Howe Gelb/Giant Sand/Arizona Amp and Alternator guitar sound

[j_howell]

Anybody know much about what the hell Howe uses to get some of these sounds? When I saw him live, a few years ago, he played solo guitar and piano, and I don't recall having seen any other gear than a Gretsch Rancher, which Howe told the soundguy to make "loud as fuck"...

Anyway, I know Mr. Gelb makes lots of use of pedals, often on acoustic guitar...anybody know much about specifics as that goes? I'm especially enamored of that acoustic-but-simultaneously-distorted-but-still-clear thang he does, and that weird sound he gets that seems almost like an acoustic blended with a ring mod?

Man, Giant Sand rules!

[zachary]

he made a couple albums here in ottawa with dave draves at little bullhorn? maybe you could try contacting him?

[thunderboy]

I know that the Roger Mayer Octavia has always been an important part of his guitar chain...

jt

[A.David.MacKinnon]

I know there's a Boss delay pedal in there too but I'm sure 99.999% of the sound has more to do with Howe's cracked brilliant mind than the gear.
I just worked on overdubs and vocals for a record that Howe played on. His parts are crazy and he gets crazy sounds even without effects. he played a bunch of parts that are almost prepared piano but they're not really. More like honkey tonk piano with ashtrays on the strings.

[j_howell]

Oh, I'm sure by and large it's the genius of Howe that's responsible for most of it! I sometimes wonder if some of it isn't just sheer volume as well?

The whole prepared/not prepared piano thing has me scratching my head as well. Does Howe just will these sounds out of stuff? It's pretty amazing. Seems like most everything that comes from the heart/head/hands of Gelb is just...man, it's something else. Brilliant.

[thunderboy]

^^^

I concur.

jt

[norton]

Everytime I've seen Howe live... he seemed to lean pretty heavily on a
GIbson es-125? Fully hollow body single p90, no cutaway.

Some sort of fender combo and i'm sure a pile of effects to mangle things up.

From what I hear on his records... it sounds an awful lot like a full hollow body distorted a bit... i'd be surprised if he wasn't using that same guitar, or one like it on most of his business..... hail hail Howe Gelb!

Only guy i've ever seen dismantle a piano on stage and play the strings themselves!!!

[j_howell]

Yep. The one time I got to see Howe, he sat on the edge of the stage, with the piano in front of him on the floor. At one point, he was clanging on the piano with his feet while still playing guitar with his hands, improvising a ditty about the fan blowing onstage..."fan's got a wobble in it..." Awesome.

[j_howell]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-eqBFFZN0Q

Check the closeup of Howe's guitar at about 2:45 in...

Looks an awful lot like an old deArmond/Gretsch Dyna-Sonic fitted into the soundhole, with pots added right onto the guitar's top. Explains the whole acoustic/not acoustic sound. Still, I'm sure a LOT of it is just Howe and his Howeness...

Anyway... Great clip, too. Hafta say, now that I've kinda gotten used to the Danes, I don't miss John and Joey in Giant Sand so much anymore...it's definitely become it's own, equally good (maybe even better?) thing. In fact, I'm gonna say proVISIONS was probably my favorite record of 2008. Not that it's a competition, but I definitely like it better than the new Calexico record...which is also good.

Rambling again... Yes. Gretsch pickup crammed onto acoustic. Beautiful.