Beatles Guitar Tech ???

mikestop · Post by **mikestop** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:15 am

Was wondering if the guys ever had a guitar tech for adjusting intonation, repairs or other basic adustments and repairs on there giutars during tours or recording sessions. I don't recall ever reading or hearing of any. Maybe if one wasn't playing right they just grabbed one that was?

beatlefan · Post by **beatlefan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:46 am

I think Mal Evans did most of that for them.

mikestop · Post by **mikestop** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:05 am

I thought Mal was more the guy that lugged there equipment around and did a lot of the set up for concerts/recording and also an assistant taking care of alot of there day to day needs. Didn't know that he took care of any guitar adjustments,problems or repairs.

revolver323 · Post by **revolver323** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:06 am

Agreed, Chris. If John Paul and George were anything like I was at that time, "tech" amounted to changing strings and raising or lowering pickups. I know that John had his first Ric repainted, and some other changes made to it, but in those days it was pretty much "plug 'n' play." I don't recall having my bass neck adjusted for at least seven years, until I switched from flats to Rotosounds. We were all used to playing with high action on thick strings. Our guitarist at the time revolutionized the local business by using a banjo string on his high E, thus allowing him to bend strings easily (a trick he learned from his uncle who play -- GASP!!! -- country music). Remember, this was 1965 PEBS: Pre-Ernie Ball Slinky

It's well-publicized that McCartney didn't know what type of bass strings he used. I don't recall if anyone ever asked George or John technical questions about their guitars.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:59 am

I remember references to Mal taking care of that. Nothing sophisticated, you understand, but strings, tuning, and action. I don't believe intonation was on anybody's mind much--you can hear some clangers on record now and then.

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 7:25 am

I've always wondered about this too. It seems to me that any "tech" work that might have been going on was pretty amaturish.

Here's a furinstance... why did Paul have his guitar strap literally tied onto the Hofner at the neck? They might not have had Straplocks back then but even a simple screw would have made for a neater appearance.

I think dave is right... there wasn't much thought to the fine points. In the very early days it was just plug in, turn up to "11" and go for it.

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:35 am

Good question!! They must have had someone that they knew in London or Liverpool with some guitar tech smarts to adjust their guitars. I read somewhere that John, Paul, and George were technically lame when it came to guitars. Yet, how come their recordings sounded so good. Even John's 325, which can be a tonal nightmare, sounded in tune up and down the neck. John once said that he had to use banjo strings for replacements. He also said that they often resorted to tying strings in a knot if they broke, and played around the knot. I wonder how Ringo knew about tuning his drums?

randyz · Post by **randyz** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 8:55 am

I've read and seen photographs that show George Harrison stringing and tuning both his guitars and John's. I read somewhere that when George joined the band, he took over from Paul when it came to tuning John's guitar. John apparently never tuned his instruments. It only makes sense that the guy who tunes also decides when to change the strings, so that makes George the 'guitar tech'. I've also seen a photo that purports to show Paul getting advice from George on modifying his new right-hand Epiphone Casino for left-hand stringing. More evidence to support George's knowledge of guitars.

mikestop · Post by **mikestop** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:01 am

I've always known the boys where pretty useless when it came to anything mechanical, especially John. Some people that where there kinda made it sound like John could barely work a light bulb!
I guess they usually had the tone or sound they wanted in there head, then made the best of whatever guitar was handy at the time! Whether it was properly "set up" or not.
This might have even added to overall unique sound on most of there recordings.

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:32 am

>>>Yet, how come their recordings sounded so good.

I think the answer is: EMI. Lets not forget that when the Beatles showed up at Abbey Road with their well-worn amps, George Martin's people almost ******* their pants and told the band that they would be using the studio equipment.

And yes, I think George was the most adept at things mechanical and I still love his praise of the patented Rickenbacker 12-string tuner design in that it makes it easy to 12-tune "even when you're dead drunk".

As for tuning in general, also remember that Paul's ability to tune a guitar was one of the things that impressed John when they first met. Not surprizing since Paul has natural perfect pitch (or at least close to it).

jerrymac51 · Post by **jerrymac51** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:33 am

A couple of observations. As far as John being totally inept, I've heard that he did mount the Bigsby on his Rick. I believe he also sanded down the Casino, disconnected the middle pickup on the first Rick, switched knobs. He sounds like a tinkerer at the very least.

As far as maintainence on their axes, I think they just took them to a music store if something was wrong. I remember a story that Harrison took his Gent to a music store because it wouldn't stay in tune, and the guy who worked on it said the only problem with it was that the strings were encased in crud and totally dead and all he did was replace the strings. Also, at one point Harrison borrowed a guitar from a music store while he was having his worked on.

On the other hand, the low E string on Lennon's Rick was nearly off the fretboard, and it didn't seem to bother him. And when Mac got his Casino, didn't the three of them work on it to convert it to lefty??? Just like they converted the Hofners???

I think all this shows that early on, they were just like everyone else back then, there was no one caring for the instruments, if there was a problem they took it to the music store for repair, or you fixed the problem yourself if you could.

As far as tuning, I understand that they would often tune their guitars to each other, and not necessarily to proper pitch. Then they would ask Sir George add a piano (or some other instrument) and he'd have problems because the boys were a few cents off!!!

Intonation??? What's that??? Lennon had that bow-tie bridge that had no adjustments for intonation, and Mac's Hoffner wasn't much better with the fretwire stuck in the floating wood bridge.

It seems that technology got better, but no the music.

jerrymac

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 11:57 am

I believe that Mac has natural relative pitch, not perfect pitch.

Perfect pitch allows one to pick a note out of the air and connect it with its name, or vice versa: to be given a note name and be able to sing the note. It is quite rare, compared to:

Relative pitch, which allows one to sing an entire song or phrase, a capella and on pitch, when the pitch of the first note is given.

brammy · Post by **brammy** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 12:28 pm

ok .... bottom line is da buggah can SING.

oreca · Post by **oreca** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:07 pm

Here's George doing the string changing on his 360/12.

I have another picture of him where he seems to be inspecting his bridge...

kog · Post by **kog** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 9:08 pm

There's also a pic in the Babiuk "Beatles Gear" book (page 111 of my version) that shows George in a dressing room tuning his Ric with the Gent right next to him. (In fact, it looks pretty much like the same room as this pic.) I think that's about as "guitar tech" as they got.