Duane Eddy Gretsch

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Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby smokymtguitar09 » Thu May 19, 2011 3:15 pm

I suppose most of us Gretsch fans have already visited the new Duane Eddy guitar promotional on the Gretsch website. If not, there's some terrific videos there featuring Duane Eddy playing his signature "Rebel Rouser", and in a couple of others he tells some entertaining stories about his first Gretsch and his start in the music business.

Enjoy the twang !! http://www.gretschguitars.com/features/ ... XG-PUY6-v1
Ronnie Evans
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby PhilHunt » Thu May 19, 2011 4:53 pm

What's really amazing is that I thought for the longest time....Duane was just a plain ol' picker. He actually can play finger-style!! I've heard him play Cannonball Rag and dang if he wasn't pretty good.
To be honest though I never really cared for Duanes LP's because they were just basic and single string stuff.

Here's Duane Playing Cannonball Rag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8w0B0QCLXg
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby RandeDager » Thu May 19, 2011 6:42 pm

Phil, a lot of guitarist friends of mine really liked him but I'm with you. He's a pretty nice guy though and I'm glad that he can finger-pick. I'm wondering if he was capable back when he was recording his earlier single string hits?
Rande
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby billmoit » Thu May 19, 2011 7:24 pm

First, I wish Mark would have Duane do a sesson at CAAS. I have wanted this for years. Second in the book that comes with the Bear Family set it talks about Duane playing fingerstyle until Lee Hazelwood broke Duane's thumbpick and then said now we can make money. Duane's music got me started with guitar. Chet came a little later.
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby smokymtguitar09 » Thu May 19, 2011 7:45 pm

Bill,
I noticed in one of the videos where he was pointing out the longer Bigsby string pins, there was a straight pick stuck in between the pickguard and pickup yet at the nut there was a Kelly thumb pick. I guess that sums it up... he does both and has been very successful at it. For me it was his tone and his instrumental arrangements of Rebel Rouser, 40 Miles of Bad Road, and Detour.
Ronnie Evans
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby thenorm » Thu May 19, 2011 8:24 pm

Back in the fifties he made guitar playing seem attainable but, simple as his lines are, he does do something to his songs that set him apart.

But he's gotta be tired of playing rebel rouser and 40 miles of bad road.

Like Earl and 'foggy mt breakdown'

Still, the checks keep coming in...
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby PhilHunt » Thu May 19, 2011 8:26 pm

Ya know when Duane was talking about the longer pins on the roller bar on the Bigsby, I always wondered why Bigsby couldn't just make holes for you to run your strings through instead of those dang pins. Duane was right.....everytime you go to slip that string on the pin.....the dang string pops off.
I wish the Bigsbys had a hole that was concaved in a bit to hold the end of the string so you don't even see the end of it. Would this effect how the bigsby works in anyway? Does anyone know?
I know Paul was talking about this in Nashville last year.
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby thenorm » Thu May 19, 2011 9:07 pm

Paul made a couple of the bars and I have one also. Doesn't affect the unit operation at all.

this is Paul's

Image

I believe the reason Bigsby made his vibrato using pins was because at the time of the unit’s design you could not buy strings singly. If a guitarist wanted a lighter first and second string he had to use banjo strings which have a loop end instead of a ball end so Bigsby made sure that need was fulfilled. Once assorted single strings became available it never occurred to the makers of Bigsby to modify (and simplify the manufacture of) the unit.

Seems like a no-braner to me
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby Richard Hudson » Thu May 19, 2011 9:20 pm

I was going to comment about Norm and Paul's modification, but I see he as already done that, and much better than I could have. I like that idea much better, even than the longer pins, with all due respect to Duane.

Back to Duane Eddy. He is a much better guitar player than what we as fingerpickers give him credit. He does a good job of fingerpicking and he also is a good blues player. Although Duane was born in New York, spent much of his formative years in Arizona, he is still a country boy at heart. Chet is by far his biggest guitar hero. He is also a huge fan of Hank Williams. He is a master of tone on an electric guitar and always seems to know just what to play to make it appealing. He has over 100 million in record sales to prove that people like what he plays. Duane is a good, decent, down to earth person. It seems to me that his playing is just as good as it ever was.

He is very proud of the new signature guitar that Gretsch has built for him. He appreciates the fact that the people at Gretsch actually listened to him and pretty much put everything in the guitar that he wanted. Like Chet, Duane just doesn't look right playing anything but a Gretsch. Today, May 19 is the official release date.
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Re: Duane Eddy Gretsch

Postby thenorm » Thu May 19, 2011 9:50 pm

I'm not a machinist or into manufacturing but it seems to me it would be more cost effective for Bigsby to drill and chamfer the holes on the mounting bar instead of buying and inserting the pins.

I know Paul has talked to Gretsch (who now owns Bigsby) about it but for some reason they aren't picking up on the idea.

While we're talking about Bigsby's...Paul Yandell occasionally sent me little bits of information about what he and Chet did to their guitars. Here's a tip he sent me:
"...one thing Chet and I did to our guitars was to anchor the spring cup on the Bigsby. We drilled a small hole through the cup and put a screw through it into the top of the guitar. Chet said it helped stay in tune better because it stopped the vibrato from shifting..."

I’m not saying everyone should rush out and do this but it does make perfect sense and the benefits are obvious.

I did it to mine and you can't even see the screw in the cup. The spring blocks the view.
And the guitar seems to stay in tune a bit better (but that could be my imagination)
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