Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Do any of you guys know of a website that lists Beatles recordings along with the instruments that were used. I have a Ric 325V59, which has that sweet rhythm sound and also a Gibson J-160E. I know that the Gibson was used more on recordings than either of Lennon's Rics were, but I've always wanted to know what was played when.
Any ideas?

The book "Beatles Gear" might be a good first step for you, Peter. However, it sometimes lacks important detail. I hope the new book in '07 will be a bit more specific.

Beatles Gear:
http://perso.wanadoo.es/sissu/indexgear.htm
There are still plenty of mistakes & debatable stuff here but I think this is the site you're looking for.

Beatles Gear is a good starting place, it will give you general time frames they used various instruments. I've found two other sources that help paint the picture...."Revolution In The Head", which lists all of their recordings in the order they were recorded, with generic references to the instruments they played, for example, "Lennon: Acoustic Rhythm Guitar".

The other is the "Play The Beatles To A Tee" DVDs..he gives some great insights into instruments, fingering, and chord choice I've never seen anywhere else.

Now if only I could learn and play like that....

As someone who has spent a ton of time studying their studio habits, I would say it's only safe to say one thing: "We don't know". (Repeat!)

It's almost as hard as saying "What did they have for lunch?" It's almost never documented and people there don't remember. So we end up guessing (with some information and clues helping us all), which can lead to a wrong guess almost as easily as a good one.

Yes - in the early period they had limited choices. This helps. In the middle and late period, we have to use photos (less than 1% of their sessions were shot) and any written records (I can only think of less than a dozen songs with notes).

Certainly, a 12-string electric is a distinctive sound (but they had several!) and a Leslie sounds like a Leslie, a Mellotron like a Mellotron. But other things are not so easy.

Best explanation I ever heard, Brian. I've read many times, including this forum, that it had to be this particular guitar or that one on a given recording. When it comes to guitars, they can take on a variety of sounds with the right effects, processing and a host of other recording techniques. Lennon's use of the J-160 could often be confused with the 325, and vice versa. A good example is in your book. A cycle change on a VSC can make a marked difference in sound.

In some cases pictures or videoclips taken while recording or in the period when they recorded a certain song/album may help...but there are loads of exceptions...
i.e. Paul appears with Hofner bass in the Paperback Writer/Rain and Penny Lane promo videos, but we know the story differently

While a lot of the books are good guide, I more less have given up on searching for historical documentation and rely on using my ears. With John, and often Paul, this isn't too hard to figure out, because they didn't play that many different guitars and once you know what one sounds like, through the amps and production effects they used at the time, I figure I can make an educated guess as to what was played. George is a different story, especially in the early days.

Personally, if I am trying to play a Fab tune and want an "authentic" sound, I use their live gear, which is much easier to figure out.

Brian, a question for you about the Recording the Beatles book?

In the chapter talking about echo chambers, you list the length and width of the rooms, and talk about the pipes that were in there for sound dispersion, but I didn't see any mention of how tall the echo chambers were. Can you enlighten us as to that aspect? Thanks!

The answer is tricky - pick your favorite below:

A) They were "high enough".

B) They didn't have roofs.

C) Sound goes AROUND, it doesn't go UP and DOWN, this is why you have two speakers - on the Left and Right. Therefore the height of the chambers doesn't matter.

D) Chamber 1 (used with Studio Three) has been torn out, but photos show it being roughly flat topped around 10'. Chamber 2 (used with Studio Two) is now modified from how it used to be. It's about 8' now, so we figure it was somewhere slightly taller than that. Again, largely flat. Chamber 3 (used with Studio One) has a sloped roof rises from 10' to 12'6". It still exists but is not used.

BTW - Chamber 3 (rarely heard back in the 60s) is likely the great reverb on "Goldfinger"!!

I think it's also possibly "Do You Want to Know a Secret", and likely to be the reverb used on 'Sea of Holes' and 'Sea of Time' from the ORIGINAL "Yellow Submarine" record.

Brian: While I can't imagine offering a suggestion to you that you have not already considered, perhaps Vic Flick, the guitarist on a number of the Bond soundtracks may be a good resource here.

A resource for what? Chamber height or who played what on Beatles records? I dont' follow... Thanks.

Thanks Brian. It gives me a starting point if I later decide to build an echo chamber for myself and my future studio.

Sorry to be so brief Brian. A resource for chamber height as it is likely that he knew this environment well.

In keeping with your excellent comments on who used what guitar on what recording, who would have guessed that this was the James Bond guitar.