Conference napalm::guitar

    Hello Eric.  Re the Clapton tone, I believe that solo was cut on a Les
    Paul Standard.  Clapton just rolled off his tone pot to get the "woman"
    tone.  Probably the closet thing in your arsenal would be the Flying V;
    LP Customs are a little too dark.  As for Blackmore, I always thought
    he did the Machine Head tracks at full volume, through his boosted
    Marshall Major (remember the photos of them recording in the Grand
    Hotel?).  You may be right about the tone pot on the bridge pickup.
    Ron Burati posted a simple mod to give you tone control on a Strat
    bridge pickup; I'll see if I can dig it up.
    
    An another note, you mention you have a Lag.  Are these considered
    high-end instruments?  I recently saw a used Lag 5-string fretless
    bass over here at Daddy's Junky Music; it played incredibly well.
    Unfortunately, it was also really beat and they were asking too much
    for it.  I'd be interested in hearing more about Lags though.
    
    /rick

    
    
    Re .1
    
    
    Rick do you think Clapton used the bridge pick-up selection with the
    appropriate tone control turned down ? I always imagined he switched
    between pick-ups in the "I Feel Free" solo, possibly without touching
    the tone controls (??) Can you say for sure (just curious !)
    
    
    David H.
    

    Hi Rick,
    
    For the Cream sound, do you think it's just the tone pot, no particular
    setting of the amp (bass, middle, treble) ?
    
    for LAG :
    
    LAG is a manufacturer from Toulouse, where I live. I used 2 Lags that
    I bought directly at the "custom shop" (in fact the repair and custom
    shop). At Toulouse (South West of France) nobody buy these guitars at
    music stores because you can get them directly there and cheaper.
    
    I know one of the boss, M. Garcia. He often travels to the States for
    Expositions.
    
    LAG are good sounding guitars and possibly even better basses (people is
    less conservative with basses than guitars). These guitars are mainly
    oriented towards rock & hard rock, but now, they produce some models more
    blues oriented (following the trend), one, the "Roxane" is a kind of Les
    Paul (mahogany + maple) with double cutaway and bigsby vibrato.
    
    Some times ago, they produce a beautiful strat with 24 frets, gold
    hardware and treble humbucker, plexiglas pickgard, reverse head and
    birdeyes maple neck (around 2000$, 1 franc == 5$)
    
    
    For my first LAG, I went to the shop and customised a The Beast Model,
    (basswood, strat shape, 1 neck slanted single coil, 1 bridge humbucker
    from Di Marzio, scalloped fingerboard at the last 5 frets from 22,
    Fender scale, jumbo frets, Floyd Rose, around 1200$) with a yellow/red
    flamed maple top and the head with the same color), for 1500$.
    
    Really good look a la Anderson. Very good sound with the Sansamp and a
    Marshall if you like to play Van Halen stuff, bomb diving, harmonics,
    two hand tapping, and so on. Plus the single coil (Seymour Duncan) to
    cool. Good neck too, lightweigth, well balanced.
    
    I sell it, and now I have a very simple model, the same basic The
    Beast, but satin white, just a treble humbucker (tone zone), a Floyd
    Rose, no scalopped neck, 1 volume pot near the pickup for violin
    effects. Sometimes ago, I purchased a Kramer Baretta, it's the same
    kind of axe. Very limited to Van Halen stuff, but ok. I paid for it
    900$.
    
    After 20 years of axology, I discovered than no guitar can do all the
    jobs, no way, and no guitar can be a tele & a strat & a Les Paul & a
    rick, etc... Even between Gibson models, there are differences (I had
    or have Les Paul Custom & standard, SG, SG reissue 62, flying V..)
    
    To come back to LAG, they are considered as very good quality guitars for
    the price, especially if you buy them directly at the factory, but
    mainly for hard rock or big rock. I never use them for blues or rock.
    For the bass, I think the spectrum is wider, and at Toulouse, if you want,
    you can order nearly any kind of shape and any kind of combination of
    pickups, but LAG prefer Bartolini ones, very good.
    
    In brief, I think they are good instruments, robust, but not the very
    top. And also not the soul of a Fender or a Gibson (for basses,
    I don't know personally).
    
    I think it's possible to get a second hand one from 600$ to 1200$ for
    the top models.
    
    If you are interested, I can possibly get a catalogue.
    
    Eric
                 

    Well, of course I don't know, but as I play the "I Feel Free" solo in
    my head it sounds to me like bridge pickup with the tone rolled back.
    As I recall, Clapton didn't roll the tone pot all the way off; he found
    a sweet spot for the effect, nominally around 4 I think.  I'm also
    guessing he was just using straight Marshalls on those sessions; not
    much to do with those babies, just turn em up!
    
    re Lag, yeah I'd be interested in getting a catalog or some other lit.
    Let's talk via mail.  The Lag bass I saw was a solid body, sorta Fender
    Jaguar shaped (but nicer) and made of a very nice piece of walnut colored
    wood (maybe walnut :-).  The neck was maple bolt-on, fretless ebony board.
    Two EMG J-bass style pickups.  It was a 5-string, but the extra string
    was a high C, not a low B.  Very nice.  It played effortlessly, and had
    one of the best fretless growls I've heard.  More than anything, it
    seemed like a jazz instrument.
    
    /rick