Hey everyone,
It's so good to see you're interested that much and thank you for your lovely feedbacks. So before I leave for a short holiday I do something new to explore.
First of all, Pab, thank you for your post; I refer to it in this post and also later on.
I wrote ESP Italia since ESP is the distributor owned by Italia Guitars Company and so I found it the 'official name' of the guitar.
PAB wrote:
And if you pay attention to some pictures, you'll see CR with Fender Squiers and also copies .
Or explore the Strat Chris plays in Let's Dance on TRTHAB DVD... that's a Squier, too.
PAB wrote:
Even the Banjo he use on stage is pretty cheap. I've got the same from England (+/-250€), it's a G. Houghton & son transformed to be played as a Tenor (4 strings).
Well, I remember we've discussed it before.. I agree and disagree, either. The banjo CR plays on stage seems to me a modified vintage Fender but you got the banjo; so can I ask you to put a picture of it here? To be honest I'm a bit confused about Chris' banjos and I tell you all why:
The banjo ukulele CR used on Blue Guitars (picture in the book, that looks like a small banjo with pretty short neck) is definitely a George Houghton.
The banjo CR played in the Farewell Tour is not the same he used on BG since that one is a...
9. Tanglewood TB-18 5
Of course it's modified to 4-string Tenor as Pab pointed very well.
So some facts on banjos... first banjos were made by African slaves trying to get the sounds of African folk instruments. Then modern banjos came to public in the early 1800s; becoming very popular in America and in England as well.
There are four-, five-, and six-string banjos; the six-string's tuning and usage is the same as guitars'. The most popular playing styles are arpeggio or fast strumming with a light pick - that's what CR does.
Nowadays banjo is mainly used by country and bluegrass musicians.
I think all of you know its sound since CR plays it a lot on Country Blues, Celtic & Irish Blues and The Beginnings; not to mention the new versions of Josephine and Stainsby Girls... anyway, I try to describe it in short.
Similar to a classical guitar played with a very thin pick and with capo on 7th fret... but because of the special body construction and tuning it can't compare to any other; there's a plastic-like plunk in each and every note.
At all, it's quite easy to recognise.
10. Fender FM60E
Another proof of CR's wide knowledge of musical styles and instruments is this mandolin.
Originally mandolin comes from the lute family with six double-courses of strings but it changed a lot through times; nowadays there's a wide variety of mandolins including this special five-string electric one.
The playing style is similar to banjos and not easy. Once I played a classical lute and it's far away from guitar, you know, differently tuned strings, different chords, different way of strumming.
Depending on models, mandolins are tuned like violins or violas.
With CR this instrument's sound is close to a banjo ukulele's (tuned a bit above the standard) but brighter since it's an electric instrument with single-coil pickups.
Robert Ahwai plays the wonderful mandolin tune of Head Out On The Highway on TRTHAB. Besides, like all the instruments in this kinda 'folk' part, is mainly used on Country Blues (and Celtic & Irish Blues). It fits, however, in many styles since different kinds of mandolins are used in American, English, Irish or Greek traditional music. In pop music you can recognise its sound in R.E.M.'s Losing My Religion or Rod Stewart's classic Maggie May. Also Paul McCartney plays it in his newest track but it's so terrible I can't recall its name.
Well, it became quite long and there's still so much... Gretsch and Guild and Hofner... I'll continue soon.
But until that time, gone to the lake,
Chris