Ry Cooder's backline on October 3, 2008 [Archive]

frmorales52

10-06-2008, 12:02 PM

Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner did a two night benefit concert at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco on 10/2 and 10/3.
I attended the 10/3 concert and spent the evening 15 feet from the front of the stage.

What a great show!

Everything Ry used is in this blurry picture. His tone, touch and feel were out of this world. No one else sounds or plays like him. He is soooooo funky. He's also super expressive. His face and body react to and anticipate every note he plays. I'm here to tell you - he's feeling it. There was a lot of space for him to fill and he did it with a style that is all his own.

I feel lucky to have been there. I've seen him with Hiatt and Little Village and once years ago with Flaco in tow. But this was different - Way more personal and intimate, yet casual at the same time - and he was way more animated.

He played his heavily modified Strat most of the night. He also put in a fair amout of time on a modified, bound Tele that has a MOTS sunburst finish (to match the pick guard) and played one song on what looks like a Rickenbacker all metal frying pan guitar. All three instruments are in the stand on the right side of the picture.

As you can see, he had two amps. A very beat tweed Deluxe and a very clean blackface Vibroverb. The Vibroverb looked suspiciously new. It may have been a re-issue. But somehow - considering who was playing it - I doubt it. Both amps were miced through the house PA.

I only saw two stomp boxes. Both are on top of the Vibroverb. The one on the left looked like and "AB" box. The other one was a metal box with a single switch.

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p415/sffranky/Rys_Backline.jpg

gtrfinder

10-06-2008, 12:06 PM

Awesome.
Always liked Ry. He's got great intuition and really good hands.
One of the masters who never plays too much and always leaves you wanting more.

Thinsocks

10-06-2008, 01:57 PM

What was the deal with the Tele?

Neer

10-06-2008, 02:08 PM

That's not a Rickenbacher Frying Pan, but a Rickenbacher Spanish Electro, which is a bakelite guitar. Does it have a Vibrato bar on it? Some of them had this old motorized Vibrato mechanism. I know Jackson Browne has a few of them. Lindley used to play the Hawaiian neck version.

kimock

10-06-2008, 02:10 PM

Pointing across the stage no less. . .

snarkle

10-06-2008, 02:19 PM

Pointing across the stage no less. . .

He's a smart guy, that Ry.

And in the original picture the Tele looks more like a baritone or 6-string bass...true?

playon

10-06-2008, 02:48 PM

Yeah that must be a Baritone neck on the tele, it's way longer than the neck on the strat. Sounds like a great show. I saw Ry play that same venue years ago when he had the Tex-Mex band with Flaco Jimenez and the three back-up singers.

wombat66

10-06-2008, 03:32 PM

few pictures from the SF Chronicle

http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/10/03/dd-cooder04_0499240630.jpg
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/10/03/dd-cooder04_0499240636.jpg
http://imgs.sfgate.com/c/pictures/2008/10/03/dd-cooder04_0499240629.jpg

and the review
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/04/DDGR13B0SR.DTL&hw=ry+cooder&sn=001&sc=1000

frmorales52

10-06-2008, 05:55 PM

I found this about the Strat that Ry played most of the night:

The '60s Fender Stratocaster is his main bottleneck guitar. It has an Oahu lap-steel pickup assembly - the body was routed out to accomodate that - and is notched for the Fender tailpiece. It also has a Teisco pickup in the neck position. The neck is a "C" model he got from David Lindley. It's really wide with lots of mass. It's a very stable and responsive guitar, with good sustain and a good constant volume.

ghost

10-06-2008, 06:06 PM

frmorales52

10-06-2008, 06:34 PM

I ain't familiar with the tones he got with David. L. But he had that thick, sorta buzzy, greasy tone that you can find all over "I Flathead". I think the two amp set-up was a major part of it. I recognized that thick 5E3 magic (I have a Clark Beaufort) - but with note definition and verb courtousy of the blackface.

To my ears though - it was that Strat with the mods that had the most tonal mojo going on. I'm seriously thinking of getting my hands on a decent strat and routing it out for an Oahu and Teisco pick-ups. Of course, I still won't sound like Ry........

ghost

10-06-2008, 06:38 PM

WOW- whats up with Teisco pickups....wonder what gives them that sound, or is it the combo wit the lap steel pickup...

Don M or any of you guys know anything about how these pickups are contructed? I gues they are pretty big physically?

So- he was running both amps at once, not switching back and forth?,,,,hmmmm

frmorales52

10-06-2008, 06:45 PM

The teiscos on both the Tele and Strat were mounted in the neck position.

Here's a picture of the Strat he was playing. It's the sunburst on the right....
Dig the huge metal plate on the Oahu bridge pick-up:
l
http://www.rycooder.nl/images/sm.gif (http://www.headstockmedia.com/thedvd.html)

paulg

10-06-2008, 08:25 PM

The Tele was a Fender, maple neck, moto front and back double bound with vintage sunburst finish (yes, very funky!), white moto pickguard with the Tiesco pup in the neck. As far as I could tell he used the bridge pickup most, if not all of the time.

Strung Up

10-06-2008, 10:24 PM

were the tones with the setup you photographed comparable to the great tones I'm talking about (like he got live with David L...)???

same? different? do tell!!!!:dude

Sounded like the Deluxe was cranked higher throughout. Very much in the 'Get Rhythm' pallette of tones. Even when cleaner, or when the trem. on the Vibro was kicked on, the tweed dominated.

Surprised that he played as much WITHOUT slide as he did (even on the shoulder-slung Rick)

Also surprised that I could pay any attention to him while being mesmerized by Keltner. Watching him up close was a MAJOR schooling in rhythm, dynamics, space, ensemble support and propulsion . . . I could go on.

silvertone

10-06-2008, 11:23 PM

Surprised that he played as much WITHOUT slide as he did (even on the shoulder-slung Rick)

The thing that gets me the most about his playing usually has nothing do with the slide stuff, which is, of course, fantastic. He kind of invented a style of electric playing that's fairly sophisticated, using primitive techniques, like open tuning. His groove is always amazing, and what he plays is always about making the song great. Wish I could've been at the show!

westchesterdave

10-07-2008, 08:19 AM

How about the set list? Was it a mix or was it a Ry Cooder show with Nick Lowe on bass? I did notice that Nick appeared to be singing in a couple of the SF Chronicle pix.

frmorales52

10-07-2008, 11:16 AM

I can't really remember all of the songs. But they did several of Nick Lowe's tunes - including the title track from his latest album. They did a few standards and the rest was backcatalog Ry Cooder stuff. They didn't cover any of the "I Flathead" material.

After all, this was not a super slick, rehearsed show - and that was part of the charm. They all spent a lot of time watching each other for ques - etc. They did "Fool for a Cigarette/Feeling Good". I love that medly.

I'm a big John Hiatt fan, but I was glad he was not there. When he is it tends to be a John Hiatt show with the others in support. Not surprising really, John being such a great songwriter and singer. But this time the focus was on Ry and Nick.

By the way, Nick is a cool front man. He exudes "Cool Cat" vibes at all times. He was playing the nicest old P bass I've ever seen - a faded green color I couldn't place..

As others have pointed out, Ry plays a lot of fretted and open strings interspersed with slide notes - instead of leaning primarily on the bar. It's a great style and almost as much fun to watch as it is to listen to.

drive-south

10-07-2008, 11:45 AM

thanks for posting this. I was just about to start a thread regarding how to cop Ry's incredible tones...

I always though he got his coolest tones with the magnatone amp and the tel-ray delay...

were the tones with the setup you photographed comparable to the great tones I'm talking about (like he got live with David L...)???

same? different? do tell!!!!:dude

Is the Tel-ray delay the unit he refers to as his "oil-can".

I'm kind of surprised he was playing through Fender amps, as I read his favorite amp is an old Gibson GA30.

drive-south

gtrfinder

10-07-2008, 12:02 PM

Good luck finding one of those pups...

If you do, let me know how you did, I'm on the hunt myself.

I've got an Oahu in the emporium

dharmafool

10-07-2008, 12:09 PM

Is the Tel-ray delay the unit he refers to as his "oil-can".

drive-south

Yes.

Thinsocks

10-07-2008, 12:33 PM

Good luck finding one of those pups...

If you do, let me know how you did, I'm on the hunt myself.

Finding one of those pickups is not hard, just pricey. A good number of Supro lap steels have that string-thru pickup. The hardest part is installing it in the guitar. You'll need to route out the body a bit and also mill the pickup plate so that the strat trem will fit. I know the guy who did the work for Ry and he used a mill to do all the work. That's not something most guys have sitting in their garage. Plus, you will have to have a new pickguard cut.

morlll

10-07-2008, 01:00 PM

I've never seen Ry Cooder, but I've listened to Bop Till You Drop a million times.

"Think it's gonna work out fine" is one pf my favourites of all time.

I would love to see that show.

custom kid

10-07-2008, 02:04 PM

Interesting comment in the review about Cooder saying he would never play LA.

Anyone know the reason for this?

I thought he still lived there so he must like the place on some level.

drive-south

10-08-2008, 03:08 PM

This was the first time in many years that Ry has played a live concert. Does anyone know if the show was video-taped or perhaps recorded? It would be a huge shame of this rare show was not saved.

drive-south

branbolio

03-06-2009, 12:57 AM

wanna revive this thread to see if anyone has seen ry shows in a while.

wstsidela

03-06-2009, 02:01 AM

Interesting comment in the review about Cooder saying he would never play LA.

Anyone know the reason for this?

I thought he still lived there so he must like the place on some level.

I saw RC play a benefit concert at the Santa Monica Civic about 7 years ago.

todd richman

03-06-2009, 09:25 AM

I wish I could have seen that show. His slide tones are some of the most memorable.

mad dog

03-06-2009, 10:23 AM

A note on lap steels in strats. I just tried out one such guitar, someone had modified with a string through p/u from a National lap steel in the bridge, that same Teisco p/u ry uses in the neck. While the teisco sounded great, the bridge sounded nowhere.

The lesson for me is one I already knew. These same string through p/us are everywhere in the lap steel world it seems. As with all the gear we lust after, not every one sounds the same. I had a Supro regular guitar ("60") with that p/u on it ... so heavy and toneful it was hard to believe the sound. Have heard others like that, but more like the one in that modded strat. Some are better than others. I bet Ry got a good one, and had a pro pay attention to the wiring too. (These are loud p/us, can easily overwhelm others.)

The gear stuff is just a footnote. Ry has soul from the inside.

johan

03-06-2009, 11:05 AM

Jack E Martling

03-06-2009, 11:12 AM

The Vibroverb looked suspiciously new. It may have been a re-issue.

OMG!!!

WTF??

Totally inappropriate!

Prairie Belt

03-06-2009, 11:19 AM

Good luck finding one of those pups...

If you do, let me know how you did, I'm on the hunt myself.

Check this out-

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=151941

Scroll down about halfway for Jason Lollar's very thorough post.

Rama

03-06-2009, 02:16 PM

Ry Cooder is it.

Dave Orban

03-06-2009, 02:19 PM

VERY cool!

branbolio

03-06-2009, 11:06 PM

awesome, keep em comin folks. ry never gets enuff talk around here.

branbolio

03-06-2009, 11:08 PM

is his rig in these pics set up stereo or a/b switcher

sfarnell

03-07-2009, 04:06 AM

...just a note from Sweden.

I caught Ry Cooder in Santa Monica beginning of December (-08) so he still plays there. He did a benefit concert with Jackson Browne, Joan Baez, Bonnie Raitt and Ben Harper. Amazing tones and playing. I was so happy to be there I almost couldn't believe it.
Great show from everybody. Wish it would last longer.

He used more or less the same rig. No Deluxe though, looked more like a Bassman.

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk157/johanare/IMG_1359.jpg

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk157/johanare/IMG_1363.jpg

http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk157/johanare/IMG_1375.jpg

For what it's worth, it looks like a Dumble is on stage with Ry in the center pic.

I can't believe that I missed the SF show...I didn't even hear about it and it's one of my favorite venues, and Ry and Nick Lowe are among my all time favorite artists. I recently caught Nick Lowe on Austin City Limits...what a talent!!! What a voice!!!! What a songwriter!!!

I've got to get out more (or at least get on some mailing lists so I don't miss shows like this)

Frankenstrat2

03-07-2009, 07:09 AM

For what it's worth, it looks like a Dumble is on stage with Ry in the center pic.

If it is (hard to tell) it could belong to Ben, Bonnie or even Jackson. Each are known to own/play them, and Santa Monica is home turf. What a lineup!
To a previous poster- I saw Little Village at the Beacon NYC in '92. I agree- John Hiatt does tend to dominate, but also agree that as great as Cooder and Lowe and Hiatt are individually and as a unit, its hard to concentrate on them when Keltner is there. The most musical, interesting drummer percussionist I have ever seen live.
I wish Ry would play (and record) more. He has been a major influence for me over three decades now.

johan

03-07-2009, 09:14 AM

Yes, it is a Dumble ODS. Belongs to Ben Harper I think. At least he was the one using it. He's got two of them. A head+cab and a combo.

Timmo

03-07-2009, 09:35 AM

ANYTIME Jim Keltner is in the mix get ready for the good stuff.
He is the man for the back beat.............;)

Claytone

03-07-2009, 03:27 PM

This San Francisco show would have been a wonderful opportunity to catch Ry Cooder in rare action fronting (or sharing with N. Lowe) the Little Village band. He does play in Los Angeles, showing up from time to time doing benefits like this one or supporting friends like Randy Newman and John Lee Hooker. As for his touch, taste and range of styles it has already been stated, Ry is in a class by himself.

dave66

03-18-2009, 09:02 AM

Thanks to a post today about Ronnie Earl, I learned about the sugarmegs site. You can listen to the 10/03/08 show there.

musicofanatic5

03-18-2009, 12:10 PM

I have haunted ebait for years looking for one of those Supro p.u.s (never felt right about cannibalizing a lap steel), and finally found just the p.u. assembly sometime last year. Haven't found the right home for it yet, but it's on my list of "projects" (it's a long list!).

soulmap

03-19-2009, 01:45 PM

Thanks to a post today about Ronnie Earl, I learned about the sugarmegs site. You can listen to the 10/03/08 show there.
thanks for the tip!
that is one loose and rocking show - i love these guys

OOG

03-19-2009, 03:03 PM

Ry don't own a Dumble
went off the truck
dude goes by EJ
picked it up;)

what a great show you attended
love me some Ry
and Keltner too!!!

lonkelly

08-23-2009, 12:57 PM

I have a couple of questions about that long-scale tele, and maybe some of you who've seen it in person, or who are smarter about these things than I am, could answer.

1. Is it a custom shop Bajo Sexto? These reportedly had 30" or 30.25" scale lengths. The photos look like the neck has a Fender logo, but I can't be sure.

2. I've never seen a finish like that in the post from Johan, clear pearl over the burst. How is that done?

bluesjuke

08-23-2009, 02:26 PM

Can't answer any of your questions but want to welcome you to TGP lonkelly!

lonkelly

08-23-2009, 03:26 PM

Someone posted a YouTube video (maybe shot with a cell phone) of Ry playing Tattler at the San Francisco benefit concert. It looks like he's capoed at the 6th fret, and he's playing the baritone telecaster. The key is close to F.

I'm fairly sure Ry plays that song with his guitar tuned to G-tuning intervals, but the key of the song is a 5th higher (e.g. if he was playing open G tuning, then he'd play the song in the key of D). I have a 1970s or 80s video of him playing Tattler just sharp of the key of F, capoed at the 3rd fret of his older strat, using fingerings consistent with this tuning/key concept. The song is also just sharp of F on Paradise and Lunch. (I'm basing "just sharp" on the tuner in my Korg Pandora PX4. Having all these versions a bit sharp makes me wonder if the tuner isn't a bit off.)

So, in the San Francisco video, if I'm right about the capoed fret, the open tuning of his guitar would be B E B E G# B.

Fender made a set of A tuning strings for the Custom Shop Bajo Sexto Telecaster (standard intervals), but they wouldn't really work for this tuning. Could this be evidence that it's less likely the 30"+ scale length of a Custom Shop Bajo Sexto, but more likely a baritone conversion neck?

lonkelly

08-23-2009, 07:28 PM

Using The Gimp to measure distances on the photo posted by Johan I think the photogrammetric evidence is for a 30+ inch scale. Allowing for foreshortening based on the ratios between the saddle to the 12th fret and 12th fret to the nut, and using a 3.4 inch length for the Tele bridge plate in real life (from StewMac), I estimate the scale at 30.7", so I don't think there's much chance it could be 28 something inches. I vote for the 30.25 inches Dan Erlewine cites for Custom Shop Bajo Sexto scale length.