Clarence White (Byrds) rig

chingnchime · Post by **chingnchime** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:13 am

Does anyone know what Clarence White of the Byrds used amp and fx-wise? I know he was co-inventor of the b-bender, but I'm talking overdrive and general sound. I get the feeling it wasn't extensive, as he seems like a straight ahead player, but on some of the Byrds live recordings his notes seem to just kinda spring out of the guitar, and there did seem to be a bit of overdrive there somewhere. Could be he was just pushing a smaller amp. Thanks!

mark_telfer · Post by **mark_telfer** » Wed May 04, 2005 9:42 am

I've read that Clarence used a Valley Sound fuzz and, for amps, a Vibrolux Reverb with The Reasons (a.k.a. Nashville West??) and then, with The Byrds, two Twins and later a pair of 4x10 Super Reverbs. I'm pretty sure that Clarence would have crossed paths with the Dual Showman and Dual Showman Reverb too.

According to Buddy Woodward, posting (I think) on the Yahoo Byrdmaniaxlist, Clarence:
"did have custom Red Rhodes "Velvet Hammer" pickups & special wiring that allowed him to engage an additional boost coil on the bridge pickup, via a mini-toggle switch on the Tele switchplate, which gave him a humbucker-like sound. That, along with a Strat-style neck pickup (& *very* tricky controls) gave him all the standard Tele positions, plus out-of-phase, pickup blending & series/parallel switching. An almost endless variation, just from the guitar itself. Not to mention his knowledge of right hand positioning, which is very important in bluegrass. So Clarence had excellent control.

"Additionally, the standard output of the bridge pickup is low, so you need to run your amp a little hotter, which causes the driver tubes to overdrive & introduce even-order harmonic distortion into the sound. This allowed
Clarence to really make it wail when he kicked in the boost coil with the toggle switch."

karl_teten · Post by **karl_teten** » Wed May 04, 2005 11:27 pm

Steve, I spoke personally with Gene Parsons last month over the phone for about two hours.

Gene told me Clarence used only two effects playing live with the Byrds. One was a custom made distortion box by Valley Sound that was stolen off the stage after a performance in 1972. The other effect Clarence played with was a Fender Leslie. The rest, with the exception to the B-bender was HIS HANDS!!

Gene also said that the only mod Red Rhodes did to Clarence's guitar was the out-of-phase switching and that, "Clarence was not a tinkerer"!

Some say they remember Clarence mentioning he had "hot-modded" Red Rhodes pickups. It is IMO along with what Gene Parsons has told me that what we hear of Clarence playing with a hot signal is just his stock pickups with the Valley Sound unit.

Clarence's bridge pickup is a stock '56. His neck is from a 1954 Stratocaster.

Gene went on to say that Clarence's main studio amp was a Fender Princeton Reverb.

Clarence used a small amount of studio compression on his pre-mix guitar takes in the studio.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Thu May 05, 2005 12:53 am

http://www.fenderplayersclub.com/artists_lounge/hall_of_legends/white.htm#gear

karl_teten · Post by **karl_teten** » Thu May 05, 2005 1:45 am

http://www.clarencewhiteforum.com/index.html

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Sun May 15, 2005 8:04 pm

I think if one studies the photos of Clarence's guitar from Newport show where he played with Chris Hillman and Kevin Kelly still in the band to the Playboy After Dark...to the later shows....and on thru its time with Marty Stuart, the one thing apparent is that it went thru a number of changes...it looks like at one point it was set up as a one pickup esquire, and at another it had a stock tele pickup rather than the strat pickup it has now...there wasnt the wealth of aftermarket pickups that there are now...so odds are whatever iwas in there started as stock fender parts...and went from there....Ive read numerous places he had Red Rhodes rewinds in there for a while anyway....

I was surpised to learn that apparently some of Clarence's best playing, in my opinion, the stuff on Ballad of Easy Rider...was recorded direct to the board with a small amount of studio compression on it..

karl_teten · Post by **karl_teten** » Sun May 15, 2005 9:39 pm

Clarence White's B-bender was actually his orignal 'back up' Telecaster. After Gene installed the bender unit Clarence's main Tele took a back seat.

Clarenece's B-bender has a '56 serial number with matching 1956 dated body and neck labled TELECASTER.

From the earliest photos I have of Clarence going electric, the '56 Tele originally had a stock white pickguard with a stock lipstick neck pickup.

Right after Gene installed the bender unit you see the guitar with an Esquire pickguard.

By 1969 you see the 60's tortoise gaurd and the Strat pickup at the neck.

From the earliest photos I have right after Marty acquired Clarence's guitar compared to recent up-close photos of the Clarence Tele, the pickup poles all match in height. That tells me that the pickups on the Clarence Tele now are most likely the same pickups as when Clarence last played it. The pickups have been noted as stock period '56 bridge and '54 Strat in the neck.

The changes I am aware of that Marty has done to the Clarence Tele is the addition of the 'E' palm bender, newer input jack plate, changed out the original nickel Scrugss tuners for gold Scruggs and moved one Scrugg from the original A post (where Clarence used it) to the low E post. The original black hat Nudie sticker fell off sometime ago and has been replaced with a later white hat Nudie sticker.

loverickbass · Post by **loverickbass** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 1:37 pm

Did Clerance play the B-bender Tele on Sweetheart of the Rodeo?

Cole

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:29 pm

No. He was playing a white tele which was originally Buck Owens. That tele now belongs to Bob Warford and has stringbender #2 in it..it the Guitar Bob played on Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like A Wheel" LP. Albert Lee also played it on Emmylou Harris's version of Pancho and Lefty. The guitar was Clarence's #1 at the time

If I got the story straight, the b bender was being developed during the "Sweetheart" sessions..in his #2.

All the stringbending on ":Sweetheart " was done "digitally"...with his fingers. The Bbender first appeared on record on Dr. Byrds

budrocket · Post by **budrocket** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:23 am

Hmm, not so sure about that. I've always though he used a bender on at lease "100 Years." Listen to his backup on the last verse, some of those licks are neigh on impossible to do manually, & it has the same tone as his Frankenstein Tele.

I could be wrong, I have been before...

bw

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:49 pm

Nope , Buddy...first recordings of the B bender were on Dr. Byrds. Clarence had some incredible oblique bends before the stringbender...listen to "Nashville West"..he had the licks long before he had the B bender. Some of those bends...like on "Time Between" are behind the nut bends (but a stringbender makes so much easier...)

And he was playing the White tele on "Sweetheart" which got bender #2...installed by Bob Warford, his dad and some of his dad's engineering students from UCLA...using Gene's drawings.

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 7:08 am

FWIW, regarding Clarence and effects, I spoke with Marty Stuart a few years back, and he told me Clarence had used a Mosrite Fuzzrite fuzz.

mark_telfer · Post by **mark_telfer** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:10 pm

Did Clarence's white Tele become Roger McGuinn's white Tele in 1969 or so, or was that a different guitar?

rick36 · Post by **rick36** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:24 pm

I don't think so. I saw the two tele's together with the Byrds in October 1968, and the white one had no bender. Here's a photo of the back of the white guitar.

rick36 · Post by **rick36** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 4:18 pm

On the same note, here's Clarence with String Bender #1. Interestingly, these photos were taken in late Oct '68 - in the middle of the Dr. Byrds sessions which were recorded between Oct 7, 1968 and Dec 4, 1968.