“Do you really need ALL those guitars?”
Hi everyone,
Bobby here. Sorry it’s been so long since Frethub’s last blog. Both Nick and myself have been ridiculously busy… Honest!
Firstly, I just wanted to let you all know that FretHub is not only offering a superb FREE trial offer, but we’ve also reduced our prices AND we now offer a one-off, 1 year membership, which can either be purchased for yourself, or as a gift certificate for that somebody special. Click HERE for more exciting details…
I am writing this from backstage at The Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio, where I will be performing tonight with Brit Floyd – The Pink Floyd Tribute Show. Brit Floyd began its 2013 US/Canadian tour last week in Johnstown, PA and I will be in North America until late May/early June, playing my biggest tour yet. Even the end date is unknown at this point, but there could be over 70 shows!
In late January/early February this year, I toured, once again, with The Classic Rock Show. We had a lot of fun, playing a hit-laden set up and down the UK. I took 6 guitars out on that tour and I currently have no less than 7 on this Brit Floyd tour, although it’s a very different set of instruments.
People often ask touring guitarists, “Do you really need ALL those guitars?” The simple truth is, yes. In most cases, we actually do, since they all do very different jobs.
Taking one or two guitars to a gig is sometimes our only option, with a limited budget or when having to rely on public transport, but when the job requires achieving maximum authenticity, sometimes we need to take numerous guitars on the road in order to accurately reproduce classic sounds.
Observe the two pictures below. The first is my guitar collection for the recent Classic Rock Show tour and the second, all the guitars I currently have on the road with Brit Floyd.
In the first photo, we have (L-R) a Suhr Custom Classic, a Gibson Les Paul, a Fender Telecaster, a Gibson Firebird, a Taylor steel-string acoustic and a Fender Stratocaster.
As most of us know, the Stratocaster, Telecaster and Les Paul are the “Big-Three” when it comes to accurately replicating classic rock tones.
The Suhr in the first picture serves as my main “Strat” style guitar, which I use for a number of songs. The Les Paul and Telecaster cover a further range of signature tones and the Strat on the far right is tuned to open E tuning, with a raised action for slide guitar. I needed an acoustic on this tour too, so I couldn’t have taken less than 5 instruments on the road with me. I could have left the Firebird at home, but…well…look at it. It’s a FIREBIRD! So there you have it… One tour. Six guitars!
With my Brit Floyd guitars in the second photo, I have (from L-R) a Takamine nylon-string classic guitar; a Fender Gemini 12 string acoustic; the Taylor 6 string acoustic; my white Fender Stratocaster; my trusty Suhr Custom Classic; my Fender Telecaster and a Harley Benton Lap Steel.
Again, I needed ALL of these guitars in order to authentically replicate the sounds of those classic Pink Floyd records. I use the Nylon strung guitar on “Goodbye Blue Sky” and “High Hopes”, the 12 string on “Wish You Were Here”, the 6 string Taylor acoustic on “Pigs On The Wing” and the lap steel on “Breathe” and “On The Run”.
The Telecaster is tuned to drop D and I use it for “Run Like Hell” and “Dogs” (the latter song was actually recorded using a guitar tuned down a whole tone, but I play it in drop-D to save buying a second Tele). The Suhr serves as my main Strat for the majority of the set and the white Strat is my all-important backup guitar, should I break a string mid-song.
There you go. I really do need ALL those guitars! Well, maybe not the Firebird, but, again… it’s a FIREBIRD!
Anyway, back to FretHub…Once again, both Nick and myself would like to take this opportunity to extend a very warm welcome to all our new members and would also like to thank our long-serving, loyal FretHubbers for their continuing support. Don’t forget, in addition to FretHub’s homepage, you can also follow us on Twitter and ‘Like’ our Facebook page.
I just wanted to wrap things up by letting you know that we have some very big things planned for FretHub this year. We intend to start filming a wealth of new content over the summer months and we’re quietly confident you’ll enjoy all we have to offer.
Have a great week and thanks, once again, for continuing to learn guitar online with FretHub.
All the best,
Bobby and Nick
Bobby’s guitars for the 2013 UK tour with The Classic Rock Show.
Bobby’s guitars for the 2013 Brit Floyd North American tour.