They'll bite but the key to Freddie's tone was no bass in the amp EQ and the thumb and finger pick. Freddie would dime the treble and mids and roll off the bass and played loud as hell! Another guy that set the amp like that was Guitar Slim and if you give a listen to his work on the Speciality label, you can hear that his tone and Freddie's are pretty close; one of the differences being that Slim didn't use picks but just his thumb and index finger.sloop_john_b wrote:I definitely hear the Varitone in use - 335's simply don't bite like that without it.
Nearly all of Freddie's early material with the wraptail '53 Les Paul was played on the neck pup but you'd swear it was the bridge due to all the high end. Slim also played a '53 goldtop but one of the early versions with the trapeze tailpiece. However, I personally feel that when Freddie switched over to the semi-hollow guitars, he'd found the perfect tone machine for his style of playing.
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Nick -
I think that the position on the Varitone that you dig is #5, IIRC. It's been a little while since I've played a 345, but that was the one position that really knocked me out. If you like the profile of the SG neck, then look for late '60s or an early '70s 345. Not as wide as the SG but slim and fairly comfortable to most players; plus they're pretty affordable as far as "vintage" Gibson guitars go.
