Guitar Techie Question: late 60s/early 70s acid-funk and r&b

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Posted this on ILM and got bupkiss, so here goes:

I'm havin a really hard time determining what kind of guitar gear was used on a lot of stuff I've been listening to recently, was wondering if any of the more recording-engineering-inclined around here would have any info as to what kind of guitar set-ups the following guys used:

Eddie Hazel
Norman Whitfield-era Temptations
Pete Cosey
Freddie Stewart (Sly & The Family Stone)

(info on similar guys also appreciated)

I can't find any of this shit on ye olde internet...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 March 2006 22:32 (nineteen years ago)

(the reason I ask is cuz I want to buy a second guitar - in addition to the Les Paul that I have now - and I want something that would be good for this kind of music and that's not a Strat or a Tele)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 March 2006 22:37 (nineteen years ago)

Try a Variax. Then when you find out what they're using and that it... uh, varies, you'll be set. I bought one and I'm sold on its merit.

― George 'the Animal' Steele, Thursday, 9 March 2006 22:58 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno, I'm pretty suspicious of anything that's just designed to model something else.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 9 March 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

I would say that the following would be key to getting the acid funk soundz:
- Stratocaster, preferably maple neck
- A good vintage-style fuzz pedal (Super Fuzz, Vox Tone Bender, Fuzz Face - there are tons of boutique pedals that emulated vintage fuzzes that are out of this world)
- A univibe, or a suitable facsimile (dunlop univibe, fulltone deja vibe)
- A phase pedal (MXR 90 perhaps, those Roland Jet Phasers would be nice too)

A Les Paul is simply too dark for the funk. You can get some killer clean funk comping out of a Gibson semi-hollowbody, preferably a 335 or 345, but it's not going to work for the acid-funk leads so much.

Why no Strat? The genre you are describing is all about the Strat!

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:40 (nineteen years ago)

hey there! So there's two guitarists in the band - we both have Les Pauls, and he just bought a Strat. In the interest of having the widest palette available, I was thinking of getting something different. After poking around today, yeah I was thinking of one of the aforementioned Gibson models. Thx tho - totally appreciate the input.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:54 (nineteen years ago)

what about one of the Gretsch semi-hollowbodies?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 10 March 2006 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

Pete Cosey looks to me to be playing a Les Paul in the entire band picture in Dark Magus, although the angle is such that you do not see the whole guitar. It is a guitar with binding and it has black headstock with Kluson style three on one side tuners, so that kind of says Gibson LP to me. There is another shot where he is playing a Tele with a rosewood fingerboard. It is definitely not a Tele in that whole band picture looking at the tuners and headstock.

I think the Vox wah was kind of the preferred choice back in the day.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Friday, 10 March 2006 03:19 (nineteen years ago)

I think any semi-hollowbody would be cool as long as you like the sound. They are so great for chord work, and sound awesome when you're comping and muting funk chords.

Keep us posted on the band. It sounds cool. Are you in SF?

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Saturday, 11 March 2006 02:07 (nineteen years ago)

pretty sure Eddie Hazel played a Strat.

― b mulvey, Saturday, 11 March 2006 04:38 (nineteen years ago)

yep I'm in SF - off to Rocker now...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Saturday, 11 March 2006 20:30 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

I was doing some research on Eddie Hazel's setup and came across this site which had some useful information.

http://www.newfunktimes.com/index.phpname=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=715

There's a lot of leadwork in his playing but his rythym was just as good.

Dennis Coffey played on most of the Whitfield-Barret-Temptations tunes. He played a Gibson Firebird on pretty much all those Motown sessions, plus a wah which was probably a Vox or Crybaby (practically the same)

I've seen footage of Freddie Stewart play a 335 Gibson, which was a favoured funk guitar at the time.

― Stone (stone), Wednesday, 3 May 2006 22:20 (nineteen years ago)

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