Stumbled across this video and I really like the sound he gets out of this thing. He plays a slide solo later in the vid. Thought it had some emando interest.
Vox 12 string mandoguitar played by Ry Cooder.
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Stumbled across this video and I really like the sound he gets out of this thing. He plays a slide solo later in the vid. Thought it had some emando interest.
Vox 12 string mandoguitar played by Ry Cooder.
Yeah, I've got a Hammertone Octave 12, which is based on the Vox Mando-Guitar....
Very useful instruments.....
That's a trip-- I've been listening to his stuff for a long time, so I expected him to be an old guy by now. I guess he would have been 60 at that concert-- he sure doesn't look it.
That show in Santa Cruz was 21 years ago.....
I think that clip is from 1987 according to the description. He sure has a great sound going there with the gospel back up singers and all. Very cool!
D'oh! It says December 17th, 2007, but I guess that's just when the clip was posted.
Well, this is presumably how the Eko 12-string I posted about in the Ebay emandos thread is meant to be tuned and played. Does anybody know how Ry tuned that thing? Standard guitar one octave up?
Martin
I was at the Allison Krause/Robert Plant show the other night and Buddy Miller had two or three of these that he was playing on and off through the night. I think I had more fun watching Buddy and Stuart Duncan than I did the rest of the show. It was a good time.
Stuart played an F shaped electric octave among other things.
Ok thanks now I gotta get one!
Hammertone is no longer in business. Phantom Guitars is making them now. http://www.phantomguitars.com/ $699.
John
"Does anybody know how Ry tuned that thing? #Standard guitar one octave up?"
Sounds like open tuning to me. #What key is he in? #I don't have an instrument handy here....
Sounds like A, so I'm guessing E A E A C# E bottom to top if he's in A....
That clip is from a rare film made by Les Blank of Ry and Band in Santa Cruz. #Some unusual players (for Ry) in the band that night, including Van Dyke Parks on tic-tac piano, and Steve Douglas on sax. #Try to run down a copy if you can....
"Ok thanks now I gotta get one!"
Do yourself a favor and get a Hammertone. #(I just Googled "Hammertone", and a few came up for sale....)
They quit making these the last time I checked...
Anyway, the original Voxs never really did play right, with intonation problems galore.
That Eko is cool, but might suffer from the same problems.
It's a tough instrument to get "right", and the Hammertone nails it....
I went through a Hammertone phase about 3 years ago, and bought 3-4 looking for the "right" one.
Put one up on sale on E%&y, and lo-and-behold, Tom Petty gets ahold of me and says "if we give you 2 front row tickets to our show at the Gorge, will you hand deliver it?"
Duh.... # http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/...cons/smile.gif
So-ooo, if you see Tom (actually Mike Cambell plays it these days) with a green Hammertone onstage, that's my old one....
Ted Beringer made me an acoustic version, and it's a killer little axe. #The scale is too small, but it works fine on tape...
These things are deadly effective on tape, doing all the things a Ricky 12 will do, but they stay out of the way of the vocal a lot better...
Here's a pic of Ted checking out the Hammertone that went to Petty, with his acoustic version right in front of him on the table...
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/e...hammertone.jpg
Get a Hammertone....Quote:
Originally Posted by (johnsmusic @ June 19 2008, 08:41)
They just kill the Phantoms, or anything else out there....
And you can get a used one for 6-800.00....
Don't much care what he's playing...he can do no wrong. Thanks for the posting Ken!
Pretty positive it's a guitar.Quote:
Originally Posted by (mando.player @ June 19 2008, 06:33)
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin....t=53740
Spruce, here is another guy making them. Looks like Buddy endorses these. www.teoguitars.com/
Yeah, those look cool...
8-900 bucks or so from what I can tell...
David Lindley uses a lot of the original Vox mandoguitars on the El Rayo X recordings and in performance, too. Last time I saw the full band at the Fillmore they opened the night with both guitarists playing those things--killer sound.
Joe Veillette makes a great acoustic version of this instrument, too, although he tunes it to a high D rather than the full octave.
Check it out here.
As an alternative, Jerry Jones has the Danelectro-esque Neptune Shorty in their line-up. (You can hear an MP3 sample from <a href="http://www.indoorstorm.com/Jerry_Jones_Guitars_Neptune_Shorty_Octave_12_Strin g_With_Gig_Bag_Turq_Our_Gj055-p-3719.htm
l" target="_blank">this dealer</a>.)
Here is Teo Guitars Myspace with sound samples.
www.myspace.com/teoguitars #John
...and if you must have a retro color, Phantom offers solid colors as well.
Here's a clip with Vox (though Dave's on e-zouk and steel):Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul Kotapish