Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: Ian Price on July 17, 2008, 07:27:59 PM

Title: Robert Smith - pickups
Post by: Ian Price on July 17, 2008, 07:27:59 PM

Just reading about the Cure and came across this:

The main guitar that Bob uses for the Pornography section is a black Fender Jazzmaster with a tortoise-shell pickguard. This guitar is very similar to the one (or ones) he used early on in the band's career which had a pick-up from his Woolworths Top Twenty guitar fitted inbetween the soapbar-type pick-ups

I must get my old toy guitar out and retrofit some of the parts to my main guitar!

Title: Re: Robert Smith - pickups
Post by: WezV on July 17, 2008, 08:05:18 PM

i had two of those top twenties (made by teisco), i still have one and recently gave the neck and pickups off the other to tone monkey for a CBG project - he used the pickups on this

http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=13066.0

Title: Re: Robert Smith - pickups
Post by: PhilKing on July 18, 2008, 12:34:12 AM

It's the tone on 10:15 - Top Twenty all the way.  Lots of treble and not much bass.  I saw him using an old Silvertone the other week on Later with Jools.  Mind you the Silvertones sound great - I have a few!

Title: Re: Robert Smith - pickups
Post by: Kilby on July 18, 2008, 02:28:32 AM

Apparently on the 1st Cure album the producer hated the sound of Smiths woolworths guitar, and sent him out to buy another one.

He apparently returned with a Jazzmaster (which pleased the producer), and during lunch then upset the producer by installing the woolies pickups in the Jazzmaster.

Apparently a compromise deal wa reached.

There is an interview with another Cure member about this somewhere on the interweb