Stev Skye Sonic Blue ’56 Fender Stratocaster
Dec 7, 2009 Guitar & Gear, Stëv Skye
Stev and yours truly (holySmith!) got together to talk about guitar equipment at his place the other night. We each poured a GUINNESS and cracked open a brand new package of Vienna Finger cookies while we talked – and yes, GUINNESS and Vienna Fingers go exceptionally well together, FYI.
To start, he gave me a rundown of his current pedal board which we’ll cover in another post soon. The star of this post, however, is the newest addition to the Stev Skye guitar collection – another ’56 Strat from the Fender Custom Shop. This one’s a pale blue beauty that we’ll call “Sonic Blue” given it’s classic Fender color and she sounds every bit as good as she looks.
Stev Skye Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster Guitar
As a side note, Stev has been amassing an insane amount of new gear, which has three significant implications:
- Stev’s studio will now be the ultimate power in the music making universe.
- We’ll have loads of new gear to write about here on the fan site.
- His purchases are more than likely enough to bring an end the nation-wide economic crisis we’ve been mired in since 2007! Hooray global-scale economic recovery!
So there we were. Stev started firing up the new Two Rock amp (again, more on that in another post) and getting his pedals ready to rock. It was like Yoda sitting there with Luke Skywalker, ready to impart his knowledge and show him the ways of the Force.
“Much to learn, you still have,” Stev says to me. “Fenders are the most temperamental guitars. But they are the most toneful to play. They have the most character.”
“All of my Strats are ‘56 Strats,” he continued, pointing to the darker blue “Skye Strat” that was resting comfortably on the couch. [That’d be the Strat pictured in the website header images, BTW. –Ed.]
He drew the new Sonic Blue from the case, plugged it in and continued, “It’s a really thin body,” showing me the back of the guitar. Flipping it back to the ready-position, he twanged a string and said, “I have the strings set higher than a normal Fender – for that ‘snap’. (He snaps the strings.) You hear that?”
“Yep, I hear it.”
He does it again, for effect.
“This guitar has a compound radius – nine-and-a-half-inches at the nut to 12-inches at the heel.”
“Impressive,” I say, not really knowing what the F he was talking about.
“Most impressive,” he says. Then he explained that the compound radius basically gives him more versatility when playing a variety of styles, particularly when he goes into those screaming uber-fast solos.
“OK, here’s a question,” I say. “Let’s pretend I am standing in the music store – say at the Guitar Center here in Phoenix since they seem to have the widest selection of guitars at the most competitive prices, not to mention a friendly, knowledgeable staff [First plug’s free, GC! – Ed.] – and I am looking at a wall of Fender Stratocasters. . .What is the difference between the $100 Strat, the $500 Strat, the Gilmour Black Strat for $4k and the $17,000 Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat? What’s the difference between any of those and yours, for example?”
“A good question,” Stev says. “One thing is the quality of the wood that’s used to make the neck and the body. Mine, for example, is made from super-lightweight swamp ash wood for the body [as opposed to ‘swamp ass’ just so we’re clear –Ed.]. It’s a single-piece body like the original Fenders from the Fifties. The neck on this one is a one-piece rock maple – which is an especially hard wood – and it’s quarter-sawn,” he says, then he jams for a minute to demonstrate the sweet, sweet tones.
“The big difference in the price range of the guitars is due to a number of factors,” The Stev continued, “but mostly because the higher-end guitars are handmade. Also, after you play these for a long time, you come to understand that the marriage between the body and neck is SO important. Those are major factors in the tone and the overall sound, and that impacts the price tags.”
“Makes perfect sense to me,” I say. “I guess if you just look at them and you don’t actually play them to compare, you’d never really know. All you can really see is the difference in paint colors.”
“Oh, and the paint is actually another factor,” Stev says. “I have a nitrocellulose finish on all my guitars – ‘nitro’ for short – it’s a thin lacquer that breathes and ages well.”
He scoots over closer to me, laying the Strat across his lap and says, “my nut is made from bone. It’s all-natural.”
“Seriously dude? I love you like a brother and all, but I’m not here to talk about your boner and your nuts.” I say.
“No, dude. The ‘nut’ (pointing to the white piece at the top of the neck) is this white piece up here. It’s made of bone and that gives a much more natural sound. Some are made from plastic and other stuff, but bone sounds the best. And they’re pretty expensive.”
“Boney nuts ain’t cheap,” I concur, relieved that we had not, in fact, descended to Creepyville with that last exchange.
“On the neck here, you see these fret wires?” he asks, pointing to the fretted neck. “I use Dunlop 6000 fret wires, which are sometimes referred to as ‘railroad ties’. They’re higher up off the neck which makes them more difficult to play, but they give you a much better tone.”
He twangs and snaps and bends a few notes to illustrate what he means.
“Then you have all the different components and electronics – all of which can be customized or upgraded to some degree, like these pickups. These are handmade pickups, similar to fat ‘50s pickups – these aren’t Fat ‘50s exactly, but similar in terms of how they sound. They are overwound to make them hotter for the ‘50s tone.
“Really, the key things are finding a guitar with good wood, a good marriage between the neck and body, and good craftsmanship. It’s hard to find a good one. You can play a hundred Strats and maybe find one that’s a good one, at least for me.”
Stev Skye Sonic Blue Strat
“Interesting, indeed. So what about the strings?”
“Nine-gauge strings are standard on most guitars. I used to use 11-gauge strings, but I dropped down to 10-guage both to save my fingers during consecutive days of long rehearsals and to get more of that ‘snap’.”
He snaps the strings for effect again. “You hear that?”
“Yep, I hear it.”
He does it again for effect.
“Jimi (Hendrix) used 10-gauge and Stevie Ray (Vaughan) used 13-gauge in the studio, but lower gauge strings when he played live.”
“And speaking of, I tune to E-flat. It’s easier on the fingers especially when you’re playing six or more hours a day. Jimi and SRV tuned to E-flat for the same reasons,” he explained.
After making a comment about how this was starting to feel more like an Inside the Actors Studio interview than an excuse to hang out, talk shop and drink GUINNESS, I switch the conversation over to his guitar influences and the creative side of things. . .
Which we’ll continue in another post! Stay tuned!
Tags: '56 Fender Stratocaster, '56 Strat, Fender Stratocaster, Guitar Center, holysmith!, Jimi Hendrix, stev skye, Stevie Ray Vaughan
Happy Birthday Stev Skye
Dec 6, 2009 Stëv Skye
Today (Sunday) is Stev’s birthday! Happy birthday to Stev and many happy returns. To celebrate, we’ll post the first entry in the Stev Skye gear section (very soon).
Stay tuned!
Tags: stev skye
Every poet is a thief
Nov 9, 2009 Guitar & Gear, Stëv Skye
Watch this quick video first. . .
It’s the truth. Every poet is a thief. I just stole that line from Bono of U2, who, in turn, probably stole it from any number of others. It seems we poets tend to stand on the shoulders of giants (again, stolen). . .
But I think all poets (read: artists, musicians, writers, etc.) are inspired from a variety of sources, and each mix of inspirational ingredients makes for a new brew of creative. . .stew (only because that seems to rhyme).
See. I’m a thief without grief. And a poet, yet I didn’t know it.
Now watch this one. . .
So this video is obviously David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame, doing a cover of what you saw (heard) in the first video, which is one of Syd Barrett’s (also of The Pink Floyd, when they were still known as “THE Pink Floyd”) old tunes known as “Dark Globe”. As you can hear, it’s kind of a nonsensical song, as many of Syd’s tunes were. But in the capable hands of David Gilmour, you get a totally new feeling out of the song and, I would argue, a more powerful, moving experience than the original. And even though it’s not HIS song, per se, he made it his own.
In other words, the original is a good tune, but a different spin on it makes it an even better tune, with no disrespect to the original or its artist. David Gilmour performed that song on his solo tour in 2006, just after Syd Barrett died, which added an even greater level of emotion to that particular performance because he was doing it in tribute to his former band mate and friend.
So what in the F does this have to do with Stev Skye? Well, nothing. And everything. The reason I (holySmith!) write this blog about Stev Skye and Stev Skye’s music is that I (holySmith!) have a reason to write. I get inspired to write about music because certain music is inspiring to me. Stev Skye’s guitar playing, not unlike David Gilmour’s guitar playing, strikes a chord – pun most definitely intended – that makes me want to write about it. Is it thievery? Yes. I am lifting my inspiration off those sounds, translating it into words, and putting my name next to it so that you think I came up with this?
Guilty.
But I think Stev would agree that artists are only artists because of the artists that came before them. Gilmour wouldn’t play the way he plays unless Elvis and Jimi Hendrix (and others) had inspired something in him that moved him to play one way or another. It’s not copying. It’s motivation.
And the motivation doesn’t always come from a lateral source – such as from one guitarist to another, or from one writer to another. Sometimes it’s an event, a person, a rainy day in the desert, or someone else’s music that inspires the need to make music, or to write, or to create something. Happens to me all the time.
And it’s not just the music. Stev and I seem to find common ground when it comes to the process of creating something. It usually just happens and the trick is knowing when to recognize it. As time progresses, Stev and I are going to delve into that more. We’re going to wrap that all into the posts I will eventually write about the gear Stev is using (and now there is a lot of it). I wanted to preface those posts about guitar stuff with this post about why all that stuff is necessary because that, in itself, is fascinating.
I also want to say that I am not a musician at all. I couldn’t carry a tune if you packed it in a suitcase and handed it to me. So in order for all the upcoming info about pedals and distortion boxes to be any fun at all for you, I decided that I better come up with a way to put it into some greater context so that it is interesting and has meaning.
I don’t own a guitar, yet I am fascinated by them and those who are able to play them well. I do know that a lot of stuff goes into making “a sound” – and by that I mean the signature sound that is unique to all the greats. If you close your eyes and listen, you immediately recognize a David Gilmour, an Eddie Van Halen, a Mark Knopfler, the Edge, a Pete Townshend, a Joe Satriani, a Stevie Ray, a Santana, a Brian May, a Slash, a Kirk Hammet, or a Jimi Hendrix. You just know them. They are unmistakable sounds that nobody else does quite like they do.
After you hear enough of Stev’s songs, you start to hear that, too. It does take time, but keep your ears open and one day, you’ll find yourself wanting to steal some of that poetry, too.
Tags: David Gilmour, Fender Stratocaster, Guitar inspiration, holysmith!, Jimi Hendrix, stev skye, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Syd Barrett