Early 60's jazz guitar sound, how to achieve?

[Bencuri]

Here is a song from the beginning of the 60's, can you give me advice on how to achieve this jazz guitar sound that you can hear in the song?

Download Franco.mp3 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

What gear you need to get this sound?

[hot ford coupe]

That almost sounds like a Les Paul on the neck pickup picking somewhere over the fingerboard extention. It sounds like all the tone is electrically generated with nothing coming from the guitar. The tone would have to be adjusted until you get the right sound. As far as what guitar it really is and what amp was being used, I couldn't begin to tell you. The equipment could come from anywhere in the world. BTW, that clip is really cool.

[spiral]

Originally Posted by Bencuri

Here is a song from the beginning of the 60's, can you give me advice on how to achieve this jazz guitar sound that you can hear in the song?

Download Franco.mp3 from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

What gear you need to get this sound?

The guitar sound reminds me a lot of the Three Suns, and Al Nevins had a D'Angelico--spray painted white (plus all the other studio hands that played guitar on those records in later years, Bucky Pizarrelli, Joe Negri, et al). You probably won't need a D'Angelico. PAF pickups into a Fender tube amp, some amp reverb, some compression, will get you close. How it is played has much to do with it too.

Amazon.com: Moonlight And Roses: The Three Suns: MP3 Downloads (def. not Al Nevins, probably a studio pro)

Keep in mind that even if you know the gear used, there is the whole signal chain that got it onto vinyl: ribbon mic (?), tube mic preamp, chamber reverb, mixing console (tube?), compression (from tape), mastering compression and eq to fit the audio onto record. This is one of the reasons people love tube amps: just a little burn to the sound as well as some compression that gives it that bouncy sound.

[hot ford coupe]

Originally Posted by spiral

The guitar sound reminds me a lot of the Three Suns, and Al Nevins had a D'Angelico--spray painted white (plus all the other studio hands that played guitar on those records in later years, Bucky Pizarrelli, Joe Negri, et al). You probably won't need a D'Angelico. PAF pickups into a Fender tube amp, some amp reverb, some compression, will get you close. How it is played has much to do with it too.

Amazon.com: Moonlight And Roses: The Three Suns: MP3 Downloads (def. not Al Nevins, probably a studio pro)

Keep in mind that even if you know the gear used, there is the whole signal chain that got it onto vinyl: ribbon mic (?), tube mic preamp, chamber reverb, mixing console (tube?), compression (from tape), mastering compression and eq to fit the audio onto record. This is one of the reasons people love tube amps: just a little burn to the sound as well as some compression that gives it that bouncy sound.

That sure sounds like what you're looking for. If I remember my history on that guitar, it fell into the hands of Bucky Pizzarrelli who had the white paint removed. John D'Angelico said that he put a really thick coating of white over the guitar to cover up a bunch of blemishes in the wood. That thick coating I'm sure damped the vibration of the top so it wouldn't vibrate normally. That may have been what gave it the more electric sound. As I said, Bucky had it refinished and I'm sure the second finish was a lot thinner and allowed the guitar to vibrate a lot more normally.

One thing I forgot to mention is that when you pick over the fingerboard extention, your fingering should be around the 8th fret and higher.

[brad4d8]

Considering that the OPs request was about the sound of a recording made in Zaire in the 50s-60s, I'd guess the guitarist is probably playing an inexpensive guitar-a lot of even more recent African guitarists used Harmony models and similar priced instruments. Here's a picture, probably from that era:
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k...NGWANA1989.jpg
Maybe somebody can ID the guitar.
Brad

[mangotango]

OK JAZZ!! Excellent stuff; if it really dates back that far, then I would guess that it's a relatively cheap copy. Not too many Gibsons in the Congo in those days, I would guess. And if it is (TP)OK Jazz, then there will be several guitarists on there, playing different parts (melody, mi-solo, baritone,) as is normal in Soukous, High-life, etc.

And echo. Probably a Binson Echorec, or WEM Copicat, or somesuch.

[82Benedetto]

I think what's often overlooked is the wind of the pickup. You might want to investigate the specifications of the pickups used during that time and try to have someone that winds pickups replicate it. It shouldn't be too difficult for them, and you can find some really great prices.

I just grabbed a custom wound set of single coils for my cheap-o strat copy and they were right on what I was looking for....and it cost me $85!

[Bencuri]

Thank you for the comments and suggestions!

Indeed, this recording is from Franco and Ok Jazz, from the beginning of the 60's. However don't make predictions about the gear based on the location. And simply because Zaire in the 50's and 60's was a great, and pleasant place, with better living conditions in cities than in several European countries in that time, better than in Portugal, etc. The medical treatement network was the best there in Africa. Just to have a clue, check this photo thread to see how good circumstances were there in those days:

Democratic Republic of the Congo (1950s-1970s) | Country Gallery - SkyscraperCity

And actually the musician's gear reflect this. Actually back in those days musicians had better gear than nowdays in cities, however in Kinshasa, the capital good gear is still present. There are some old recording from those days that's quality is so good that I can assume the gear was also good. But back to Ok Jazz, they used good gear I think. Franco and his band and several similar bands favoured the Fender Jaguar. On the cover of the album from which this song I linked is from, Franco can be seen with a Jaguar. However this is a compilation album, so it is not sure that the picture is contemporary:

YouTube - ‪Lombola (Franco) - Franco & L'O.K. Jazz 1962‬‏

However on the photo you can see some brand names, I cannot recognise them, maybe it could help if someone could indentify these brands.

But back to contemporaryness, in the earliest days Franco used archtops, there are some photos about that too, maybe you can suggest something based on those, also what type of guitar that can be. Here are they:

YouTube - ‪Tembe Ezali Mabe (Franco) - Franco & L'O.K. Jazz 1963 (?)‬‏

YouTube - ‪Aya La Mode (Franco) - Franco & L'O.K. Jazz 7-8-1957‬‏

[Bencuri]

Originally Posted by spiral

The guitar sound reminds me a lot of the Three Suns, and Al Nevins had a D'Angelico--spray painted white (plus all the other studio hands that played guitar on those records in later years, Bucky Pizarrelli, Joe Negri, et al). You probably won't need a D'Angelico. PAF pickups into a Fender tube amp, some amp reverb, some compression, will get you close. How it is played has much to do with it too.

Amazon.com: Moonlight And Roses: The Three Suns: MP3 Downloads (def. not Al Nevins, probably a studio pro)

Keep in mind that even if you know the gear used, there is the whole signal chain that got it onto vinyl: ribbon mic (?), tube mic preamp, chamber reverb, mixing console (tube?), compression (from tape), mastering compression and eq to fit the audio onto record. This is one of the reasons people love tube amps: just a little burn to the sound as well as some compression that gives it that bouncy sound.

Indeed, this is that guitar sound. Thank you!

[spiral]

Originally Posted by hot ford coupe

That sure sounds like what you're looking for. If I remember my history on that guitar, it fell into the hands of Bucky Pizzarrelli who had the white paint removed. John D'Angelico said that he put a really thick coating of white over the guitar to cover up a bunch of blemishes in the wood. That thick coating I'm sure damped the vibration of the top so it wouldn't vibrate normally. That may have been what gave it the more electric sound.

First of all, i'm extremely amused that you know the history of this guitar. I was actually wondering what happend to it. Most people don't know the Three Suns, but i guess in this case the guitar is the star. They had coordinating outfits (as seen in the video below) so i assumed he painted it for that, but if D'Angelico painted it, maybe he picked ugly wood because he knew it was going to be painted?

Second thing, i doubt that that specific D'Angelico was used on the record, or if it was, it was Al Nevins. I love Al Nevins with all of my heart but he wasn't a great guitarist and there is no way he could have played that whole song. Most of the later albums were done by jazz / studio greats, so unless i can find a session sheet from that album, it would be hard to find out who / what was played on the track.

to the OP: It doesn't sound that hard to replicate. A good Fender amp with reverb will get you mostly there, and a pickup with good note definition with help, single-coil DeArmond, or PAF perhaps.

YouTube Video

[edit] Bucky Pizzarelli (aka "Johnny Buck") played with them from 1956-57, and then a rotating cast of Del Kacher (Casher, of wah fame!), Joe Negri, and Johnny Romano played with them. It could be any of those guys!

[edit2] Found session notes for that album. Could be any of these guys: George Barnes, Al Gorgoni, Barry Gallbraith, Al Nevins. It was done in RCA's Victor Studio A in 1959.

[whiskey02]

What you need is 1960's recording and mixing equipment, and then have the masters pressed on to vinyl for playback. THAT"S the sound!.