JeffB
Let it B
You know right here at :18 seconds in
I've been trying to get this exact tone now since 1978.
seems there is much speculation..and I don;t know what to do..
Here is what we know so far:
The December '78 issue of Metal Dork magazine had a small article where Ed said that he used a 9K wind P-90, a medium gauge Fender celluloid pick into his Plexi, and raked the strings behind the TOM bridge of a 1973 Gibson SG. We're not really sure which side of the pick he used- logo, or not logo. Then of course..a side of the triangle? the point? the back end? ??????
Later in a 1980 Wank magazine article (the one with Ed on the cover) Eddie contradicts this information saying that he actually played this on the B&W Charvel, by raking a herco 73 Nylon pick across the springs in the back of the guitar body while simultaneously strumming his fretting fingers across the strings above the nut (HA! EVIDENCE HE WAS NOT..I REPEAT..NOT!!! USING A FLOYD ROSE CLAMPING NUT YET!).
However Ted Templeman stated in his 1983 interview with "Reverb Abuse" ..a producer/recording engineer fanzine from Holland.... that EVH used his Destroyer midway between it's full size and chopped up version, and at the time the pup only had one coil working. Unfortunately we are not exactly sure which coil..let alone whether it was the Super 70, the Duncan 335 PAF rewind, or a MM Super distortion copy. For that matter, we are not even sure Ted knows what a guitar pickup is..but I digress. At any rate Ted relates the tale thusly "EVH was picking himself up off the floor in the morning and like found a broken chopstick on the floor from the previous night's take out or something... he picked it up, cleaned out his ear with it (editor comment: WHICH ear, Ted??) and then held it from the end about 1" and raked this across the strings at the neck pup area while simultaneously holding a Dsus7 chord but just fretted lightly in order to produce the harmonic like tone...it was totally gnarly....I believe his guitar was tuned to DADGAD at the time as well,,Eddie was always experimenting, ya know".
Now I saw picture recently just after the album was released. The guy on facebook who had posted the picture said it was exactly at the moment during "Devil" of the string rake that he took the picture at a club show in Barstow, CA in 1978. I've done some research and the guy on FB was definitely old enough to be at the concert, and lived a few towns over from Barstow. So I tracked him down and made a little visit to the halfway house he is currently staying at. After seeing the picture first hand and talking with the guy (once his meds kicked in), he seems really legit. In the picture Ed is playing a Single coil equipped strat-the picture is B&W, but it seems to me the strat is black for sure. Unfortunately what else I saw in the pic has absolutely boggled my mind-
Some stoner skank with hair like Gilda Radner was rubbing up against the headstock and is raking the metal button from her Jordache's across the strings right in front of the (guitar) nut. I also noticed a backwall of Univox stacks behind Ed. Ed doesn't even have a guitar pick in his hand. :scratchch
I've since been trying to track down the skank to get to the bottom of this..but no luck so-far.
I've been trying to get this exact tone now since 1978.
seems there is much speculation..and I don;t know what to do..
Here is what we know so far:
The December '78 issue of Metal Dork magazine had a small article where Ed said that he used a 9K wind P-90, a medium gauge Fender celluloid pick into his Plexi, and raked the strings behind the TOM bridge of a 1973 Gibson SG. We're not really sure which side of the pick he used- logo, or not logo. Then of course..a side of the triangle? the point? the back end? ??????
Later in a 1980 Wank magazine article (the one with Ed on the cover) Eddie contradicts this information saying that he actually played this on the B&W Charvel, by raking a herco 73 Nylon pick across the springs in the back of the guitar body while simultaneously strumming his fretting fingers across the strings above the nut (HA! EVIDENCE HE WAS NOT..I REPEAT..NOT!!! USING A FLOYD ROSE CLAMPING NUT YET!).
However Ted Templeman stated in his 1983 interview with "Reverb Abuse" ..a producer/recording engineer fanzine from Holland.... that EVH used his Destroyer midway between it's full size and chopped up version, and at the time the pup only had one coil working. Unfortunately we are not exactly sure which coil..let alone whether it was the Super 70, the Duncan 335 PAF rewind, or a MM Super distortion copy. For that matter, we are not even sure Ted knows what a guitar pickup is..but I digress. At any rate Ted relates the tale thusly "EVH was picking himself up off the floor in the morning and like found a broken chopstick on the floor from the previous night's take out or something... he picked it up, cleaned out his ear with it (editor comment: WHICH ear, Ted??) and then held it from the end about 1" and raked this across the strings at the neck pup area while simultaneously holding a Dsus7 chord but just fretted lightly in order to produce the harmonic like tone...it was totally gnarly....I believe his guitar was tuned to DADGAD at the time as well,,Eddie was always experimenting, ya know".
Now I saw picture recently just after the album was released. The guy on facebook who had posted the picture said it was exactly at the moment during "Devil" of the string rake that he took the picture at a club show in Barstow, CA in 1978. I've done some research and the guy on FB was definitely old enough to be at the concert, and lived a few towns over from Barstow. So I tracked him down and made a little visit to the halfway house he is currently staying at. After seeing the picture first hand and talking with the guy (once his meds kicked in), he seems really legit. In the picture Ed is playing a Single coil equipped strat-the picture is B&W, but it seems to me the strat is black for sure. Unfortunately what else I saw in the pic has absolutely boggled my mind-
Some stoner skank with hair like Gilda Radner was rubbing up against the headstock and is raking the metal button from her Jordache's across the strings right in front of the (guitar) nut. I also noticed a backwall of Univox stacks behind Ed. Ed doesn't even have a guitar pick in his hand. :scratchch
I've since been trying to track down the skank to get to the bottom of this..but no luck so-far.
