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Topic: Replacing a piece of my heart: Fender Deluxe 8 |
Howard Rappaport
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 8:56 am |
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I've had a long lament: I was the proud owner of a walnut finish late-50s Fender Deluxe 8, but I lost it when I absentmindedly left it on a NYC subway platform (damn you, ADHD). Well, a couple weeks back someone posted the exact model on the Fender Non Pedal Steel Guitar page (or maybe this one? Can't recall): his uncle had passed away, and it was found in his storage unit. He was asking for info about it. I mentioned in the comments, as I always do, my dearly departed.
The good gentleman had rachmones (Yiddish for pity or compassion) for me, and dm'd me to ask if I was interested in buying it. He wisely wanted it to go to to someone who'd play it. Well, all of this, combined with COVID-era wooziness...my brain broke. I had to have it. They come up for sale so rarely, and I can never afford them when they do. I couldn't really afford this, either, but I put it on my cc anyway.
I was very nervous about the purchase: I was buying it sight unseen, and it wasn't inexpensive. But he showed me a lot of pictures of it and he came off as very sincere, so I took the chance.
Man, am I ever happy I did! Aside from a replacement tuner (done in kind of a hacky way: the bar the tuner was mounted on was cut out, and a single regular guitar Kluson was pushed in to replace it) and a replacement volume pot, the thing is all-original and GORGEOUS! The pot codes date it as late 60s. It has flanges but no legs, and the tan case (which doesn't have a leg compartment) is in great shape, aside from the very funky grandma's basement smell. After shooting out the intermittent pots with some Caig it sounded perfect: sweet, but "stringy" at the same time. SO much different than my '52 Royaltone, and MUCH quieter. The blend pot works perfectly, but I can't imagine playing it without using both pickups on: *that's* the sound. The tone pot does a great boo-wah, but after the wah happens at about 2, there's practically no change in tone for the rest of the sweep. Not sure if I wanna change it or not.
Anyway, here it is, in all of its glory. On the advice of John Ely, I've tuned it to Jerry Byrd's C6 (standard C6 but with a Bb on the 8th string). I've now got it set up in front of my bedroom window, where the fresh air has taken care of the lion's share of the musty odor. All I've gotta do now is get used to the string spacing, and play the hell out of it!
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_________________
Back to the bar
1952 Gibson Royaltone
1954 Fender Dual Professional
Late 60s Fender Deluxe 8
1965 Deluxe Reverb
1966 Princeton |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 9:13 am
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Beautiful! And I'm with you, on my Stringmaster I've never wanted to dial the blend knob back...maybe if you want a real cutting tone for country? But I like the bigger, smoother sound.
I'm trying to think of what tuning Jerry Byrd would use that would have a Bb on the 8th string, particularly...unless its an extension of the C6/A7 that would have C#, C, Bb on the bottom three (John's site mentions it being C#, C, A as the usual C6/A7, although adding a Bb in there gives you C13 options as well as the A7...but that gets almost too diatonic for me!).
Oh, unless you have a high G instead of high E...then that would be the tuning Junior Brown uses (alternately called a C6 or C13 tuning).
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Howard Rappaport
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 9:47 am
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Ah, you're right, Nic: John just suggested raising the low A to Bb, but my weird brain randomly crammed "Jerry Byrd" in there. Probably because I think about him a lot? And yes, I do have that high G on top, Bb-C-E-G-A-C-E-G low to high.
_________________
Back to the bar
1952 Gibson Royaltone
1954 Fender Dual Professional
Late 60s Fender Deluxe 8
1965 Deluxe Reverb
1966 Princeton |
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John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 10:37 am
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| Howard Rappaport wrote: |
| Ah, you're right, Nic: John just suggested raising the low A to Bb, but my weird brain randomly crammed "Jerry Byrd" in there. Probably because I think about him a lot? And yes, I do have that high G on top, Bb-C-E-G-A-C-E-G low to high. |
I use that same tuning, but the Bb string is an octave high, just a half step from the 4th string A.
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"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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Howard Rappaport
From:
New York, USA
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 11:03 am
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| John Rosett wrote: |
| Howard Rappaport wrote: |
| Ah, you're right, Nic: John just suggested raising the low A to Bb, but my weird brain randomly crammed "Jerry Byrd" in there. Probably because I think about him a lot? And yes, I do have that high G on top, Bb-C-E-G-A-C-E-G low to high. |
I use that same tuning, but the Bb string is an octave high, just a half step from the 4th string A. |
Interesting…it's like a really weird banjo!
_________________
Back to the bar
1952 Gibson Royaltone
1954 Fender Dual Professional
Late 60s Fender Deluxe 8
1965 Deluxe Reverb
1966 Princeton |
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John Rosett
From:
Missoula, MT
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Posted 9 Oct 2020 11:47 am
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| Howard Rappaport wrote: |
Interesting…it's like a really weird banjo! |
To me, it's a more satisfying voicing that an octave lower.
_________________
"it's not in bad taste, if it's funny." - john waters |
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