Jack White (White Stripes) guitar(s) and sound

[DrShann]

Guys.

I just got back from Glastonbury festival in the UK. White Stripes were headlining the Friday night and honestly they shat all over everything else at the festival.

I was a big fan before the gig but they really blew me away. I'm a big guitar player fan, and after Friday's display Jack is WAY up there.


Anyway, for the question:

He did some blistering slide solos on a guitar I've never seen before:

It was called a 'Kay', and was a cutaway acoustic, but it looked as though there was grey gaffer tape all over the top, including the soundhole. Where the soundhole should have been there was a single pickup (looked like a humbucker). He was also feeding the signal through fx (at least distortion). The sound was AWESOME.

So, does anyone here know what the hell he does to / with that guitar???

Failing that does anyone know how they get there sound in general?


Dave

[Jules]

His live sound and recording engineer hangs out here, so fingers crossed he will be able to let you know!

[mitgong]

The world will say what it will about The Stripes, but I gotta say that Jack White's playing/tone gets me wet everytime. I can't think of another of today's players that is doing more to show the guitar to be the joyous beast it is. Furious!

[Jules]

Saw Jeff Beck last night.. amazing sounds, (sorry to be Off Topic!)

[ToddP]

Hi Jules,
I did not see the guitar in question, but Kay is one of the classic vintage guitars from the first half of the century in the US. They have been sort of lost in the shuffle, and there are certainly better guitars out there, but they have a certain "cool" factor to them. It was no doubt covered in tape to help with feedback problems, as the Kays generally predate amplification, or were made very early on. I am no expert, but I am sure you can find more info on vintage guitar sites or books.

[fishman]

I have to say that I did not like the White Stripes at all.




































Until I saw them on Friday. They were absolutely blinding. thumbsup

[rainsinvelvet]

Did it look anything like this Kay? I got this one as a hand me down from my grandpa. It even came with a curly cable!

ERic

[DrShann]

Cool looking guitar, but the one I'm talking about was acoustic...

Anyone know about their sound?

[MAProTulz]

Well, Jack White picks up a guitar and plays, and that's 95% of it right there....

[blackbox]

he plugs funky-cool gtrs into silvertone amps and cranks it. the biggest parts of the white stripes sound can be boiled down to a couple of really ingeniously simple elements...

He paints with really broad strokes. he's using these pawn-shop gtrs that have very distinct and eccentric personalities. While guitar manufacturers like Kay, Silvertone, Hagstrom etc where and still are overshadowed by the big guys like fender and gibson, they still built really great instruments. Compare a budget-minded guitar from the sixties like a silvertone to a modern budget minded guitar. No contest. Plus these gtrs are capable of producing some straight up crazy and monsterous tones. More individuality and uniqueness. You can't help but to stand out. Gtrs today are so damn vanilla.

His parts on record are simple and straight ahead. gtr plugged into basic Silvertone 2 x 12. The first record was the usual 57 into api into 1176 to tape.

There's no bass. Nothing to compete with the guitar. Ever notice how you can solo a gtr track and get the biggest sound ever but when you put everything back in it's not the same? Well, there you go. No bass player, so no bass tracks, so the guitar track has more space to occupy and a larger role.
Kinda like how there's really no bass on the early Van Halen records and ACDC records so the gtrs are bigger.

[RoundBadge]

I LOVE my twin twelve.. thumbsup

[alphajerk]

there is bass guitar on some of their tracks [of course, then there usually isnt guitar so]... i think however they limit their track counts heavily and thus sounding bigger. too many productions these days just have far too much crap in them.

i like their minimalist style. the drums are horrible but do SOUND cool. i would be nice to hear him with a proper band [3 piece]

[Jules]

I have heard that JW LOVES Coles ribbon mic's... We are talking for breakfast, lunch AND dinner

[kennyd03]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

there is bass guitar on some of their tracks [of course, then there usually isnt guitar so]... i think however they limit their track counts heavily and thus sounding bigger. too many productions these days just have far too much crap in them.

Is that really bass? I was thinking it was really an octaved guitar. There's no bass credit given on the record.

I do like the idea of having less tracks, but each one sounding killer. I know I've been guilty of tracking and overdubbing sub-par guitar tones just to make the guitars sound bigger. Poor compensation...

-KD03

[MAProTulz]

Originally Posted by Jules

I have heard that JW LOVES Coles ribbon mic's... We are talking for breakfast, lunch AND dinner

The roomy compressed drum sounds that you can get from a spaced pair of Coles set back from the kit is ****ING MONSTROUS. Big fat low end, creamy, splashy cymbals, if the kit and the room sound good, it'll rock your socks off.

Too bad Meg sucks as a drummer, but hey, other big hits have been scored with equally bad drumming....

I really dig their sound and think Jack is talented. I don't think the guitar/signal chain/etc will give you that "White Stripes" sound without, yaknow, the White Stripes. He'd sound pretty similar with a Strat/AC30 - his sensibilities would drive him to set the amp to what he wants, which'd probably be surprisingly close to what he's got the Silvertone doing.

The vintage "budget" guitars DO have a sound - I occasionally play a '60's Teisco and it's certainly unique - but I still sound like me, whether I'm playing that, the acoustic or the Strat. Which is to say, it sounds like shit.

[Curtis Franklin]

im just curious how they got the MARIMBA sound on the new album. jk

the white stripes were the last band that i didnt like based on hearing 2 songs. since then i have heard more of their material and i dig them. now i abstain from an opinion on music until i have heard more of it. cheers.

[Jim vanBergen]

Am I the only person in the world who thinks that White Stripes write decent songs but the sound is horrid? I was present at the album release in NYC and I thought the mix was mediocre, the drum sound sloppy, the guitars too dirty (which was a first for me in twenty years of this business) and the mastering nonexistant! I asked the band's rep (Jack & Meg were not present) who worked on the album and they said Jack mixed it but thought "it only sounds good on speakers driven by MacIntosh tube amps". They said "if we don't listen to it on tube amps it just doesn't sound right."
I'm NOT kidding, these are direct quotes!!!!

I have heard their tunes on the radio and I always wonder what the hell they are doing. If their engineer reads this, PLEASE give me some insight...I'm very happy for them but I just don't get it. Is the concept as retro as possible? NIN meets the 60's?

Jim van Bergen

[aeroc]

whammy octave pedal. it´s red.

[alphajerk]

you mean you dont love that glorious analog tone?!?

[Jim vanBergen]

analog tone...the record release master had levels all over the place, 16K was tearing people's heads off, and that glorious analog tone sounded like someone had recorded at 8 bit, printed hot to analog 2" 24 track, then re-mixed thru Cakewalk down to ATR 1" 2-track master. Sounded like a car crash looks from across the highway divider.

[alphajerk]

i think it was just a 2"/8track. probably mixed analog board to tape as well... he is kinda weird in that respect.

ya GOT to love analog. it is the BEST SOUND EVAH!

[84K]

Still looking for megs underware on ebay AJ?

[alphajerk]

ANALOGGGGG!!!! RULEZZZZZZZZZZZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and no, she left them in my backseat... wanna buy em? im putting them UP on ebay.

[84K]

HA! Better clean your car.... (She Looks Dirty)