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Eric Clapton's Firebird I folder:

rabbit

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Crossroads was the Fool SG with Marshall stack. Clapton practically always played through two stacks, but according to, I believe, reliable information about the live recordings of March, 1968 (Crossroads, Spoonful, N.S.U., etc. etc.), he only played through one stack for recording purposes. It's interesting that what we hear on all the official live recordings is actually not Clapton's full sound that he had in those days. The massive sustain of double stacks was more powerful than a single stack, according to at least one Cream expert who was there to experience it all for himself.

According to photographic evidence and perhaps eyewitnesses, Eric was playing the Firebird I on all the Goodbye live tracks.
 
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talpa

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Listening to the Back Bay Theatre (April 5, 1968) Boston boot...that's gotta be the FB1. Has that tone all over the show.

Man were they on fire that night. First song Sunshine (17:32 worth) is unbelievable. EC says "We like to get warmed up"...talk about understatement.

Still prefer Grande Ballroom 10/67 - the epiphany was new and happening right there on the spot.
 

j45

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Sure doesn't sound like a FB1 on live Goodbye tracks though. Of course, one photo does not an album make....
I always wonder what guitar was used on the Goodbye Sitting on Top, sounds to me like the same guitar and gig as the WOF Crossroads.....

He had retired the Fool SG (used on WOF live tracks) from touring by May 1968 and from all photos of just about every night they played on the last US tour the FBI was has primary guitar, the burst his backup. No evidence anywhere of the SG being in the US for the fall of 1968 Farewell tour when the live Goodbye tracks were recorded. I guess it's possible the Fool or even the 335 could have been used on the studio tracks recored at IBC in England for Goodbye, I don't know if we'll ever know for sure which guitars he used for those tracks. But the nights Goodbye live tracks were recorded at The Forum definitely show the Firebird I is used for the most part and the Fool appears to be missing from that entire tour. The Goodbye live version of Sitting On Top Of The World would most likely be the Firebird since the Fool was not around for that tour and out of all the many photos that have turned up for that fall 1968 tour, the burst is only seen maybe a handful of times.....almost always the FBI.

Listening to the Back Bay Theatre (April 5, 1968) Boston boot...that's gotta be the FB1. Has that tone all over the show.

.

He bought the Firebird in Philadelphia while doing the Electric Factory dates (April 19,20,21) so doubtful the Back Bay Theatre shows which were two weeks before could have been the Firebird.
 
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talpa

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Do you suppose the Fool was pretty well toasted by 4/68 ?

Am surprised it lasted as long as it did given what was going on. If you think about it, it was probably the most used/attacked/frenetically played LP/SG Std. on the planet up unto that point. Until the Angus years I suppose..Didn't Todd say the Fool was pretty shot when he got it ?

1967 Cream will always be my favorite live band.
 

j45

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He never really left the Fool SG alone from what you see in the pics. It goes through several stages of mods to the trap over those two years until he finally just had it cut down to part of the frame holding the strings. I'm sure if he would have been happy with it he wouldn't have constantly messed with it. Kinda funny that he just didn't get another guitar if the vibrola was giving him so much trouble. I guess he either realy liked the sound or he could've just liked the psychedelic look.
 

plexi69

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I'll bet Buddy Guy shit all over Clapton at the show that pic was from. Buddy was a madman back then. I prefer the Explorer over a Firebird myself. If you A/B ed them I think most people would also.
 

rlan52

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Cream13_zps823a31d6.jpg
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Cream100_zps0026bbe5.jpg
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TerryReid_zps7f1f77b4.jpg
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These are from the 11/2/68 show at Madison Square Garden. My first concert. The Buddy Miles Express opened and Terry Reid did a set. I have been a great fan of Terry Reid ever since. Of course I am an EC fan as a guitarist but as a singer, it doesn't get much better than Terry Reid. He couldn't have been much more than 18 years old at this time...
 

tooold

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rlan - very cool. Interesting gear stuff there on the Terry Reid shot - the trap LP, probably a Dual Showman Reverb jumpered off a Twin, kick mic'ed with a SDC...
 

rlan52

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rlan - very cool. Interesting gear stuff there on the Terry Reid shot - the trap LP, probably a Dual Showman Reverb jumpered off a Twin, kick mic'ed with a SDC...

Yes, so many years later I was thinking that a set up just like that would still be very appropriate. I suspect he was using the Twin (by way of it's placement) as a guitar monitor?...
 

tooold

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Yes, so many years later I was thinking that a set up just like that would still be very appropriate. I suspect he was using the Twin (by way of it's placement) as a guitar monitor?...

Either that, or to avoid removing the hair from the heads of the front row of the audience... :dude:
 

johnct3

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besides the farewell show..what Cream shows actually feature the 335 then? It seems to be all Firebird
 

rlan52

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By the way, not to hijack the thread but in case some are not familiar with Terry Reid, on this tour he had a trio. A Hammond Organ player who played the bass with foot pedals and a Drummer. For fans of the early "Young Rascals" this was a slice of heaven. I know many who became life long Terry Reid fans after this tour...
 

Litcrit

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besides the farewell show..what Cream shows actually feature the 335 then? It seems to be all Firebird

And Fool SG...exactly my point when EC's '64 335 was being pumped up as THE guitar on Crossroads and Live Cream and on and on......the facts tell differently. The 335 was NOT the tone of Cream, it was 'burst, Fool SG and 'bird. The 335 came in at the very end..might have been used sparingly on some studio tracks.
To me, the BEST Live Cream tone was "Sleepy Time Time" where the guitar literally seems to be breathing fire..I believe that was the 'bird.

BTW: if you haven't already, check out Live Cream at Kleek's Klook (11/15/1966 recordings): the band is on fire, wacked out, very intense and free playing. I guess Clapton uses the 'burst?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4t5uNOhJbc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmx5lGIJIa4
 
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Cussion

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Which '60s post-Cream era Clapton features the 335?
He played it on the Rolling Stones Rock'n'roll Circus, probably now and then with Blind Faith.
How about studio sessions for Jackie Lomax, Martha Velez, Billy Preston etc?
 

Stumbler

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By the way, not to hijack the thread but in case some are not familiar with Terry Reid, on this tour he had a trio. A Hammond Organ player who played the bass with foot pedals and a Drummer. For fans of the early "Young Rascals" this was a slice of heaven. I know many who became life long Terry Reid fans after this tour...

Lee Michaels? "You know what mean"

Btw. This is one of the coolest threads ever. :applaude
 

j45

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To me, the BEST Live Cream tone was "Sleepy Time Time" .....I believe that was the 'bird.

Crazy expressive tone, the best I've heard on record. I thought for decades it was the Firebird... it's on the back cover of the Live album so I stared intently at the album jacket photo while listening as a teenager believing I was hearing a Firebird... but Sleepy Time is the Fool SG.
 

Litcrit

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Crazy expressive tone, the best I've heard on record. I thought for decades it was the Firebird... it's on the back cover of the Live album so I stared intently at the album jacket photo while listening as a teenager believing I was hearing a Firebird... but Sleepy Time is the Fool SG.

Which guitar was he using at the Klooks Kleek (11/1966) shows? His tone and playing were wicked there as well (recordings aren't so great)..
 
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