Country Blues Guitars

Originally Posted by DesertTwang

Circumstances. Definitely not "technology."

I should have said technology as in lack thereof...

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by m-thirty-great

I think the pre-WWII recording technology/circumstances had more to do with the country blues sound people seem to be describing than the instruments did.

I would disagree. If you listen to some of the recordings done after WWII you'll hear those similar tonalities from the same type of instruments only with better clarity.

For example... listen to some of the recordings of Blind Willie McTell that were done in '62. I'm hearing the same tone out of that 12 string as I do when listening to his earlier stuff. He favored those inexpensive Stella guitars. Of course now those suckers are going for an arm and a leg.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

Playing the mistakes? Why didn't I think of that? Here I am putting in all this practice for nothing.

Originally Posted by sweiss

I'm actually pretty good at that part of it. Want some tips?

[zombywoof]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

For example... listen to some of the recordings of Blind Willie McTell that were done in '62. I'm hearing the same tone out of that 12 string as I do when listening to his earlier stuff. He favored those inexpensive Stella guitars. Of course now those suckers are going for an arm and a leg.

More than likely though McTell was playing a Harmony-made Stella #922 12 string on the '62 recordings as he had during the Lomax and 1956 sessions. The Harmonys are different sounding than the jumbo and grand concert Schmidt guitars he played before the War.

[funkapus]

Originally Posted by aknow

In 1970, I was an aspiring musicologist, writing 'The Meaning of the Blues', and interviewed quite a few Piedmont, Oakland, and San Francisco blues artists who had migrated from the South, Oklahoma, and Texas.......Jesse Fuller, Mississippi John Hurt, K.C. Douglas, Sonny Terry, others.

You interviewed Mississippi John Hurt in 1970?

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by zombywoof

More than likely though McTell was playing a Harmony-made Stella #922 12 string on the '62 recordings as he had during the Lomax and 1956 sessions. The Harmonys are different sounding than the jumbo and grand concert Schmidt guitars he played before the War.

I had a #922 and have played a couple of jumbos from the 30's. You're right. The older ones... to my ears... sounded a little richer then it's later counterpart, although it was tough to tell on those early recordings. Nothing beats comparing them (guitars) side to side though.

[devellis]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

I would disagree. If you listen to some of the recordings done after WWII you'll hear those similar tonalities from the same type of instruments only with better clarity.

For example... listen to some of the recordings of Blind Willie McTell that were done in '62. I'm hearing the same tone out of that 12 string as I do when listening to his earlier stuff. He favored those inexpensive Stella guitars. Of course now those suckers are going for an arm and a leg.

Excellent point.

But it gets complicated. Limitations of the earlier recording techniques may have influenced the choice of instruments. Some guitars may have recorded better than others on the earliest types of recording gear. Those guitars then became the iconic sound. Now, that doesn't negate your point at all. If this analysis is correct (which is an open question), then what we hear on the older recordings is a certain sound that those guitars produced then (like in the 1930s), and again later (like in the 1960s) when they were recorded with newer equipment. That is, the basic voice of the instruments is evident in both time periods and is recognizably different from, say, a Martin D-28. But the equipment may have played a significant role in shaping our tastes by being more compatible (back in the early days) with the tone of certain guitars (like small-bodied birch guitars with ladder bracing) than with the tone of others (like X-braced Brazilian rosewood dreadnoughts).

Again, this is a supposition that seems to fit the facts but it isn't a proven truth by a long shot.

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by devellis

Excellent point.

But it gets complicated. Limitations of the earlier recording techniques may have influenced the choice of instruments. Some guitars may have recorded better than others on the earliest types of recording gear. Those guitars then became the iconic sound. Now, that doesn't negate your point at all. If this analysis is correct (which is an open question), then what we hear on the older recordings is a certain sound that those guitars produced then (like in the 1930s), and again later (like in the 1960s) when they were recorded with newer equipment. That is, the basic voice of the instruments is evident in both time periods and is recognizably different from, say, a Martin D-28. But the equipment may have played a significant role in shaping our tastes by being more compatible (back in the early days) with the tone of certain guitars (like small-bodied birch guitars with ladder bracing) than with the tone of others (like X-braced Brazilian rosewood dreadnoughts).

Again, this is a supposition that seems to fit the facts but it isn't a proven truth by a long shot.

Very intriguing... I'm really quite glad you brought this possibility up. I never thought about it in that light.

On another note Bob... I once asked Jack Owens (late blues musician from MS) why he was playing a Kay rather then the National that he owned. It turned out that someone talked him into trading away his National for the Kay and he's regretted it ever since. The original recordings I had of Jack were done in '63 I believe and that National sounded incredible. His later recordings in which he used the Kay, as technically wonderful as they were exposed that cheaper guitar for what it was... a beat up piece of %$^& that even Jack hated.

Here's a picture I took of him in Greenville MS with that instrument:


And here's one with him and his National that was taken back in the early 60's