Stars Fell on Stockton: Middle or Neck + Bridge

[Rjanuarsa]

G'day John!

Yeah I have heavy strings on my Strats, will also try middle pickup and play around with tone controls. Will give update as soon as I have recorded it.

Join in mate, would also love to hear your version!

Regards,

Robby

[Iain Purdon]

Joking apart, I am sure I have read somewhere (not Roberto) that Stars Fell On Stockton is one of the few recordings where the Gretsch was used ...

[JimN]

Joking apart, I am sure I have read somewhere (not Roberto) that Stars Fell On Stockton is one of the few recordings where the Gretsch was used ...

Roberto was certainly of that opinion in respect of that song (and others).

The only hard evidence of which I am aware came from:

Hank: "I used the Gretsch on A Girl Like You and Nivram"

Jet: "Hank also used the Gretsch on the tracks from Cliff Richard's "Dream" EP".

[roger bayliss]

Hi Paul

As soon as I heard the BN combo I was sold on that sound ... to my ears it has the character of the original much nearer than the Middle PU.

I did experiment myself a couple of years back with Stars Fell and could not get the tone on the record with the Middle PU and guess what ... I played it on a Gibson ES335 and mixed the neck and bridge and got the core sound much closer to my ears

Then others started saying it was the Gretsch so I thought that had to be the answer .... but now the revelation that Dick Denny put the BN combo on Hanks strat it now makes sense to me.

The BN sound file for me is right, however I would still think the Gretsch could get in real close anyway. EQ always plays a part in these things.

Wondering now about other tunes Shindig ?

[Rjanuarsa]

Here's my version using Gretsch 6120. The strings on the guitar are 11-49 with plain third, unfortunately I haven't got much time to change to a proper "Shadows" string gauge.

The sound it's not as close as I thought It would be but I think it's "Acceptable" close or has great potential to be really close with further tweaking.

I recorded the backing track just for this research, no whistles. It's a one take recording, not a performance.

Very interested to hear your feedback

Also, a friendly reminder that this is not a competition! I'd like to call it a "That Sound" research. I hope we are all having fun!

https://soundcloud.com/rjanuarsa/stars- ... tockton-rj

Regards,

Robby

[roger bayliss]

Perfect almost Robby that is the sound

[KurtFroberg]

Hi Robby,

Your version is also very close. It has the correct "voice" with two pickups, but maybe a little too much "Gretsch-sound" (can´t describe it better) if you know what I meen. I have listened several times now and compared to the original and to Paul´s version. I think at the moment Paul is closest with his B+N version. How was the balance between Neck and Bridge on your test, 50/50 or, Robby?

Kurt

[Rjanuarsa]

Hi Kurt,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes I know what you mean, it's too "Gretsch"

The blending is more towards Neck pickup, so neck pickup more dominant on this one. I notice Fender sound is more rounded as with the original and Paul's one, which is not easy to easy to achieve with a Gretsch.

So it's a Strat then?

Robby

[dave robinson]

They all sound good and pretty close to me, thanks for making the effort.

[cockroach]

I just read Hank's Guitarist magazine interview again (in the newsagent!- I can't afford to buy the bloody mag these days)

He said he thought he used the neck and bridge setting on 'my album' in the context of talking about the modifications he made to his Strat in the '70's..