gearbasher Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 Here's a video of Black Betty by Ram Jam. What is Bill Bartlett playing? It has Gibson pickups. Looks like a Les Paul, but the headstock is definitely not Gibson (or is it some funky option from years ago?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 According to Bill, the guitar started its life as a 1954 Les Paul gold top with a wrap tail bridge and P90’s, serial # 4 0755. It was in mint condition when he bought it, trading a 1956 Esquire plus $50 to make the deal. The instrument was used heavily and soon would begin getting modified, and having necessary repairs performed on it. First off, Bill did what was then a common modification, he took some woodworking chisels, routed out the pickup cavities, and installed a set of patent # humbucking pickups. The P90’s were donated to another project he was undertaking, converting a Mosrite 12/6 to an octave/6 like his hero Joe Maphis used. The next modification was the gold finish that was oxidizing. Bartlett indicated “The gold on the Paul started to look green, so I removed the paint, only to find a really ugly maple top made of many pieces.” He then went about removing the maple top, making a jig so he could make a replacement of the same dimensions, but with “birdseye maple similar to what Paul Bigsby used in the 1950s.” A repair was also in order, as Bill had been inducing feedback by pushing his Les Paul’s headstock against his Marshall, a la Jeff Beck, and in the process had cracked the headstock. Bill decided to address this by removing the damaged portion of the headstock wings, and adding his own, then shaping them to give the Gibson more of a Mosrite flair. He also inlaid abalone in the headstock, added a first fret marker, and replaced the rest of the inlays in the fretboard with abalone. Next, he decided to add a gold tailpiece, an Alembic brass bridge that he bought from their factory, gold stairstep tuners and changed the pickups to gold “Gibson” embossed humbuckers. This is the instrument that is seen in the “Black Betty” video. In the process of sharing about the guitar, Bartlett also had some interesting tidbits to share about his amps, the video for “Black Betty,” and the negative response he received from the NAACP about the song. First off he indicated that he used a “white knob Fender Twin into a Marshall 4-12, or a 2-12 Marshall combo,” and that “in the video, I am the only person who had anything to do with the recording of the song.” He also wanted to share that “To me, Black Betty was about Bettie Page. She always wore black, and I loved the pin-up of her with the black whip.” After Ram Jam ran its course, Bartlett changed the pickups to Carvin M22 pickups, moved the pickup selector switch to where the neck pickup tone control was, and added 3 mini toggles to split coils for each pickup, and for polarity reversal “to get that tone like Mickey Baker got on Love is Strange.” Bill added; "Also, maybe obvious, the single knob on the guitar is a master volume control. Eddie Van Halen influence. I have to add that my favorite guitarists are Cliff Gallup, Scotty Moore, James Burton, Joe Maphis and the King of them all: Danny Gatton whose talents were/are beyond description. Maybe outside the scope of your article, but I had to mention those players." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearbasher Posted March 12, 2022 Author Share Posted March 12, 2022 Thank You. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 1 hour ago, Rabs said: According to Bill, the guitar started its life as a 1954 Les Paul gold top with a wrap tail bridge and P90’s, serial # 4 0755. It was in mint condition when he bought it, trading a 1956 Esquire plus $50 to make the deal. Worst. Trade. Ever. rct 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted March 12, 2022 Share Posted March 12, 2022 4 minutes ago, rct said: Worst. Trade. Ever. rct Or best trade ever depending what side you are on 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Nice work there Rabs 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitefang Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Actually, that headstock kinda resembles a D'Angelico, don't it? Whitefang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. Pepper Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Black Betty had a child (Bam-ba-lam) The damn thing gone wild (Bam-ba-lam) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrdinaryNimda Posted March 15, 2022 Share Posted March 15, 2022 On 3/13/2022 at 3:56 PM, Whitefang said: Actually, that headstock kinda resembles a D'Angelico, don't it? Whitefang Yep! The headstock shape and the tuner keys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.