Searching for Setzer sound

[psy]

I'm still about to building my own axe. I like Brian Setzer's sound a lot, but will start with a hollowbody as it seems to be much easier to realise than a real archtop.
It will have mahagony body with maple top (LP shape, hollowed), maple neck, ebony fingerboard and LP brigdge + stoptail piece.


Will I be able to get kinda Setzer's sound when I use Filtertrons, or is the construction too much different from a Gretsch to get a similar sound?
How much would a Bigsby Trem (or Duesenberg) influence the sound?

You opinion is appreciated

 

[Bludave]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

The bigsby will be a must (IMO). I read somewhere that Brian had the pickups in his Gretch custom made. I don't know who made them, but I think that has a lot to do with his sound. IMO the Amp is equally important. He uses to blond bassmans, and if my memory serves me correct I read that they were also heavily modded. Maybe someone else will have more specifics to this.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

a big gretsch hollowbody with a bigsby, you can probably get close to his tone with a smaller hollowbody with a bigsby and some lower output filtertrons. it might not nail the tone but youll get close enough and i think it would be a very cool axe to boot!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

The bigsby will be a must (IMO). I read somewhere that Brian had the pickups in his Gretch custom made. I don't know who made them, but I think that has a lot to do with his sound. IMO the Amp is equally important. He uses to blond bassmans, and if my memory serves me correct I read that they were also heavily modded. Maybe someone else will have more specifics to this.

I dunno how modded they are...but I do know that he replaced the old Jensens (probably C12N's) with Celestion Vintage 30's.

Like all great players, Brian's tone come from being who is...and he is an extremely accomplished player.

But as for the guitars: I think only a Gretch really sounds like a Gretch!

They're a very unique sounding guitar. So I'd look for a Gretch like Brian uses..I don't think you can get any other semi hollowbody guitar to sound quite the same way.

BTW, I have never really like playing Gretch guitars...they just seem kind of clumsy. Always been a Gibson or Fender man I guess...or Hamer.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

A bigsby gives you a slightly different tone. You also won't have as much sustain as you would with a stop tailpiece. To me the bigsby seem to add a bit of brightness and a bit of immediacy....I guess that's a way to describe it. :blackeye: I love my Bigsby on my old Hollowbody.

Luke

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

I've always felt that a Bigsby affected the sustain in a not so good way and also made the guitar feel spongey. With a Bigsby, it feels like when I bend a note I have to bend it alot further to get the pitch to raise.

But some guys do like the tone a Bigsby gives a guitar.

One of my favorite guitarists uses a Bigsby on his favorite Strat: RY COODER!

Some of my favorite players use gear I would usually advise people to stay away from! :laugh2:

Life's funny that way...

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

With a Bigsby, it feels like when I bend a note I have to bend it alot further to get the pitch to raise.

See Lew that's nuts!! I don't feel that way at all. The world IS funny like that.

As far as sustain Peter Stroud of Don Henley and Sheryl Crow has a LP custom with a bigsby and man he's got GREAT sustain.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

i also liked the bigsby i had on a semi hollow body and i have really thought about putting one on a tele. the only way you will know if you like using it and it is for you is to play one for a while. by the way there was a fender guitar at namm that had two filtertrons (tvjones) and a bigsby, hollow body and it was gretsch orange. something to look out for.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

Gretch 6120 with a Bigsby (yea, Lew, I hate them, too!), and I was under the impression that he was using Fender Bandmasters, but ya know, any of those old tweed Fenders will work fine and he did replace the old Jensens with Celestion 30s. The one other thing that noone has mentioned is that he uses/used a Roland Space Echo (RE501 or 301 if memory serves, I'd have to look it up in the GP magazine) set to give him an old style "slap-back" echo.

 

[Stratsky]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

I'm still about to building my own axe. I like Brian Setzer's sound a lot, but will start with a hollowbody as it seems to be much easier to realise than a real archtop.
It will have mahagony body with maple top (LP shape, hollowed), maple neck, ebony fingerboard and LP brigdge + stoptail piece.


Will I be able to get kinda Setzer's sound when I use Filtertrons, or is the construction too much different from a Gretsch to get a similar sound?
How much would a Bigsby Trem (or Duesenberg) influence the sound?

You opinion is appreciated

A Gretsch archtop has laminated maple for the top, sides, and back. Maybe a mahogany body (back and sides) might sound darker. As far as the Bigsby, that is definitely part of Brian Setzer's sound and I found that using a heavier set of jazz strings (D'Addario .012 - 0.52) eliminates that spongey feeling mentioned by Lewguitar. They also stabilize the tuning. I would definitely use Filtertron pickups in trying to get Brian Setzer's sound. As far as the fretboard, use a 12" radius. My 2 cents.

 

[mongrollo]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

If you are thinking in getting close to Setzer tone get your axe as close as you can. This doesn't mean that would be close enoght . I have a homemade axe with filtertones. The specs are Walnut with ebony fingerboard, 25.5' and bridge/tailpiece configuration. The tone of the firtertone pickups kind of reminds to Setzer one but it isn't close enought. There are two things that are very important that sets my guitar apart from hims. First it is the body (mine it is a solidbody), I don't think a hollwbody will be close enought, but it will be closer. Anyway sometimes you can see him plating this new Gretch solybody. And second it's the amp, I don't have the luck of having a Fender to slightly crank it like he does.

 

[Mkf411]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

If you're not set on building your own, Gretsch makes a Setzer signature guitar. On their recent DVD, Rumble In Brixton, Brian mentions that the guy in charge of making his signature series guitar really nailed it and Brian considers them just as good as his original. I think he even plays one on the DVD, which is excellent. You can also get an instructional video that Brian did awhile back that pops up on e-bay.

On a sad note, Brian also mentions that he's losing his hearing from standing in front of cranked amps for so long and he's not sure if he'll be able to continue to perform. The Doctors are making special ear plugs for him but they're not sure if the ear plugs will allow him to hear well enough to gig.

 

[aestus]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

I believe Setzer retired the space echo for the fulltone analog tape echno. The key to his sound is the fender amp and filtertrons in a hollow guitar and bigsby. The tape echo/delay, tremelo, vibrato, and lots of reverb are also part of the sound.

Tom

 

[psy]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

thank you guys for all the impressions. I guess I will go this way: Build the guitar with the hardware I already have. I don't like to spend too much money as this is my first project.

Luckily I have an old Framus archtop with 3 singlecoils which sound really cool. I should be able to get a little bit of Rockabilly sound with it. If I like it I can equip it with a Bigsby.

If this old girl is too bad I also have an Epiphone Emporer Regent. I could do with it something like the guy on this page
http://www.the-jime.dk/Rockabilly_Guitar.shtm

Unfortunately I cannot afford either a Gretsch or any Fender amp, so I have to improvise.

thanks again for your opinions

 

[gripweed]

Re: Searching for Setzer sound

If I'm not mistaken, these are the pickups that Setzer uses:

http://www.tvjones.com/pickups.html

I'm not sure which models, but I think they're a little hotter than the normal pickups in a Gretsch.