Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Bump

 

[tiefightertk069]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

BTW, Derek Trucks uses a2 Gibson humbuckers in his SG and sounds great! :smack:

Yeah, the stock 490R (A2) sounds pretty decent. But the bridge 498T (A5) just has nothing going for it in my opinion. It's flat, no life... no oomph. That's why I was thinking the Seths may be the best fit for the SG.

I'll swap some pups around once the '59b gets here and post back...

(edit)
I forgot to add that Clapton's Wheels of Fire tone has always been one of my "killer tone" benchmarks. For me it doesn't get any better than Sittin' on Top of the World and Politician...

 

[spidey]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I'm loving this discussion!
Hey there was an interview with Eric a few months back in Guitar Player where he was talking about he used to roll the tone off on his bridge pup when in Cream (as we all know). This will also add some confusion as to what magnet is being used in a pup i'm guessing as knocking the tone down generally makes it warmer and therefore could conceivably make it more difficult to tell whether an A5 or an A2 is being used do you think?
I love his tone on the version of Politician on the BBC Sessions!

 

[Hoss]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

another awesome read!!!

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I'm loving this discussion!
Hey there was an interview with Eric a few months back in Guitar Player where he was talking about he used to roll the tone off on his bridge pup when in Cream (as we all know). This will also add some confusion as to what magnet is being used in a pup i'm guessing as knocking the tone down generally makes it warmer and therefore could conceivably make it more difficult to tell whether an A5 or an A2 is being used do you think?
I love his tone on the version of Politician on the BBC Sessions!

Rolling off the tone makes the distortion smoother, which is one factor of many.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I'm loving this discussion!
Hey there was an interview with Eric a few months back in Guitar Player where he was talking about he used to roll the tone off on his bridge pup when in Cream (as we all know). This will also add some confusion as to what magnet is being used in a pup i'm guessing as knocking the tone down generally makes it warmer and therefore could conceivably make it more difficult to tell whether an A5 or an A2 is being used do you think?
I love his tone on the version of Politician on the BBC Sessions!

Check out this website: http://twtd.bluemountains.net.au/cream/

There's an interview with Clapton and he says he used the NECK pickup with the tone control all the way off and high volume to get that woman tone.

I've always used my bridge pickup with the tone rolled down but not all of the way off for that tone.

To fat and muffled with the neck pickup.

Worked for Clapton though.

Lew

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Hey Lew and everybody else:

Sorry for the delay. I finally talked to Seymour about it and he said he wasn't 100%sure of the Alnico composition - and neither are the people at Gibson he checked with back in the day -- but they were real weak. He spec'd the pickups in both guitars and said the magnets measured around 15 to 20 gauss. SWD guesses they're either Alnico 4s or degaussed Alnico 5s.

Seymour says that the humubucker magnets he measured in England back then were almost all weak; and Seths or Antiquitys will get you closest to the tone of that era.

I hope that helps.

- Evan

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Hey Lew and everybody else:

Sorry for the delay. I finally talked to Seymour about it and he said he wasn't 100%sure of the Alnico composition - and neither are the people at Gibson he checked with back in the day -- but they were real weak. He spec'd the pickups in both guitars and said the magnets measured around 15 to 20 gauss. SWD guesses they're either Alnico 4s or degaussed Alnico 5s.

Seymour says that the humubucker magnets he measured in England back then were almost all weak; and Seths or Antiquitys will get you closest to the tone of that era.

I hope that helps.

- Evan

Thank you Evan, Thank you Seymour, and Thanks to Lew for starting this thread. One of the better ones of late.

Evan, when you say that Seymour spec'd the guitars, do you mean the SG was one of the ones he spec'd? Also, we've kind of agreed that the Antiqs and Seths are in the ballpark as far as alnico-2 magnets go, but do you agree that the '59 will get us there in terms of an alnico-5?

Thanks again,

Jeff

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

As far as the woman tone goes, rolling off the tone on the neck gives the most pronounced effect. Also, I remember Clapton saying in a interview, that he used to set the treble, bass, middle, volume and presence on his Marshalls, to 10. and use the guitar to adjsut as he needed.

Jeff

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Thanks Evan and thanks to Seymour too!

I wonder why the pickups were so weak and degaussed? The Les Pauls were less than 10 years old when the Mayall and Cream recordings were made.

So: Seymour says the Les Pauls were probably alnico 5....or maybe alnico 4.

But that because the magnets were weak they sounded more like alnico 2.

Good info. I thought the Mayall album ('60 Les Paul) sounded like alnico 5, but the Fresh Cream album ("58 or '59 Les Paul) sure sounds like alnico 2. And after that we know Clapton used alnico 5 in his 60's SG and 335.

Thanks again!

Lew

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Thanks Evan and thanks to Seymour too!

I wonder why the pickups were so weak and degaussed? The Les Pauls were less than 10 years old when the Mayall and Cream recordings were made.

So: Seymour says the Les Pauls were probably alnico 5....or maybe alnico 4.

But that because the magnets were weak they sounded more like alnico 2.

OK, so this is an indication that it is the field strength that counts, not the specific type of magnet. SD has been saying for years that he likes weak magnets. I guess that he knows what he istalking about!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

OK, so this is an indication that it is the field strength that counts, not the specific type of magnet. SD has been saying for years that he likes weak magnets. I guess that he knows what he is talking about!

I guess you're right! Maybe we all like weaker magnets and just didn't know it for sure. :laugh2:

Thanks for your input on this and the other thread too. I'm here to learn just like everyone else. When people like you and Bach To Rock start getting scientific I can only sit back and try to learn from you guys.

My brain doesn't really work in a scientific or mathematical way...I'm a hands on, more intuitive sort of guy.

So thanks!

Lew

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Thanks Evan and thanks to Seymour too!

I wonder why the pickups were so weak and degaussed? The Les Pauls were less than 10 years old when the Mayall and Cream recordings were made.

So: Seymour says the Les Pauls were probably alnico 5....or maybe alnico 4.

But that because the magnets were weak they sounded more like alnico 2.

Good info. I thought the Mayall album ('60 Les Paul) sounded like alnico 5, but the Fresh Cream album ("58 or '59 Les Paul) sure sounds like alnico 2. And after that we know Clapton used alnico 5 in his 60's SG and 335.

Thanks again!

Lew

I agree. The Mayall album tone was definitely brighter, which may indicate an A-5 magnet, and given that he was probably using a '60 LP it probably was. The Cream stuff definitely sounds like A-2, but then he was using different amps, too.

As for the weaker magnets, it makes sense in that less string pull should give you better sustain, and you'll really get the most out of each note.....which is exactly what Eric did.

Jeff

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I agree. The Mayall album tone was definitely brighter, which may indicate an A-5 magnet, and given that he was probably using a '60 LP it probably was. The Cream stuff definitely sounds like A-2, but then he was using different amps, too.

As for the weaker magnets, it makes sense in that less string pull should give you better sustain, and you'll really get the most out of each note.....which is exactly what Eric did.

Jeff

There ya go! I feel like I learned ALOT in the last few days. Many thanks to all of you! Lew

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Cool thread. I wonder if the Custom Shop would age a magnet, say, ten years instead of whatever they do for the Ants. I know some guys use Ants will full strength mags and really like it.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

The funny thing is, when Clapton recorded with that '60 Les Paul it was only 6 years old! How in the world could the pickups have been degaussed in that amount of time? Unless Gibson used magnets that were never fully charged to begin with or something. Lew

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I don't know if this applied back then, but nowadays with all the international security checking of packages and shipments and such, magnets tend to get degaussed more when they travel overseas.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

I don't know if this applied back then, but nowadays with all the international security checking of packages and shipments and such, magnets tend to get degaussed more when they travel overseas.

I also remembering reading something from Andy Summers of the Police about the pickups in his Tele getting demagnetized from riding on an electric train in England. I guess he leaned his guitar case to close to an electric motor or something like that. :smack: Lew

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

About Andy, once his magnets became completely degaussed, he brought the guitar to Seymour, who was working for Ivor Arbiter at the Fender Sound House at the time, and Seymour re-magnatized them to full strength. When Andy got his guitar back, all the output returned, but the pickups sounded a little harsh.

That's what got Seymour interested in gauss strength. He found out that by taking off some the gauss in Andy's pickups, the guitar was warmer, had softer attack and better sustain.

And that's how this whole thing got started...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Question for Evan about Eric Clapton:

Boy I'm glad I started this thread! Thanks Evan!

One more question:

Is there any inherant diff in tone between a2, a3, a4 & a5? Or is it just a matter of how strong the magnetic field is?