what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

[roadstar II]

post all ya know about the genius player MS!
I bought a duncan custom/59 cause mheard he was using them but now uses dimarzio's(custom wound)

 

[JeffB]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

In the old days...when he had really good tone He used whatever Gibsons came in his axe...T-tops...49X series, etc...PAF styles...funny you should ask as I just posted some clips over in the amp forum of his which I think are the best tones he ever got :clips Rivera modded 1987 (edit..DOH not x's...originals), a little delay, 60s Vox wah and his magic fingers


Around the time of the McCauley Schenker group he started using a Schaller pup and soon after Duncan Customs...I think the pups in his Dean sig are wound by Dean..but could be DiMArzio for all I know

 

[JeffB]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

Should also note around the time of McCauley Schenker Group is when he switched to 800 series channel switchers and stopped using a wah (cos all the old ones dried up, according to him)..this is when his tone changed considerably , IMO a big turn for the worse....

 

[Jocelyn]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

I always had a feeling the pickup to get closet to his tone was a custom and 59

 

[roadstar II]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

I always had a feeling the pickup to get closet to his tone was a custom and 59

really? i have a custom i bought to replace the stock dimarzio in my RG 3120
i like his older UFO tones
like on strnagers in the night(live disc)
i thought for years he used 7.9K T tops?
the custom is real good but wound too hot for the tolder tone he got where it has that real throaty mid tone or is that the wah pedal in the middle?

 

[WICKED LESTER]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

really? i have a custom i bought to replace the stock dimarzio in my RG 3120
i like his older UFO tones
like on strnagers in the night(live disc)
i thought for years he used 7.9K T tops?
the custom is real good but wound too hot for the tolder tone he got where it has that real throaty mid tone or is that the wah pedal in the middle?

it is both bro
i can get his older tone with my custom but i use a older cry baby set to about the middle
try lowering the custom pup and using the wha pedal like im said i am sure that will get you there

 

[JeffB]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

really? i have a custom i bought to replace the stock dimarzio in my RG 3120
i like his older UFO tones
like on strnagers in the night(live disc)
i thought for years he used 7.9K T tops?
the custom is real good but wound too hot for the tolder tone he got where it has that real throaty mid tone or is that the wah pedal in the middle?

It's a combo of the pup and the wah...he used to talk about (for tone) having "the meat, without the bone"..and thats why he used the wah the way he did (as a filter mostly, not like Hendrix or such)..

When he stopped using wahs for awhile there, thats when he went with the Custom. Because the Custom does have a sort of half-****ed wah sound..it filters off some of the "round" low end, adds some mids, and cuts without the jangly top of a PAF. This is also when he switched amps, and IMO his tone went to $hit. Not saying the Custom is bad, or an 800 channel switcher is bad...but the combination of big tone changes and complacency in his playing (or lack of "fire" due to life issues...I DO feel sorry for the guy) really made him sound like about 100 other guitar players out there. He just "lost it"

For his later tone, I think the Custom works fine...but for classic Schenker circa 1974-1986, it's "PAF"....

 

[extendedping]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

For the record I think Schenker did some of his best lead work during the McCauley Schenker era...but many of the songs suck as opposed to the UFO 70's era (as well as Walk on Water, Covenant and Sharks all of which have great songs imop)...and McCauley is a typical hair band singer while Phil Moog to me ears is bout as soulful and authentic as one can get. I think some of him recent stuff (Arachnaphbia for instance) is totally lame and yes he just sounds boring here without the fire. How great is Obsession? As a great guitar album I'll put it right next to Van Halen's first album released the same year. I'll always love MS when he is on.....he is unreal.

 

[roadstar II]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

it is both bro
i can get his older tone with my custom but i use a older cry baby set to about the middle
try lowering the custom pup and using the wha pedal like im said i am sure that will get you there

so i should keep my custom and buy a wha?

 

[roadstar II]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

the Custom does have a sort of half-****ed wah sound..it filters off some of the "round" low end, adds some mids, and cuts without the jangly top of a PAF.

For his later tone, I think the Custom works fine...but for classic Schenker circa 1974-1986, it's "PAF"....

jeff so you are saying for the tones in UFO the custom with a wah will not do the job?
see i think that his older tone has that real cool throaty vocal midrange in the leads
he also got it on the MSG disc like on "secondary motion" or "looking for love"
was he using the gibson T-tops then? 1981 i think?
when did he use the duncans?

what about the CC?

 

[bryvincent]

Re: what is michael schenker using in his guitars and what did he use before?

he used a 50s Les Paul standard w/ bigsby on the first Scorpions album(Lonesome Crow), recorded when he was only 15 years old.