Kossoff Burst

[DHBucker]

Hey there man! What's shakin'? That is indeed Les Paul. When he died I just started searching for images to post as an avatar. I'll see if I can find it again.

EDIT:
Found it at Creative Bone Artworks

http://www.creativeboneartworks.com/Artprints.htm



Sorry for the derail folks but I dig art too! GAME ON.

[DHBucker]

Originally Posted by toxpert

Mr Big

So much soul!! Just incredible. I never get tired of that. Those four guys sounded like they were ten men!

[Black58]

Originally Posted by toxpert

Mr Big

Haven't seen that one, thanx fer postin'!

[porterburst]

Here's a cool shot of Clapton holding the Clapton/Koss 58 Dark Burst.

[frazettafan]

Wow! That is a cool pic - never seen that before. If ONLY he'd kept the damn thing......

Yup - thank's to all for the great shots posted here. Looking at them it seems that the older Kossoff was not fond of leaving the scratchplate on?

Someone mentioned Mick Ronson earlier and I always felt his and Koss's vibrato were close. I used to use these two as a benchmark for vibrato. Kossoff has that very 'pure' sound though - to me it's almost clean on his leads whereas Ronson's sound is filthy.

And...Hey DH., sorry I only just caught up with this thread - thanks for showing the avatar, that's a great picture. How's your Christmas so far?

[Billy Porter]

Originally Posted by frazettafan

Someone mentioned Mick Ronson earlier and I always felt his and Koss's vibrato were close. I used to use these two as a benchmark for vibrato. Kossoff has that very 'pure' sound though - to me it's almost clean on his leads whereas Ronson's sound is filthy.

Could have been me. Ronson’s favourite band was Free.

[JRW8214@AOL.COM]

Was it really? I wasnt aware of that. I thought Jeff Beck was Ronson's favourite.

[Billy Porter]

Neither was I until recently, when someone pointed out on the Ronson forum that Bowie once said that Free were Ronno’s favourite band

Puts another slant on why Ronno sanded his LP

[frazettafan]

I know Beck was his fave but I never knew he was a Free fan - figures though...

Hey Billy - here's a thing and it might help about the stripped front LP:

Late last summer I was hanging around in 'Borders' bookshop waiting for a mate of mine to show up and further along from me couple of guys were chatting away at a table about music. My mate never showed up so I was kind of bored and started earwigging their conversation - there was a small tape recorder on the table and it became obvious one was interviewing the other. I heard some familiar names and the guy with the yorkshire accent said "Tony Visconti didn't want to play bass anymore so we got Trevor in." - or something like that. Then the penny dropped - it was Mick Woodmansey!!
Being pushy I went over and introduced myself (more like butted in, actually) and they were very nice and said to sit down - the other guy was Rob Henrit from the Kinks, Charlie etc., and he was interviewing MW for a drumming magazine. So I sat there asking MickW. all about playing with Ronson and it was very interesting but I never mentioned his guitar. The 200W Marshall 'Pig' got mentioned though!!

He said to contact him on 'myspace' for a further chat so I'll ask him about Ronsons stripped Custom if you like?

Hope this isn't too off topic...........

[JRW8214@AOL.COM]

I was thinking the same thing about Ronson sanding the top.

[JRW8214@AOL.COM]

By the way if you want the real lowdown on Ronsons gear, just visit the myspace page for The Rats, Ronsons old band.

[Billy Porter]

Many apologies for going off topic

frezettafan:

He said to contact him on 'myspace' for a further chat so I'll ask him about Ronsons stripped Custom if you like?

No harm in asking though I believe he did it when he worked with Michael Chapman. Before Woody joined the Hype (though Woody was also in the Rats at one point).

Originally Posted by JRW8214@AOL.COM

By the way if you want the real lowdown on Ronsons gear, just visit the myspace page for The Rats, Ronsons old band.

Agreed - the rats site answers a lot of questions

[bobbya]

Originally Posted by Rasher

Listening to Koss, my all time favourite guitarist by a mile, is always nerve jangling to me. Whenever I see him play live on video, or even listen to Free Live, which I have played a hundred times, I'm always on the edge of my seat willing him on. It isn't a comfortable listen, and sometimes I just cringe, but I love the guy so much. I know he is good on Free Live, but I still listen to it as if I don't know what will happen. I cant help it.

To me, watching Koss is just like watching my little boy in the Christmas school play - I'm just so willing him on at every step.

Koss could be sublime, but also he could be a disaster. I think it was this humanity that put him above all others.

Rasher, that sums up Koss's appeal better than anything I've read. BSC's "Live at Croydon" is a complete trainwreck at times, but is one of my fave live records because it is so real-It is SO painful to hear Kossoff play so out of tune at times, but the version of "Molten Gold" is so raw and naked, and "Jason Blue" is indeed sublime. There was a lot of honesty in his playing that made up for his technical limitations-and, along with Trower and Leslie West, the vibrato heard 'round the world.

[porterburst]

Clapton playing the Clapton/Koss 58 Dark Burst with Blind Faith before trading the 58 Burst for Kossoff's Custom. This is an amazing show, Clapton's playing and tone is fantastic.

Gothenburg, Sweden June 18. 1969

[porterburst]

Here's a few more pictures of the Koss/Clapton 58 Dark Burst.

Phil Harriss owned this guitar after Koss passed away, and this is what he told me about Koss Burst via e-mail.




"Clapton/Koss 58 dark burst i used to own.

1. I never measured the output of the pickups remember all those years ago i just played the guitar and if it sounded good i used it for what song it was right for.The pickups were out of phase with a very sweet tone all of its own not like the green burst this guitar was out of phase from new as fare as i could tell.

2. It was a light guitar and the neck was a typical 58 spec.

3. In the early days Koss used any Marshall amps and cab he could get his hands on but later on he did use bass cabs but with super lead amps.

4. I only kept the photo with me surrounded by all my guitars including this guitar between my legs. i think that was the photo in the magazine.

5. I sold this guitar for the last time in Christies auction house in aprrox 2000 for David Kossoff Pauls dad and it was the worst mistake i have ever made i wish i had bought it and kept it as this was a truly wonderful guitar with a amazing history.


Kindest Regards Phil Harris."

[Dallas68]

Holy Grail.
I had missed this thread.

Frank, thanks for posting those.
If a reissue was made, I'd buy it with a snap, too. Naturally, I'll gladly sit in line after you guys.

A few super interesting things I noticed on the setup.
Slightly raised stop bar (I guess to decrease tension because of a heavier gauge), some nylon saddles and some others not, pickups definitely raised to the max on the high strings (high E, ... ) and definitely low action.

Amazing.

Yes, I love Koss, too.

[JRW8214@AOL.COM]

Koss used a high action. He did raise the tailpiece though. I wonder if anyone ever told him about topwrapping.

[27sauce]

Oh no, did someone with great tone not topwrap?!? I thought that was impossible around here.

[JRW8214@AOL.COM]

I still dont hear a tonal difference. I just do it myself because i like the feel of it.

[27sauce]

Yup!

[Ad_02Std]

It was not so long ago that another top-wrap discussion was going on here and somebody cited Kossoff as the definitive "tailpiece-to-the-body" tone. Hmm...

I played top-wrap for a while. I didn't notice a tonal difference.