McCartney's acoustic pickups

[Axelorox]

Does anyone have an idea what pickups Paul McCartney uses on his acoustic guitars? I've seen him play his Martin D28 and J18 plugged in.

[Wade Hampton]

Axel, Paul McCartney has never been much of a gearhead, and I’ve never seen him discuss things like string preferences, pickups or any other signal chain items in any of the many magazine interviews of him that I’ve read. I get the impression that he lets his sound crew and guitar techs decide all of that, and it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that he himself doesn’t know all the details.

Not because anyone’s hiding any of that information from him, but because he simply doesn’t care.

That’s just a guess, mind you, but it fits what I’ve read.

Of the three guitarplaying Beatles, the one who seems to have been the biggest gearhead was George.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Murphy Slaw]

Dave Rawlings has been seen using Kyser Capo's for decades. And the trusty SM57.

There are hundreds of pics and videos of David Lindley using the SM57.

Wait, the same stuff I use.....

If you watch "Let It Be" the movie, you'll notice guitars plugged into amps. Not a lot more going on.

[jparis51]

I don't know about his Martins, but according to a 2017 article in Mixdown he sometimes pulls out his old Epiphone FT-79 Texan in live shows (the one he used to record Yesterday) and it's now equipped with a Fishman Matrix Infinity pickup system.

[Woodstock School Of Music]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Axel, Paul McCartney has never been much of a gearhead, and I’ve never seen him discuss things like string preferences, pickups or any other signal chain items in any of the many magazine interviews of him that I’ve read. I get the impression that he lets his sound crew and guitar techs decide all of that, and it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that he himself doesn’t know all the details.

Not because anyone’s hiding any of that information from him, but because he simply doesn’t care.

LOL In a interview they asked Paul what strings he uses and his reply was something like "I really don't know all I know is they come in little bags"

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Axelorox

Does anyone have an idea what pickups Paul McCartney uses on his acoustic guitars? I've seen him play his Martin D28 and J18 plugged in.

It's definitely a UST of some type. I feel like I read once that he uses the Headway system but I wouldn't be surprised if he uses the Matrix. He doesn't get great acoustic tones so I think whatever he uses, there are better options. I do always wonder why guys like Mccartney & Mayer for example still use a dry UST tone. At least get an Anthem or spectrum DI to make it more natural.

[Mr. Jelly]

Interestingly the Beatles, while making ground breaking music surpassed by none, didn't get into gear. I never heard of them shopping for equipment or anything. When they wanted a 12 string guitar sound like the Byrds they asked for a guitar like that and got one somewhat like that,

[jparis51]

For you fellow Beatles fans, here's a real fun site tracing every Beatles guitar purchase and the subsequent history of each instrument:

http://www.thecanteen.com/fabguitars.html

[Petty1818]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

Interestingly the Beatles, while making ground breaking music surpassed by none, didn't get into gear. I never heard of them shopping for equipment or anything. When they wanted a 12 string guitar sound like the Byrds they asked for a guitar like that and got one somewhat like that,

I feel like a lot of that had to do with the fact that when the Beatles were around, especially based in England, specific gear was not available to them. I mean Vox is iconic now but at the time, they were just a newer brand that Beatles management signed a contract with. The Beatles used Vox mainly due to the fact that they could get it at a great price or free as long as they used them live for exposure purposes.

I remember reading once where George Harrison made a statement about Gretsch guitars and playing them live when the Beatles were still together and starting out. I can't remember what he said but it was something negative about them and how if had, had a choice, he would have played something else. Obviously I think a bit of it was humor but I am sure early on they were given certain tools to use for marketing purposes.

George always struck me as a gear nerd though, just not someone who would brag about it. I mean he had a pretty massive collection and I don't remember him ever playing cheaper guitars.

[jricc]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jelly

Interestingly the Beatles, while making ground breaking music surpassed by none, didn't get into gear. I never heard of them shopping for equipment or anything. When they wanted a 12 string guitar sound like the Byrds they asked for a guitar like that and got one somewhat like that,

Roger McGuinn of the Byrds heard George's Rickenbacker 12 String(the 2nd one ever made) in the A Hard Day's Night movie and then went and bought a Rick.

[The Kid!]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Axel, Paul McCartney has never been much of a gearhead, and I’ve never seen him discuss things like string preferences, pickups or any other signal chain items in any of the many magazine interviews of him that I’ve read. I get the impression that he lets his sound crew and guitar techs decide all of that, and it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that he himself doesn’t know all the details.

I would imagine that the tech and crew are probably pretty obsessive about Sir Paul's tone, and aside from the pickup and pre's they have a sound person that's top notch that can make whatever adjustments are needed.

I don't think he NEEDS to care. Shoot, I'd love to just show up to a gig and have everything sound wonderful without having to obsess about such things, but I'm not Paul McCartney! Haha.

[Axelorox]

Originally Posted by Petty1818

It's definitely a UST of some type. I feel like I read once that he uses the Headway system but I wouldn't be surprised if he uses the Matrix. He doesn't get great acoustic tones so I think whatever he uses, there are better options. I do always wonder why guys like Mccartney & Mayer for example still use a dry UST tone. At least get an Anthem or spectrum DI to make it more natural.

Good points... his live acoustic tone certainly isn't perfect.

I saw him live at the Austin City Limits festival last October and was up quite close to the front. His D28 sounded great when playing rhythm with the band on songs like From Me To You and In Spite of All The Danger, but felt a bit thin when it came to solo songs like Blackbird and Here Today.

I'll look into those options you mentioned. Thoughts on getting an Anthem, vs a Matrix plus a spectrum DI?