Fig. 1
Hey there and invite back to Mod Garage. This month, we will honor and keep in mind the excellent Jeff Beck by taking a much deeper check out his guitar toolbox and examining how you can come close … a minimum of electrically.
It was an actually unfortunate day for the music world on January 10, 2023, when Jeff Beck died at age 78 from a bacterial meningitis infection. He was, for sure, among the very best and most valued guitar players ever, affecting numerous gamers all over the world with his distinct tone and design. I do not believe I need to discuss that utilizing the exact same equipment will not make you seem like Jeff Beck– his playing chops are close to inaccessible. It can assist you to sound closer to Beck’s tone, so let’s have an appearance into a few of his guitars that I believe are the most crucial.
When we speak about Jeff Beck’s guitars, we are likewise discussing pickup mastermind Seymour Duncan, who was a friend of the guitar player. Duncan is the brains behind much of the guitars that Jeff Beck played throughout his exceptional profession.
1. The Tele-Gib
This is the guitar that began the long-lasting relationship in between Beck and Duncan back in 1974, when Duncan was operating in London as a guitar tech at the Fender Soundhouse. (The Fender Soundhouse was a big shop in London throughout the ’70s.) You can hear this guitar on “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” from Blow by Blow
In 1974, when Beck was taping in the CBS studios near the Soundhouse, Duncan brought back a butchered 1959 Fender Telecaster to working condition. To integrate the very best of both worlds, he set up 2 rewound PAF humbuckers, conserved from a smashed 1959 Gibson Flying V that formerly came from guitar player Lonnie Mack. Due to the fact that the Telecaster did not have a curved top like a Les Paul, they were set up in flat, white humbucker frames, and because the initial Telecaster bridge was missing out on, Duncan set up a Gibson stop-bar tailpiece and an ABR-1 bridge. Duncan provided this Gibson-ized top-loader Tele to Beck, and he immediately fell for it. The rest is history, as they state.
“You can buy a Telecaster body with 2 humbucker routings with no issue. That was not even envisaged back in the early ’70s.”
Constructing a copy of this guitar is a lot easier today than it was back in 1974. You can buy a Telecaster body with 2 humbucker routings with no issue. That was not even envisaged back in the early ’70s, so Duncan needed to put a great deal of work into this guitar. Discovering a pickguard with humbucker cut-outs is likewise no huge offer today.
If you wish to come close to this guitar, you need to pick a Telecaster body made from ash or overload ash, and a 1-piece maple neck. You likewise require a stop-bar tailpiece, an ABR-1 bridge, and a basic Telecaster control plate with master volume, master tone, and a basic 3-way pickup selector switch. You can pick any PAF humbucker copy that is close to the ’59 specifications– a basic two-conductor circuitry will be great. In the initial guitar, the pickups do not have a metal cover, exposing their zebra bobbin plan. It’s essential to likewise utilize pickups without metal covers if you wish to get as close as possible. Duncan utilized 500k pots for volume and tone, together with a 0.047 uF tone cap and a basic Telecaster 3-way electrical wiring: bridge/bridge + neck in parallel/neck.
You can utilize any basic Telecaster circuitry diagram for this. It’s a regular Telecaster electrical wiring with 2 humbuckers– no split, no series changing, no phasing or any other tricks. Naturally, you can fine-tune the circuitry to your taste and carry out some mods and add-ons. Beck mored than happy with the guitar the method it was, so it was never ever customized.
2. The Fender Jeff Beck Stratocaster
The advancement of the Jeff Beck Stratocaster goes back to 1986 and went on for a number of years. In 1991, the very first series of the Jeff Beck Stratocaster was readily available– a basically updated variation of the Strat Plus, including an alder body, a deep C-shape neck with a rosewood fretboard, a Wilkinson roller nut (changed in 1993 with the LSR roller nut), Sperzel locking tuners (changed in 1994 with Schaller locking tuners), a two-point tremolo, Lace Sensor Gold single-coil pickups and a HB Lace Sensor Dually at the bridge, and a TBX tone circuit impacting the middle and bridge pickups, plus a tiny coil-split push-push button for the bridge-position humbucking pickup.
In 2001, the guitar was upgraded with Fender Hot Noiseless pickups and a traditional tone control, a contoured heel, and locking tuners. In 2004, the Fender Custom Shop launched the Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster with nearly similar specifications as the 2001 series.
Beck likewise played other Strats throughout the years– a lot of to cover them all. All the products you would require to construct a copy of the 2 variations discussed above are easily offered today. The circuitry of the 2nd variation is a basic Stratocaster electrical wiring with a 5-way switch, master volume, and 2 tone controls. We will speak about the really unique circuitry of the very first variation in a future column, in addition to the circuitry of the Fender Strat Plus.
3. The Jeff Beck Esquire
When Seymour Duncan provided Beck with the Tele-Gib hybrid guitar in 1974, it was suggested as a present by Duncan. A couple of days after Seymour Duncan offered the guitar to Beck, the guitar player’s supervisor revealed up at the Soundhouse with a wild mix of 3 guitar bodies and 3 necks, from which Beck desired Duncan to select one as a present in return. Duncan selected an Esquire and began putting it back together.
The Fender Esquire with the identification number 1056 was from 1954, and it’s the one Beck played throughout his stint with the Yardbirds in 1965 and 1966. You can hear this guitar on the Yardbirds’ “Heart Full of Soul,” “Train Kept a-Rollin’,” and “I’m a Man.”
The guitar went through some adjustments, the most apparent of which was on the body. It was sanded down and contoured on the front and back like a Stratocaster, exposing the bare wood in areas. The initial neck was likewise altered for whatever factor, and when Duncan got the guitar, it had a neck from 1956. It’s unclear if the Esquire was currently customized when Beck purchased it back in 1964 or if Beck customized it.
“The Fender Esquire with the identification number 1056 was from 1954, and it’s the one Beck played throughout his stint with the Yardbirds in 1965 and 1966.”
The standard functions of this guitar are a blonde-finished ash body, contoured like a Stratocaster, a 1-piece maple neck with a soft V-shape, a black Bakelite pickguard, an initial Fender pickup from 1954, and basic Esquire/Telecaster hardware. The guitar had an incredibly lightweight of just 6 pounds.
Developing a copy ought to be no issue at all. The initial guitar still comes from Seymour Duncan and is shown in the Rock & & Roll Hall of Fame, in the precise very same condition as in 1974.
Another fascinating adjustment is the circuitry of this guitar, sporting 250k volume and tone pots and a standard 3-way pickup selector switch together with the single bridge pickup. In Beck’s Esquire, the 3-way switch is wired like this:
- # 1: volume control with a cap just, no tone control
- # 2: volume control with a cap and tone control with its tone cap
- # 3: volume control just without any cap and no tone control
Sounds familiar? Naturally! It is a type of in-between circuitry from the initial Fender Esquire circuit and what ended up being popular as the “Eldred circuitry” in the future. We discussed both of these circuitries in information in the past, however the one in Beck’s Esquire is distinct, so I will supply you with the circuitry diagram if you wish to get as close as possible.
Unfortunately, we do not understand about the capacitance of the 2 caps. It’s stated that it has a 0.05 uF tone cap and a 0.003 uF cap in line with the pickup, which sounds possible to me. Modern variations will check out 0.047 uF and 0.0033 uF, however do not stress, they will work fine. Here we go:
Fig. 1
That’s it! Next month, we will have a better check out the treble-bleed network versus booster/fuzz issue and how to resolve it, so remain tuned! Till then … keep modding!
Mod Garage: The Jeff Beck Guitar Files posted first on https://www.twoler.com/
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