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Anyone else played 'Pearly?'

muddydunc

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Jan 20, 2021
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Given how several of the more well known Bursts have been played by folk other than their owners, (e.g. JB playing Bernie's 'The Beast', and him having owned Spot etc etc., and Greenie being played by a few.) I'm curious if anyone else has experienced Billy G's 'Pearly Gates?' For a Burst that's so famous, I've not come across any tales of other folk having played it . Maybe Billy keeps it very much to himself or I've just not come across any tales.

I'm just interested to hear if someone has, what they thought of it; the story; how it compared etc etc......
 

NYCBURST

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May 11, 2016
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Ed King played it way back in the day... Said it was the best neck he ever felt.
 

muddydunc

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Jan 20, 2021
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Thanks' I'll do some searching about and see if there's an article etc where he mentions it.
 

muddydunc

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Jan 20, 2021
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Does this count?
Yes; fine by me to count it......so long as he can recount info on it's harmonic overtone levels; resonance levels; approx. weight; any 'peculiarties / similarities' compared to other Bursts he's played...... :)

Cool pic though, and good to see BG passing Pearly around.

(yes; you guessed: I am jealous!)
 

pdfiddler

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May 25, 2006
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Looks like the kid is bummed they pulled him from his uter games or cell ph
 

bluesky636

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Jan 10, 2014
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I played "Goldie".

 

Dishimyuh

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Nov 4, 2005
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I have a friend who played it. He said that he plugged it into a Deluxe with the volume on five and that when he started playing it sounded like the amp was wide open.
 

Vics53

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Jan 21, 2021
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I have a friend who played it. He said that he plugged it into a Deluxe with the volume on five and that when he started playing it sounded like the amp was wide open.
Kinda reminds me of fellow I was in a band with who had a '59 LP. This was in 1978. He was reluctant to bring it out and he also had a 1970 LP that he used. I had never been in the same room with a '59 before and I asked him if they really are that special. He said "I'll show you tomorrow" and the next day he brought it to practice. He plugged his '70 LP into his old tweed 4x10 Bassman, and as always it sounded great. Then he plugged the '59 in. Yeah, it's like the amp was suddenly super charged and I remember how the sound hit me in the chest. If I could only use one word to describe the sound of the '59 compared to the '70 model it would be "bigger." Even the higher strings seemed to hit ya.
 

muddydunc

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Jan 20, 2021
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Hi - the OP here.

Thanks for these replies and anecdotes. I'm hoping one day maybe Joe B will get to give Pearly a whirl and that shows up online etc.

I saw Billy with Pearly many years ago, but it was a stadium gig, so was a way off. He introduced it to the crowd, before schooling us a little on just how awesome a tone he got from it with some tasty blues licks.
 
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