Leaderboard

Yeah, I think that came in with the change of image, when he grew the beard and went all cosplay-biker. The one I always remember him with was the LP custom with the Confederate Battle Flag on it - back in the 80s when nobody in the UK really realised what it signified, and thought it was just sort of a cowboy flag (don't even get me started on the closet-racist idiots in the rockabilly scene who turn up waving it at weekenders, wearing their Golly badges and claiming it's just their "rock and roll rebel flag, nothing to do with racism" (not even the racism spewed on their own facebook pages - honest, guv!). Most of the surface of the guitar was sanded to the bare wood by this point. He used to claim in interviews that shortly after he'd had it painted, he saw the guy from Warrant with a flag guitar just like it, didn't want to be associated with him, and went straight to the garage with coarse sandpaper and the guitar in hand. I have a dim memory I read somewhere that Rory called that his "number 3" (or was it 2?) - number one being a vintage Tele that I think was mostly used in the studio. Great section on his instruments here: https://rorygallagher.com/instruments/ In early 2025, a statue of Rory was unveiled outside the Ulster Hall in Belfast: Some got funny about him being sculpted with the Tele at the time and not the Strat, but it was based on a famous photo of him playing live, with the Tele, at the Ulster Hall back in the day. Rory was much respected in Belfast for insisting on still playing there annually right through the peak of the Troubles when a lot of big names (including, notably, Belfast's own and one of the biggest pricks in the music industry, Van Morrison) just refused to go near the place. Big influence on the next generation of Irish guitar players, not least Jake Burns (who imo has never gotten the full credit he deserves as either a songwriter or a guitar player). It's interesting how Hank was a huge figure for a whole generation of guitarists, but that has very much not carried over to another generation. (I'm sure the same could be said for many of my guitar heroes - or, hell, even guitar in general for the kids coming after us now.) In an odd way, while yes most of us who are aware of the Shadows might think of the Strat first, I think he now has somewhat of a bigger following among Burns enthusiasts, for the obvious reason. Buddy Holly.... maple board, two tone burst, early Stratocaster.... nobody else comes to mind as fast. Arguably the most important man in guitar-based rock and roll, next only to Leo Fender. It Was Buddy who popularised not only the solid body electric guitar in mainstream rock and roll, but also the bass guitar with the Crickets, and the "two guitars, bas and drums" set-up that is still the basis of so, so many bands today. He very much comes to mind when I see a 70s Strat with the black pickup covers and knobs on white plate, especially with a white body and rosewood board. I vaguely remember him playing a signature model some time back that dispensed with the middle pickup... did he have the middle pickup unwired in his original? I've heard of a surprising number of players having quite unconventional wiring for stage guitars that is often much more limited than you'd expect from the standard look to them. I guess that's partly for aesthetics, and maybe not to give away a secret? Possible... the one in the top photo above looks white to me. I think natural was an official finish from 69, though, that was at the peak of its popularity in the 70s and into the 80s, so he may well have had one. Possibly it got more studio use? I've heard it said that when Jimi had a bit more money later on, he preferred black or white solid finish Strats for stage, and kept the burst ones for the studio, as he figured the solid colours looked better in B&W photos. Who knows, though... there's a lot of glorious myths that take on a life of their own (TV Yellow, Jimi's parakeets, and all the rest).

I've never cared for the "noiseless" pickups as to my ear the ones I've tried just felt somehow sterile. The idea of vintage noiseless seems odd to me.... I suppose the idea is the compromise of the earlier sound without the hum, but the real joy of a vintage style pickup for me is stuff like the hum. Unless you're going for full on hard metal, I think a lot of folks overemphasise hot-winding in pickups, but it's definitely true there's quite the wide range in singled coils - especially the early, hand-wound stuff where more variation happened.

I guess without using specialist equipment to test sound waves and other technical stuff it's hard to to notice a major difference, everyones ears are different, If it feels better when you play and it sounds better than last time (even if it's in your head) then that's good enough for me.

Undoubtedly Steve Cropper, then Pete Townsend, Bruce Welch, Charlie Christian, Barney Kessel, Joseph Reinhardt ( Django’s brother), Paul Simon, John Lennon. There are dozens of other early jazz guitarists who played in big bands who not only kept the rhythm but also played through a plethora of chords.

Have you looked into... https://www.submarinepickup.com/collections/frontpage/products/the-submarine Haven't tried these myself, but I have seen fingerstyle guitarists with far more expensive versions of this solution! The idea is that you can position this to pick up your bottom two strings, and send that signal out to a bass amp or suitable effect/preamp/etc.

I do as well, but when I was looking for photos I kept finding ones of the pale wood and wondered how much that was used and I just assumed it was ivory paint under the stage lights?

I always associate him with the white/ivory one.

It’s look like no one mentioned Hank B. Marvin and the red Stratocaster or Buddy Holly and his Strat.