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Post subject: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 6:49 am
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this would be really interesting if Freddy got serious with a guitar and they would write some riff-based songs :shock: haha one can always dream!

i like to see singers who accasionally pick up a guitar and surprise the fans :)

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 7:44 am
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Marianeq wrote:
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this would be really interesting if Freddy got serious with a guitar and they would write some riff-based songs :shock: haha one can always dream!

i like to see singers who accasionally pick up a guitar and surprise the fans :)


Well Freddie always played guitar on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" live. Now this is the first time I've seen him with a Tele; in most of the clips/films I've seen he usually played an Ovation acoustic 12-string for the intro. You'll also see Brian May playing that black Tele for most of the song but most often switching to the Red Special for the final solo at the end of the song.

Is this photo from Live Aid? It looks like Mercury is playing one of those 1983/84 "Standard" Teles (the top-loader version).


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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:56 am
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yes, it's from Live Aid. I haven't seen too many videos of Queen, mostly their mid 70's shows, but never live in person, so Freddy sporting a guitar around his neck is unusual to me.
I think he looks even cooler with a guitar, and a tele at that!

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:48 pm
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Have you checked out any of the recent Queen + Adam Lambert shows?

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 2:59 pm
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orvilleowner wrote:
Have you checked out any of the recent Queen + Adam Lambert shows?

TBH I have never heard of A. Lambert, prior to your comment. I really enjoyed Rodgers with Queen and actually assumed he's still with them. my interest in certain bands comes and goes, and for a few years I haven't followed the guys at all. I developed a small fascination with Jeff Beck and he is in my head most of the time 8)
I should check what Lambert is about...

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:15 pm
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You'll find quite a few videos of the current tour on YouTube.

Let us know what you think after you check them out.

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:29 pm
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That is a great pic. I wonder what chord he is playing. If standard tuning looks like he is doing the one finger A chord with two fingers and either muting or augmenting with his thumb on the E string.

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 8:33 pm
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ebaysux wrote:
That is a great pic. I wonder what chord he is playing. If standard tuning looks like he is doing the one finger A chord with two fingers and either muting or augmenting with his thumb on the E string.

Nice call, ebaysux!!
No pick...
I wonder if the guitar is plugged in???
Hard to imagine Freddie playing like Jeff Beck.


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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sat Jun 28, 2014 9:06 pm
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MickJagger wrote:
ebaysux wrote:
That is a great pic. I wonder what chord he is playing. If standard tuning looks like he is doing the one finger A chord with two fingers and either muting or augmenting with his thumb on the E string.

Nice call, ebaysux!!
No pick...
I wonder if the guitar is plugged in???
Hard to imagine Freddie playing like Jeff Beck.


True but it might be evidence Freddy kind of knew what he was doing. Most likely he was muting but typically inexperienced players don't do that, it comes with time. Not playing with a pic might mean he is not really a serious player but does his own thing granted I have seen some players kick butt without a pick. I can play either way but there are some things that are too fast for me to play without a pick. Not sure he is plugged in but there is a chord seeming to go to the wireless.

EDIT: youtube to the rescue. He plays. Seems like he knows basic chording and is a decent strummer. Odd he is using a tele that is not a string through body and sounds kinda thin but that may be what he was going for in the sound.


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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 6:59 am
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orvilleowner wrote:
You'll find quite a few videos of the current tour on YouTube.

Let us know what you think after you check them out.


okay....ummmm this is not what I expected to see/hear....
I don't like his stage presence, he's too ... !@$. and I don't mean Freddy-gay, just... awkwardly !@$.
he does way too much girly wailing, trying to sound like Mariah Carrey. It's way to POP-y and defo not my cuppa.

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 7:42 am
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ebaysux wrote:
True but it might be evidence Freddy kind of knew what he was doing. Most likely he was muting but typically inexperienced players don't do that, it comes with time. Not playing with a pic might mean he is not really a serious player but does his own thing granted I have seen some players kick butt without a pick. I can play either way but there are some things that are too fast for me to play without a pick. Not sure he is plugged in but there is a chord seeming to go to the wireless.

EDIT: youtube to the rescue. He plays. Seems like he knows basic chording and is a decent strummer. Odd he is using a tele that is not a string through body and sounds kinda thin but that may be what he was going for in the sound.


Remember Live Aid was in 1985; they probably just bought a Tele off the shelf somewhere for Freddie to bang out some electric rhythm guitar - which would probably have been a CBS "Standard" Tele from 1983-84. Those were same deal as those 2-knob Strats: built to a price point so CBS/Fender could have a lower-cost USA-built Tele. So it wasn't a sonic choice; it was probably a "hey, I want to play a Telecaster like Brian does on this song instead of an acoustic so got get me one" and they snagged an 83 or an 84 for him. It could have even belonged to one of the other acts at Live Aid that day and he borrowed it for the show.

May didn't have a Tele but their producer convinced him that "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" needed a different sound. Queen's drummer, Roger Taylor, has a vintage guitar collection that includes a Broadcaster. Either he already had it in the studio or brought it in when the producer suggested using a Tele; May plugged into a Mesa-Boogie of some kind that was in the studio for the track. The song was done in their 1979 sessions; when it came time to do the video in the fall of 1979 May used that black Tele that is probably a circa 1977-1979 that he said in an interview may have belonged to bassist John Deacon - May obtained it from him when he needed that for touring.

May talked about the recording of the song and playing it live in a Guitar Player interview - maybe from a few years ago when that "Queen Rocks Montreal" HD video came out; he mentioned that in the Queen + Paul Rodgers stuff he had even quit playing the Tele on the song and just uses the Red Special these days (he used to play the Tele up until the jam/solo at the end when he would switch back to the Red Special).


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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 9:34 am
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it makes me wonder why Brian goes through a hassle of changing guitars in the middle of a song.... is a Tele not capable of producing a decent solo outro for that song??

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 12:18 pm
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ebaysux wrote:
....Odd he is using a tele that is not a string through body and sounds kinda thin but that may be what he was going for in the sound.

John C wrote:
Remember Live Aid was in 1985; they probably just bought a Tele off the shelf somewhere for Freddie to bang out some electric rhythm guitar - which would probably have been a CBS "Standard" Tele from 1983-84. Those were same deal as those 2-knob Strats: built to a price point so CBS/Fender could have a lower-cost USA-built Tele. So it wasn't a sonic choice....

John C, you are right on the mark.
That is an 83-84 Fender Tele.
I know because I have that exact same guitar which was my first Tele.
It was the end of the CBS era and arguably there were cost reductions going on at the Fullerton Plant, but I've always questioned if the changes in the guitars in this era were really cost driven.
I mean how much money could Fender really save by having one less Potentiometer and eliminating the angled input jack routing and chrome plate on the 83-84 Strats, or by not drilling string holes and eliminating the string ferrules on the Tele???

Personally, I've always liked the 83-84 toploader Schaller/Fender American Standard bridge.
I built a partscaster using an 83-84 bridge with the Schaller Elite saddles that I found on eBay, shown below.

Image

Contrary to all of the rumors back in the day, not having the strings pass through the guitar has absolutely no effect on the sound of the guitar.
The 83-84 Telecasters had terrible pickups, so that may have been the basis for the contrary public opinion regarding these bridges.
The 83-84 Tele's were very good quality guitars when the pickups were replaced.
Here is the partscaster.

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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 2:05 pm
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Marianeq wrote:
it makes me wonder why Brian goes through a hassle of changing guitars in the middle of a song.... is a Tele not capable of producing a decent solo outro for that song??


It was probably the concert flow - I've only caught the Montreal show on Palladia in bits and pieces, but it seems like they segue from "Crazy Little Thing" straight to a cover of "Jailhouse Rock" the directly into "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Also May just really hates playing anything other than his guitar or a copy of it.


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Post subject: Re: AS IF!.... but what if...
Posted: Sun Jun 29, 2014 7:48 pm
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MickJagger wrote:
ebaysux wrote:
....Odd he is using a tele that is not a string through body and sounds kinda thin but that may be what he was going for in the sound.

John C wrote:
Remember Live Aid was in 1985; they probably just bought a Tele off the shelf somewhere for Freddie to bang out some electric rhythm guitar - which would probably have been a CBS "Standard" Tele from 1983-84. Those were same deal as those 2-knob Strats: built to a price point so CBS/Fender could have a lower-cost USA-built Tele. So it wasn't a sonic choice....

John C, you are right on the mark.
That is an 83-84 Fender Tele.
I know because I have that exact same guitar which was my first Tele.
It was the end of the CBS era and arguably there were cost reductions going on at the Fullerton Plant, but I've always questioned if the changes in the guitars in this era were really cost driven.
I mean how much money could Fender really save by having one less Potentiometer and eliminating the angled input jack routing and chrome plate on the 83-84 Strats, or by not drilling string holes and eliminating the string ferrules on the Tele???

Personally, I've always liked the 83-84 toploader Schaller/Fender American Standard bridge.
I built a partscaster using an 83-84 bridge with the Schaller Elite saddles that I found on eBay, shown below.

Image

Contrary to all of the rumors back in the day, not having the strings pass through the guitar has absolutely no effect on the sound of the guitar.
The 83-84 Telecasters had terrible pickups, so that may have been the basis for the contrary public opinion regarding these bridges.
The 83-84 Tele's were very good quality guitars when the pickups were replaced.
Here is the partscaster.

Image



Thanks for the info, I am always glad to learn Fender history trivia. I was under the impression that the only USA teles that were not sting through were the models with the bigsby trem system. I do understand they did some odd things in the 80s though...even the Smith Era strats seem really odd to me.

As far as if the string through makes a difference in tone or not I certainly can't confirm but one I heard with the bigsby sounded every bit as good as any other good USA tele so perhaps it really does not make a difference, or if it does it is so small the ear can not tell.

I would think though it might have been a cost cutting reason to use the top loader as it is a few less steps in the manufacturing process and no need for ferrules. Sounds petty but when you add that up with thousands of guitars it certainly does cut cost. The thing is if it did cut cost and makes no difference why did they bother going back to the string through?

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