Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Jappse on December 19, 2006, 08:43:58 PM

Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Jappse on December 19, 2006, 08:43:58 PM
Now I wonder, which guitar is the ultimate NWOBHM guitar?

Will strat win, because of maiden? Les paul, cause Campbell in motorhead is a known LP player?

I leave this up to you, come with your suggestion/s? Ill later make a poll using YOUR suggestions. So, come on, take the challenge.


Cheers, and a six pack of beers.

Jappse
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Elliot on December 19, 2006, 08:49:26 PM
HSS strat gets my vote
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: maliciousteve on December 19, 2006, 08:52:55 PM
Gibson Flying V
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Tricalibur on December 19, 2006, 09:14:42 PM
^ +1
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Crazy_Joe on December 19, 2006, 09:15:31 PM
Flying V all the way.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Davey on December 19, 2006, 09:42:07 PM
Dave Murrays black strat & Adrians LP goldtop

then it moves to ibanez destroyers :D
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on December 19, 2006, 09:57:16 PM
If we are talking genuine NWOBHM which really means 1978-1984, then I would say the following:

Strat with single coils - (maybe except Dave Murray)
Les paul
SG
Flying V
Explorer
Ibanez Destroyer (and maybe Iceman and Vee)

HSS strats didnt really exist until about 1985 onwards- maybe a few did in the states but their influence didnt get to the UK till later.

Bands that would have pioneered the movement may have included Maiden, Samson, Budgie, Tygers of Pan Tang, Saxon, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Venom, Diamond Head, Sweet Savage, Jaguar and Motorhead (with Fast Eddie on guitar), Girlschool, etc etc
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: jt on December 19, 2006, 10:20:47 PM
:D Disagree Johnathon !

HSS strats were all the rage in my neck of the woods circa `81
Saxon
Maiden
Silverwing
Jaguar
Whitespirit
Motorhead
Judas Priest
 The list is endless to be honest. The reason was that Strats were far cheaper even with the cost of "Modding" `em than LP`s. Yamaha`s SG range was also very highly regarded by many guitar players. And was certainly the favoured swap for Gibbo`s. There`s also the Richie Blackmore factor to take into consideration as well. Oh & then we all heard VH !

 :D  8)
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: FELINEGUITARS on December 19, 2006, 10:39:49 PM
Oops - we may have to agree to differ as i didnt see any till later
Maiden's dave had one as did Sweet's Andy Scott
Most just had fat single coils at the bridge i thought

Happy to be proven wrong - not a big deal either way really
Just interested to see it

players like KK Downing and Fast Eddie seemed to have regular strats

Damn right about Blackmore though!!

What about UFO & MSG - would you count them as NWOBHM - or too old for that?
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: jt on December 19, 2006, 11:19:05 PM
:D UFO were around pre NWOBHM but i`m happy to include `em & MSG  rule Schenker is God !! LOL

As for Strats i come from & live around N.E.London so Maiden were a local band. So putting H/B`s in Strats may have been a more local thing. I no that many players who couldn`t aford LP`s certainly went out & bought Yamaha SG`s. Which are actually better than LP`s imho.
 
Actually your right about Fast Eddie he did use singles as did KK but Glen Tipton used a HSS Strat.

What side are you on The Schenker Side OR Blackmore side ?
[ Yes i liked both but Schenker is my fav ]

 :D  8)
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Jappse on December 19, 2006, 11:25:31 PM
Thanks for all of the great answers, and I hope more are coming. Certainly nobody missed with the suggestions so far. And by my knowledge, it looks like nearly all of the guitars are pretty much said and done for (at least the most popular ones).

Tomorrow I will sum it all up and start the poll.


Thanks

Jappse
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: _tom_ on December 19, 2006, 11:28:20 PM
What kinda guitars/pickups/amps did Diamondhead use? Sounds like Iommi's tone a bit to me so I guess P90s and a treble booster into Laney? I really like the tone on 'Am I Evil?' Listened to that for the first time in ages today and I love it again (hate that Metallica version)!

Schenker's tone and playing is always one of my favourites though :D

Thinking about it, the NWOBHM contains most of my favourite bands :)
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Philly Q on December 20, 2006, 01:14:10 AM
Quote from: jt
HSS strats were all the rage in my neck of the woods circa `81

Quote from: FELINEGUITARS
Oops - we may have to agree to differ as i didnt see any till later

I think you're both right, sort of.  But I agree more with Jonathan.  :wink:  

There were definitely players putting humbuckers in Strats around 81, but Glenn Tipton had 2 humbuckers, Dave Murray had 2 HBs plus one single.  Gary Pepperd from Jaguar did have an HSS Strat, but in the beginning he was mostly using Les Pauls I think.

A lot of the other guys had Strats with regular single coils - Janick Gers (no Hot Rails until after the Gillan days), Bernie Torme, Paul Quinn (also had a couple of one-pickup HB Strats).  Fast Eddie had singles but also a Strat with a HB in the middle position.

There probably were other guys with HSS setups, but I suspect they only really used the humbuckers.  I don't think people started specifically choosing HSS - because they actually wanted to use that particular configuration - until later in the 80s.

An awful lot of people had SGs, Les Pauls, Vs.  Don't remember many Explorer guys, apart from Pete Willis (edit: I think Robb Weir from TOPT had one).

Quote from: _tom_
What kinda guitars/pickups/amps did Diamondhead use?

On the original white label album (I'm a proud owner!  8) ), Brian Tatler used a white V!  Later on I think he used LPs, then Strat-types.  No idea about the amps.

Quote from: jt
What side are you on The Schenker Side OR Blackmore side ?

BOTH!  My two favourite players, circa 79/80.  I had posters of them both in my room at University (and one of Kate Bush in a leotard, to prove I was a red-blooded hetero.  And that tennis girl scratching her arse.).

As for the definitive NWOBHM guitars, I agree with Davey.  Maiden all the way - Dave Murray's black Strat, Adrian Smith's goldtop and red Destroyer.  :D

Sorry, long post.  :oops:
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Ratrod on December 20, 2006, 12:14:28 PM
I'm going for the Explorer including the Ibanez Destroyer, Hamer Standard, Dean Z etc.

It's all a bit before my time but these guitars are seen in plenty of those old videos.

Some bands I know that used them: Maiden, Motorhead, Scorpions. There are more but I can't remember the names.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: jt on December 20, 2006, 03:25:13 PM
:D Yer i would agree that noone was particuly using strats for a HSS configureation but as i said strats were far cheaper & it was amazing how easy guitar techs found `em to modify. There`s also the fact that many guitarists changed around or were photographed with different guitars. As you said the guy in Jaguar used both Strats & LP`s . I no in my neck of the woods that most if not all the "Rock" players had there Strats modified with H/B`s in the bridge. Dimarzio Super Distortions. Mainly to get a more Crunching Powerfull sound. But your right it wasn`t because they specifically wanted a HSS config.

I`ve also seen Praying Mantis use both Strats & LP`s as well.  Infact AC/DC are the only band i can remember seeing that had 2 guitars & neither was a Strat Or LP !

 :D  8)

Oh yer i forgot Johnathon allthough i loved Schenker the truth is i think "The Wild The Willing & THe Innocent " is UFO`s best album  :!: loved "Tonka" Chapmans playing, very different from Schenker but good nontheless.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Philly Q on December 20, 2006, 03:43:50 PM
Good point about the Super Distortions.  I think it would be fair to say the SD was definitely the NWOBHM pickup.

Quote from: jt
Oh yer i forgot Johnathon allthough i loved Schenker the truth is i think "The Wild The Willing & THe Innocent " is UFO`s best album  loved "Tonka" Chapmans playing, very different from Schenker but good nontheless.

Sacrilege!  :o   :wink:  You have a point though, UFO is a great band that doesn't actually have many really great albums.  They all have some near-classics, but loads of filler too.  Personally, I quite liked the album with Atomik Tommy McClendon.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Jappse on December 20, 2006, 06:03:13 PM
Now, im not very sensitive when it comes to the brand, im thinking shape. Theres so many handcrafted, asian or the old american made guitars that all looked the same. This is when the strat was copied by every brand, every brand without some kind of honour (gibson).
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: jt on December 21, 2006, 01:50:04 AM
:D Yer i got the album with Atomic Tommy M. Nightrun is a UFO classic. Your right they didn`t record any outstanding albums but had a lot of fillers on each album mixed in with some killer tracks.

OK here`s one to set the cat among the Pigeons

Whats the NWOBHM album that most sums the movement up ?

 :D  8)
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: gwEm on December 21, 2006, 01:07:30 PM
flying v you crazy fools! ;)
its so obvious!! ;)

_tom_: tatler used a totally unmodified strat, les paul and flying V. it would have been T-top pickups (riff raffs). He owns a JCM800, dont know if he used it "back in the day".
tatler is a really nice guy, i've spoken to him at gigs a couple of times.

Adrian Smith's Les Paul Deluxe gold top is definately an icon, i must agree there. he looks so f**king cool playing that thing...
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: gwEm on December 21, 2006, 01:11:14 PM
Quote from: jt
Whats the NWOBHM album that most sums the movement up ?


how can you pick just one album when many of the bands were so different... ok, as you ask i'll give it a try:

Judas Priest - Sad Wings of Destiny

or should that be

Diamond Head - The White Album

did I win? ;) i guess these aren't typical choices, but for me they sum up the era.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Philly Q on December 21, 2006, 01:45:42 PM
Although I hate "labels", Priest were definitely pre-NWOBHM.

I don't think there really is one definitive NWOBHM album, but I'd nominate:

Metal for Muthas, even though a lot of it isn't very good, because it's a rare instance of a compilation album put together near the start of a movement, by people who were actually involved.

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden because it's the first album, Killers because it's the first with Adrian Smith.

Diamond Head - the White Label album, for cult status, Metallica influence and all-around excellence.

Saxon - Wheels of Steel.  Never the best NWOBHM band, but in some ways the definitive one for me - a bunch of ugly British blokes with loud guitars and lyrics about motorbikes, leather and, er, Metal.

Witchfinder General - Death Penalty for that ridiculous album cover.

Anything on Neat Records, the NWOBHM label.  Tygers Of Pan Tang, Raven, Fist, White Spirit...

Special mentions for Praying Mantis and Trespass for being really good but never really making it....
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: gwEm on December 21, 2006, 01:49:34 PM
Quote from: Philly Q
Although I hate "labels", Priest were definitely pre-NWOBHM...

100% true of course, although they have a definately NWOBHM sound in my opinion.

I always prefered the early NWOBHM stuff.

Lets not forget Witchfynde, unusual style their guitarist has...
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Philly Q on December 21, 2006, 10:06:35 PM
Quote from: gwEm
Lets not forget Witchfynde, unusual style their guitarist has...

Yeah, when I was at University there was a bloke who did a rock show on the campus radio station.  He used to play "Leaving Nadir" at the end of every show.   :D
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: JJretroTONEGOD on December 24, 2006, 01:56:42 PM
I think a Gibson Flying V is the ultimate guitar for metal.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: fps_dean on December 25, 2006, 02:58:22 AM
I voted Explorer.   Both guitar players in Judas Priest and Iron Maiden have used them at times....  but same with Les Pauls as well....
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: guitarslinger on December 25, 2006, 04:30:22 AM
Ibanez IC-500
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: Orpheo on January 01, 2007, 01:45:48 PM
I voted for the V. Judas priest had a V, UFO had a V( Michael Schenker), i've seen Maiden with a Dean V, and despite being German, The Scorpions are to me also part of the NWOBHM, and thus: the V wins for me. the les paul is GREAT, but a bit too much'oompf' so to say for the screaming NWOBHM.
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: omikl on January 07, 2007, 08:35:36 AM
Metal for Muthas, Saxon, White Spirit, Vardis, Limelight, Samson... Some real names from the past there. Oh boy, how depressing. That was "My era" and it's nearly thirty years ago  8)  

Anyhow, modded Strats all the way. Brass nuts, metal scratchplates, brass bridges & DiMarzio pickups with everything. Yeah, there were V's and Explorers around, but they really marked you as a Schanker/Jabs wannabee  :P
Title: The one "New wave of british heavy metal" guitar?
Post by: JamesHealey on January 07, 2007, 09:04:42 AM
it's gotta be hotrodded strats and beef'd out marshalls..