BB King's setup

[Plucky]

Hey guys, I just finished setting up a guitar for BB King which will be given away with signature for the diabetes association(he was not present). He will be playing it as part of an event. I was wondering if any of you folks have worked on his gear and could share some insight to his preferred setup. I believe I still have time to make adjustments if necessary. Much thanks...

[Plucky]

Keeners are welcome to chime in as well...

[Sweetfinger]

There was a dead tree technology article many years ago in which, IIRC, Dan Erlewine went over Lucille. One thing that I remember clearly was that BB used ALL the string. The tuner posts looked like balls of yarn!

[Sock Puppet]

There was a dead tree technology article many years ago in which, IIRC, Dan Erlewine went over Lucille. One thing that I remember clearly was that BB used ALL the string. The tuner posts looked like balls of yarn!

The article is in the Pro Setup's section of "the Guitar Player Repair Guide" by Dan Erlewine. The reason for using almost the whole string is so there's enough left you can tie it back on if a string breaks...

He uses Ernie Ball's Light top/Heavy bottom according to the article:

.010 or .011 E
.013 B
.017 G
.030 D (that's what's in the set but he prefers a .032)
.045 A
.054 E

[Plucky]

Thanks for the info, guys. It was the string height I was concerned about. 7/64" is pretty high. I left it lower.

[Rick Turner]

Nice Bluegrass action!

[WholeToneMusic]

On Lucille he has it set at 7/64" at the 12th fret bottom of the outside E strings to the top of the fret. Also there is alot of relief (.030" at 7th fret).

[Bruce Johnson]

Nice Bluegrass action!

I'd love to hear BB and Tony Rice play a duet. I wonder if that's ever happened?

[David Schwab]

Nice Bluegrass action!

Why do those guys like such stiff action? I played someone's Martin once, and the action was so high I couldn't do anything flashy! But then the owner couldn't either.

I don't set up my guitars super low, but I don't like having a string want to slip sideways from under my finger either.

[Rick Turner]

Well, Bluegrassers still eschew the use of pickups, for one thing, so high action allows them to play louder. But some electric players like to work for tone, too.

[Bruce Johnson]

Yeah, most bluegrassers play acoustic only, stepping in front of mics when necessary for larger crowds. Bluegrass guitarists tend to pick quite hard, for volume and a percussive sound. They also tend to do most soloing down low, below the 12th fret. The guitarist in my band, Steve Noceti, plays most of his solos below the 5th fret, unless we're capoed up to another key. The high solos are mandolin territory.

My band just celebrated 20 years together! I play bass and sing bass harmonies.

[J M Fahey]

Hi Bruce. Post some MP3s, will you?
I think your band must sound real good.

[David Schwab]

I play very hard at times with very heavy picks, but I still like my action low and strings light. Sure doesn't hurt people like Albert Lee! Of course I don't play acoustic guitars much. But when I do I like them pretty much the same way. Otherwise I feel like a spaz.

When guitarists make comments about me liking .009 strings, I invite them to play one of my 5 string basses for a while.

[Steve Conner]

I've tried lots of different string gauges from .009 to .013. The 12s and 13s were great for playing metal with drop tunings, and gave a great piano-like clean tone, but weren't so easy to bend for blues.

I kind of settled on .010, it seems about right. A few years ago (when the dollar was weak ) I bought an American Standard Strat, and that came set up for .009s. It played so nicely that I didn't have the heart to mess with it. Particularly the whammy bar which goes up as well as down, and doesn't throw it out of tune.

So I'm still using 9s on that, in case I mess with the mojo. I bet if I went to 10s, they would stick in the nut slots, and those would need filed out, etc, etc.

I don't like to play really hard with light strings, the initial attack sounds all out of tune and "sproingy", for want of a better word. On a light-stringed guitar I find that I have to be a bit more gentle and let the amp do more of the work.

[jrfrond]

String gauge choice and feel depends a whole lot on scale length. 11's still play like buttah on LP's and other 24.75" scale and shorter guitars. Even 12's are doable if you like the strings to fight back a bit. But on a Fender or any other 25.5" scale guitar, you'll fight 11's for sure. But hey, SRV made 12's work, albeit detuned to Eb.

In "The Guitar Player Repair Guide", Dan Erlewine clearly stated that BB likes a stiff action. It's all a matter of what you get used to. I get alot of setup requests for candy-ass action, but a bit higher is actually better for tone. However, alot of Strat players want some string spank for extra attack.

Personally, regular 10-46 sets work, but I also like heavy bottoms (strings that is!). My son likes 10's on his Fender's, 11's on his Gibson's, and 12's on his jazzbox. The Charvel clone I built is strung with 9's, and his hands are so strong from using heavier strings that he pulls them out of tune. Heavier gauge sounds better to my ears, and also puts out more signal to the pickups.

I really feel that more players need to practice on an acoustic, then move to the electric, in the same manner a baseball player swings the fungo bat a few times before stepping up to the plate.