some old radiator amp that can boil eggs....
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Funkfingers
Guest
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Helps to have magic fingers too!
Helps to have magic fingers too!
richard parker
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
I have an Irish Tour bridge in my Strat and it goes a long way towards getting Rory's sound. I can set up my Cornford Roadhouse to get a very AC30ish sound and with this pickup can get very close. It has a nice strong bite to it that's very reminiscent of the Irish Tour album. Bare Knuckles make great pickups.
I have an Irish Tour bridge in my Strat and it goes a long way towards getting Rory's sound. I can set up my Cornford Roadhouse to get a very AC30ish sound and with this pickup can get very close. It has a nice strong bite to it that's very reminiscent of the Irish Tour album. Bare Knuckles make great pickups.
crusty philtrum
Vintageologist
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
BKP Irish Tour set.
I know it's often said and often scorned, but in the case of Rory, he truly is one of those players where you have to come at the guitar with a similar attitude as he did, in terms of how you dig in and wrench those notes out.
I have an old interview around here somewhere where i remember him saying this...
"I try to keep a balance between madness and technique"
if you are familiar with his playing, you'll understand that that quote is a big part of what his playing was about, and that he was always as happy and exciteable as a little kid when he played.
but yeah, as far as what to buy to get close, the BKP Irish Tours are it.
BKP Irish Tour set.
I know it's often said and often scorned, but in the case of Rory, he truly is one of those players where you have to come at the guitar with a similar attitude as he did, in terms of how you dig in and wrench those notes out.
I have an old interview around here somewhere where i remember him saying this...
"I try to keep a balance between madness and technique"
if you are familiar with his playing, you'll understand that that quote is a big part of what his playing was about, and that he was always as happy and exciteable as a little kid when he played.
but yeah, as far as what to buy to get close, the BKP Irish Tours are it.
75lespaul
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Man, I saw him in 1982 open up for Rush at Madison Square Garden and I had the 11th row. I remember I thought this guy was great, and he was LOUD, but of course at the age of nineteen I didn't realize what a guitar hero I was seeing. I wish I would have been a little more aware back then, but I was blinded on Boston, Kiss, Rush and Led Zeppelin. At least I got to see him because of Rush.
Man, I saw him in 1982 open up for Rush at Madison Square Garden and I had the 11th row. I remember I thought this guy was great, and he was LOUD, but of course at the age of nineteen I didn't realize what a guitar hero I was seeing. I wish I would have been a little more aware back then, but I was blinded on Boston, Kiss, Rush and Led Zeppelin. At least I got to see him because of Rush.
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Funkfingers
Guest
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Just remember, high-ish action and beat the F out of it.
Just remember, high-ish action and beat the F out of it.
richard parker
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
I was lucky - I saw him 4 times. Phenomenal live player. My dearest wish was to see him trading licks with Johnny Winter. There's a lot of great Rory stuff on Youtube. There's one clip where I was thinking WTF is he doing to get that sound ? He had slides on both hands!
I was lucky - I saw him 4 times. Phenomenal live player. My dearest wish was to see him trading licks with Johnny Winter. There's a lot of great Rory stuff on Youtube. There's one clip where I was thinking WTF is he doing to get that sound ? He had slides on both hands!
75lespaul
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Now there's something I would have loved to have seen. Four times, wow. By the time I actually realized who I had seen, and really started to get into his stuff, he was gone.
Now there's something I would have loved to have seen. Four times, wow. By the time I actually realized who I had seen, and really started to get into his stuff, he was gone.
F
Funkfingers
Guest
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Maybe you still can.
Back in the early Eighties, before hair got really big, BBC Television used to run a music show named "Rock Goes To College". Rory was one of the artistes documented in this series.
The RGTC broadcast featured Gerry McAvoy on bass. Not sure who was on drums. Probably Brendan O'Neill.
From the same era, German Television used to make a programme named "Rockpalast". I would not be surprised if Rory got featured on that - if only as the opening act for somebody else.
I do not know whether any of this archive live performance material is available commercially. I would not be surprised if home recordings of it form the basis of what is available via the Internet.
Maybe you still can.
Back in the early Eighties, before hair got really big, BBC Television used to run a music show named "Rock Goes To College". Rory was one of the artistes documented in this series.
The RGTC broadcast featured Gerry McAvoy on bass. Not sure who was on drums. Probably Brendan O'Neill.
From the same era, German Television used to make a programme named "Rockpalast". I would not be surprised if Rory got featured on that - if only as the opening act for somebody else.
I do not know whether any of this archive live performance material is available commercially. I would not be surprised if home recordings of it form the basis of what is available via the Internet.
Stef
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
SSL-1 set, treble-booster and a good combo tube amp (vox, marshall..)
This is also a recipe for R. Blackmore...especially with the ac30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr5ZtZMBcTQ
SSL-1 set, treble-booster and a good combo tube amp (vox, marshall..)
This is also a recipe for R. Blackmore...especially with the ac30
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr5ZtZMBcTQ
Ascension
Well-known member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Yup you were lucky. I saw him 3 times and he is still to this day one of my all time favorite live players. I remember one night at Jax State he did that one foot hop across the stage and got his cable tangled in the drummers cymbal stand. Took half the drummers kit down but Rory never missed a beat and was just laughing his head off and having a ball!!
Best showman on stage I ever saw!!!!
Yup you were lucky. I saw him 3 times and he is still to this day one of my all time favorite live players. I remember one night at Jax State he did that one foot hop across the stage and got his cable tangled in the drummers cymbal stand. Took half the drummers kit down but Rory never missed a beat and was just laughing his head off and having a ball!!
Best showman on stage I ever saw!!!!
crusty philtrum
Vintageologist
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Rory's original pickups died quite early on and he had them rewound, i believe with a slightly hotter wind (if you know how his guitar looks, it's no wonder the sweat killed the pickups as well as the finish). However, his Strat was stolen at some point around 1967 and found several days later laying outdoors in a ditch, and I believe that has been attributed to the death of the original pickups.
I have many magazine interviews with him from the 70's, and he was interested in Schecter tapped pickups back when they only made guitar parts, and i am also looking at an online interview where he says he had a Fender X100 hot pickup in the bridge at one stage, and also a Fat Strat pickup. He says that Kent Armstrong did most of his pickup work and Chris Eccleshall did much of his guitar work.
I have a magazine here somewhere that details all his guitars, but i can't find it at the moment.
As someone who has listened to (and been influenced by) Rory since 1970, and played guitar just as long, AND had the great privelege of seeing him 4 times live, I would say that for early stuff, i.e. Taste, SSL-1's with a treble booster would cover those early years, but for most of his career his sound was with somewhat hotter pickups, and the only pickups i have ever heard that fully capture that sound are the Irish Tours from BKP.
Rory's original pickups died quite early on and he had them rewound, i believe with a slightly hotter wind (if you know how his guitar looks, it's no wonder the sweat killed the pickups as well as the finish). However, his Strat was stolen at some point around 1967 and found several days later laying outdoors in a ditch, and I believe that has been attributed to the death of the original pickups.
I have many magazine interviews with him from the 70's, and he was interested in Schecter tapped pickups back when they only made guitar parts, and i am also looking at an online interview where he says he had a Fender X100 hot pickup in the bridge at one stage, and also a Fat Strat pickup. He says that Kent Armstrong did most of his pickup work and Chris Eccleshall did much of his guitar work.
I have a magazine here somewhere that details all his guitars, but i can't find it at the moment.
As someone who has listened to (and been influenced by) Rory since 1970, and played guitar just as long, AND had the great privelege of seeing him 4 times live, I would say that for early stuff, i.e. Taste, SSL-1's with a treble booster would cover those early years, but for most of his career his sound was with somewhat hotter pickups, and the only pickups i have ever heard that fully capture that sound are the Irish Tours from BKP.
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Lovegun
Active member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
Yes it is available commercially. I have the dvd and it's great. Can't remember exactly but it has something like 5-6 televised sets. Get it and the Montreux-set also.
Yes it is available commercially. I have the dvd and it's great. Can't remember exactly but it has something like 5-6 televised sets. Get it and the Montreux-set also.
crusty philtrum
Vintageologist
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
This subject got me curious, so i've searched out the old magazine interviews and looked at a few things online a lot more closely.
'INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN AND RECORDING WORLD' magazine, April 1977 ..... Cover story features Rory talking in depth about his five stage instruments at the time, Strat, Tele, Dobro, Martin acoustic and mandolin.
In the Strat section he talks in detail about it, (keep in mind that he'd owned the guitar for about 15 years by 1977), and here is an interesting part.....
"Changes over the years would include the pickups - the treble and bass pickups blew within a week of each other, so the middle pickup is the only original one...."........but that is all he says about the pickups, no word on what they were replaced with.
Moving up to the present, I saw a pic online of the Strat taken years later and the neck and middle pickups had staggered poles but the middle had flat poles. It seems as if he tried quite a few pickups over the years but usually went back to the originals (i believe they were rewound but i don't know any details about that). The Strat also had a different neck for several years.
Of course Rory always sounded like Rory, but i think he was always interested in pickups that gave just a little more output than standard, but not enough to compromise the 'Strati-ness', just to work the amp a little bit harder, make the sound just a little more 'edgy'. Before the original pickups died, he would absolutely have needed a booster into his amp (which of course was a Rangemaster treble booster into a Vox AC30) because early 60's Strat pickups straight into an AC30 is a beautiful sound but there's only a certain amount of break-up available. To get more, you have to increase the input signal from the guitar by using a booster or higher-output pickups, or both.
Apparently Fender gave him an anniversary Strat at some point, and although i guess it probably wasn't his ideal instrument, he played it on the 'Jinx' album.
anyways, it's late and i'm rambling, so i'll shut up, hehe...
This subject got me curious, so i've searched out the old magazine interviews and looked at a few things online a lot more closely.
'INTERNATIONAL MUSICIAN AND RECORDING WORLD' magazine, April 1977 ..... Cover story features Rory talking in depth about his five stage instruments at the time, Strat, Tele, Dobro, Martin acoustic and mandolin.
In the Strat section he talks in detail about it, (keep in mind that he'd owned the guitar for about 15 years by 1977), and here is an interesting part.....
"Changes over the years would include the pickups - the treble and bass pickups blew within a week of each other, so the middle pickup is the only original one...."........but that is all he says about the pickups, no word on what they were replaced with.
Moving up to the present, I saw a pic online of the Strat taken years later and the neck and middle pickups had staggered poles but the middle had flat poles. It seems as if he tried quite a few pickups over the years but usually went back to the originals (i believe they were rewound but i don't know any details about that). The Strat also had a different neck for several years.
Of course Rory always sounded like Rory, but i think he was always interested in pickups that gave just a little more output than standard, but not enough to compromise the 'Strati-ness', just to work the amp a little bit harder, make the sound just a little more 'edgy'. Before the original pickups died, he would absolutely have needed a booster into his amp (which of course was a Rangemaster treble booster into a Vox AC30) because early 60's Strat pickups straight into an AC30 is a beautiful sound but there's only a certain amount of break-up available. To get more, you have to increase the input signal from the guitar by using a booster or higher-output pickups, or both.
Apparently Fender gave him an anniversary Strat at some point, and although i guess it probably wasn't his ideal instrument, he played it on the 'Jinx' album.
anyways, it's late and i'm rambling, so i'll shut up, hehe...
Stef
New member
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
http://www.treblebooster.net/rg.html
http://www.roryon.com/guit231.htm
http://www.treblebooster.net/rg.html
http://www.roryon.com/guit231.htm
Simon_F
Super Moderator
Re: pickups for Rory Gallagher tone
He did. I have the Rory Gallagher at Rockpalast DVD and it's brilliant - 222 minutes of brilliant, apart from the bit where the presenters talk over his playing. :banghead:
It features shows from '76, '77 and '79. Watching Rory perform is a joy. No image, no pretence, totally driven by love of the music.
I Take What I Want
I read somewhere that he tried overwound bridge pickups like the DiMarzio FS-1 but always went back to vintage output. Also remember that he had the Strat wired with a master tone control and used 10-46 strings.
He did. I have the Rory Gallagher at Rockpalast DVD and it's brilliant - 222 minutes of brilliant, apart from the bit where the presenters talk over his playing. :banghead:
It features shows from '76, '77 and '79. Watching Rory perform is a joy. No image, no pretence, totally driven by love of the music.
I Take What I Want
I read somewhere that he tried overwound bridge pickups like the DiMarzio FS-1 but always went back to vintage output. Also remember that he had the Strat wired with a master tone control and used 10-46 strings.