(Click photo to enlarge)
Maybe everything if you've ever wanted to know about Neil Young’s guitar Old Black.
Guitars of Legend: That Rock and Roll Sound by Mike:
Exactly where does that legendary guitar sound come from? You bought a guitar, patched it into an amp, unsheathed your plectrum and played your favorite riff note for note, yet it sounded nothing like it should.More on Neil Young’s guitars and sound and Anatomy of ‘Old Black’ Guitar .
The beautiful thing about an electric guitar is the endless ways you can tweak, modify and manipulate the sound. Whatever guitar sound you have in your head is possible through some combination of pickups, pedals and powered speakers.
This infographic was designed to put together the details of the most legendary guitars (and their sound) of all time. From Neil Young’s Old Black to Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Strat Number One.
If this was a poster, I would buy it! Very cool
ReplyDeleteman this tour is red hot. Neil and Crazy Horse have "Burned the boats" in true Cortez fashion.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...I'm not sure what to say, opening up this page this morning. It's not my poster but...
ReplyDeleteThat's my Deluxe clone amp (which I built), my whizzer (which I built), and my red board (which I built). These pictures have been posted on various forums. That's cool that this guy used them. For some sick and unfathomable reason (at least according to my wife), I have been compelled over the years to reproduce NY's signal chain. What this poster doesn't show is the Magnatone 280 - this is really key to the sound because it takes the Deluxe's signal, post power stage, and runs it through that unique Maggie circuitry - the combo of the Deluxe and the Maggie are mostly what you hear.
That's not my version of Old Black, though.
Typo alert: octage divider.
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about guitars, but I do know that the incredible music flowing from the hands of NY on Old Black has taken me to magical places.
ReplyDelete@Old Black - who are you? Are you claiming to have personally built Neil's red pedal board and also came up with his signature sound?
ReplyDeleteIs this Larry Craig?
No - I am not Larry and I did not build Neil's anything. I love his signature sound.
ReplyDeleteI am an engineer and an amature luthier and over the years, I have reverse-engineered Neil's main rig to the best of my ability (and as information allows), using information obtained from all over the place (and some minor assistance from Larry). There have been many iterations along the way and I am still not done.
It's not rocket science. Tube amp building, for example is not very difficult (particularly a 5e3) - there are many people who can do that. The whizzer - now that was a bit of a challenge but there are less than $150 worth of components in my whizzer and just about anyone could build one using hobby servos. I have shared how I built that (and the red box with relay-controlled true-bypass) on other forums.
What I was commenting on is that poster is using pictures I have posted on the net of my red control board (which activates relays in a big black box underneath my deluxe to switch effects in and out), my Deluxe, and my whizzer - believe me, I recongize them. And that's okay - that's really cool, in fact. I'm honored that somebody thinks my unworthy efforts at replicating Neil's rig are worthy of a poster.
Thanks Old Black for background!
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool what you've done with the replicas. And even more cool how you've shared so much knowledge with community.
Keep on rockin', bro.
I've seen a photo of Marc Bolan with the same Dove/CND guitar strap. No Jimi though. When asked why he had taken off the badge Neil said something about rust.
ReplyDeleteAwesome work on the infographic AND of course the repro of the guitar amp and whizzer! I want to eventually do at least a partial repro of some or all of this stuff myself, maybe throw dome twists of my own into the mix, but I can't do so in the short term future.
ReplyDeleteOld Black: Could you please post some links to the forums where you have detailed your reverse engineering process? I would like to reference them in the future.
Thanks
Cool stuff Old Black, umm can you build me one?
ReplyDelete