Gretsch Treble booster for Hi Lo Trons?

[Jazz P Bass]

If this article is to be trusted, then yes, it twas a 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster.
Link:The Beatles -- Nowhere Man -- History and Information from the Oldies Guide at About.com

[David Schwab]

If this article is to be trusted, then yes, it twas a 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster.
Link:The Beatles -- Nowhere Man -- History and Information from the Oldies Guide at About.com

Well that's interesting! You would wonder why they would need to boost the treble on that?

The low notes in that really sound like a Gretsch to me though, but I guess it's hard to tell with all that treble!

This is kind of like when I first found out that the bass on Helter Skelter was a Jazz bass, and it was John playing it. Sure sounds like a Rick.

[picknconk]

That's just nuts....Can you point me towards a supplier for a good rotary switch? I like you guys, you're as crazy as I am, but smarter...

[picknconk]

I had a friend who was a World Beatles historian. The stuff he knew way back was staggering. He always told me he'd seen the studio notes that it was a Strat, and I would puff up my chest and insist I could hear it was a Gretsch. They got sounds with gear we couldn't use...More amazing now than then, we expected them to amaze us. The opening chord of "Hard Day's Night" recently deciphered, for instance....

[Sam Lee Guy]

Well that's interesting! You would wonder why they would need to boost the treble on that?

The low notes in that really sound like a Gretsch to me though, but I guess it's hard to tell with all that treble!

This is kind of like when I first found out that the bass on Helter Skelter was a Jazz bass, and it was John playing it. Sure sounds like a Rick.

I'm not convinced it's a Jazz Bass either, although amongst other instruments, Fender gave them two Jazz Basses. Have a listen.

"Helter Skelter" by The Beatles (Isolated Bass) - YouTube

[picknconk]

Carol Kaye got a similar voice with her Jazz bass, a pick, and a Dual Showman, but I am not a bass guy...

[David Schwab]

Carol Kaye got a similar voice with her Jazz bass, a pick, and a Dual Showman, but I am not a bass guy...

It was a P bass, a pick, and a Fender Concert amp. Joe Osborn used the neck pickup on a Jazz bass with a pick, and the same amp.

[David Schwab]

I'm not convinced it's a Jazz Bass either, although amongst other instruments, Fender gave them two Jazz Basses. Have a listen.

"Helter Skelter" by The Beatles (Isolated Bass) - YouTube

Wow! So they say it's a Fender VI bass? I had read it was one of the Jazz basses Fender gave them. Clearly they did have the Fender VI bass since George played it on Back in the USSR (I think).

I see in the comments:

"Starting afresh on already-recorded songs during The White Album sessions was becoming commonplace, and on September 9th [1968] a new attempt was made on Helter Skelter. ... The final version recorded on the 9th featured very heavily distorted electric guitars, drums and piano. ... The next day Lennon added bass using the Fender VI."
Works Cited: Babiuk, Andy, and Tony Bacon. "Revolution - All Change." Beatles Gear. San Francisco, Calif: Backbeat, 2001. 229. Print.

This just doesn't look right!

[marku52]

Try flat wound strings on your guitar sometime (jazz players like 'em). They give a really cool retro sound, and make the low strings deeper sounding, and less buzzy. Might have been FWs on that strat, that is a pretty cool combo. I've got a strat set up that way and I love it, especially in open G. Think Ry Cooder, or Small Faces, or Lowell George.

[picknconk]

I give up, I used to know something once, but no more...

[David Schwab]

Sam Lee Guy's link on YouTube lead me to this:

I Am The Walrus (Instrumental) - YouTube

Lots and lots of Beatle instrumentals! Apparently the tracks are from the Beatles Rockband game, and people have extracted and remixed them.

Needless to say what I've been listening to all day!

Thanks Sam!

[Bryan Jeppson]

That's just nuts....Can you point me towards a supplier for a good rotary switch? I like you guys, you're as crazy as I am, but smarter...

Torres Engineering sells a varitone kit which takes about 10mins to solder together and the instructions are simple.