Zac Childs is a music insider and historian. He is the host of the acclaimed Truetone Lounge interview series, and contributed to Vintage Guitar Magazine for 15-years via his Ask Zac column, and numerous featured articles, product reviews, and cover stories. On his ASK ZAC channel, Zac takes a look at players and gear and also answers guitar related questions in ways that was never possible via print.
Want to support the show? Tip jar: paypal.me/AskZac Venmo @AskZac
Also check out more great content, and my store at - www.askzac.com
Delbert McClinton in Austin is like a country guy who is really an R&B artist. So freshly out of place! But, Zac Childs must have had his his hair died cause it also doesn't quite go with the beard.
Look into the carnivore diet to help with arthritis. I know it sounds crazy but just look into it. It's helping people all over the world with many different ailments. I've been doing it for 2 years and it's helping me with MS. I spent 23 years with doctors and never got as much help as I have by eating this way. Doctors don't make money from healthy people, so it's in their financial interest to NOT find a cure. You're a great guy Zac you deserve a great, healthy life.
I also am a telecaster fanatic. I guess all us southern boys and Nashville Cats know our guitars... But, lately, I got a Les Paul Classic for my son, and damn, there is NOTHING that sounds exactly lile a Gibson Les Paul. P. S. Have you tried the "goldfoil" tele? I got one, and, oh boy! That baby is a tone machine.
I really see a lot of similarities between Adam’s playing and the way you approach your channel. Substance over flash, generosity, informed by deep listening
As a former vintage dealer and original founder and owner (1995) of the Phoenix guitar show, I loved buying and selling vintage guitars. I made a lot of money. Which I used to buy new guitars for myself. Men are buying the childhood fantasies we couldn’t afford and now have a mystique. It didn’t help that Gibson and fender had bad years. As John Page of the Fender custom shop once said in an interview, the best guitars are new ones made now. I agree. I only buy new. It’s a tool. I don’t buy old tools either. If nostalgia is a big enough reason to part with major dollars and pay stupid money for an old worn out guitar, knock yourself out.
Zac, I always heard that James Burton played the dobro lick as you stated At the beginning of Mama Tried, but recently on a Country Reunion tribute to Merle Haggard, his son's claimed that Glenn Campbell played the dobro part on the recording, have you ever heard that?
Great episode Zach. When I was gigging, several years ago, I would aim my amp across stage so I could hear it. And not mess with front of house volume. Another thing, I saw Jimmy Eat World open for green day there at Bridgestone. All they had was 3 combo amps, I was blown away, they didn’t have to lug a bunch of gear from show to show.
Thanks Zac, fascinating to see the origination of these. I have a Custom Shop ‘71 (?) reissue thats Blue Flower/Thinline/Wide Range HB’s and a Strat bridge. Lovely guitar.
Zac looks really pained to like this guitar. I think he’s saying It is a good guitar but it’s not a Tele so what is it exactly? As love tele’s and I’ve had fenders and Gibson’s and PRS. I think this guitar is worth a try.
My 73 Twin came with factory loaded K120s. I play a Tele so it was pretty bright. I swapped in a pair of EV SRO speakers one time and OMG, that is The Sound.
He is my very favorite of all the great Nashville studio guitarists. Thanks for honoring and remembering him. It wasn't overly complicated but the genius is how unique he was without being extremely difficult or utilizing a lot of effects. Wish there were more like him.
Like the strat version, the new pups are interesting, but it just doesn't sound the same as a tele. It's not a BAD guitar, but it's a T-Shape, not a Tele. It sounds great, but it doesn't sound like a telecaster.
This is where "dare i say" guitar modeler amps come into play if you're struggling with stage volume. Baffles certainly help, but I've seen to frequently that guitarist have far to loud of an amp for the gig their are doing. If you notice, pro players and weekend warriors that follow the pro's have better guitar stage volume and work within the band and within the vocalist context. I personally think it's unprofessional to be too loud. Unless people are paying top dollar to hear "guitar" it's serves the band and venue to turn down and play to the room.
Love chorus!! Back in my early 80s I almost bought a Roland chorus amp! Wish I had now! But my chorus through a fender bassman sounds great! Great work Zac!!
They had one for sale in the 80's at a store across the street from Manny's in NYC called We Buy Guitars for a couple of hundred bucks. I really wanted to buy it but I couldn't come up with the money. Oh well.
I was a session musician for over 50 years it really doesn't matter the instruments are just something to get the job done use get your fingers and your brain young man you are an excellent guitar player
I saw Don Kelley play in 2016, I think. I know I was late to the party, but I was a musician, on tour from the UK, and a friend thought I’d dig a night at Robert’s. Porter was his tele-man back then. Within no time flat I could see where the whole gig was at, and it was glorious - beer, honky tonking, Telecaster, the works. And not even a cover charge. The man is a 100-proof hero (see what I did there) and a rock god. Happy retirement, Don Kelley!
My dream guitar. I have a reissue Tele and Strat, but they just don't look like the original. Would love to find someone that can copy the original pattern.
You mention Tele sales dropping off in the early ‘60s and picking up again in 1966. That was probably due to one guy-Mike Bloomfield. When he first came to prominence around 1965 with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and then with Bob Dylan, he was playing a Tele. I think a lot of rock guys, of which I was one back then, got interested in Teles as a guitar for rock and blues virtuosos. Jeff Beck was playing one too. Regarding Blue Floral and Pink Paisley Teles, I graduated high school in ‘68, the year those came out, and growing up as a hippie-in-the-making in San Francisco, I thought they were goofy, and an example of Corporate America trying to be cool. Well, I was 18…At some point, I got to thinking the Pink Paisley was OK, probably because of James Burton, but in the early ‘70s I was still a Gibson player. I got my first Tele new in 1974, sunburst with a maple neck, and really didn’t give it a chance-it was so different than the Les Paul I’d been playing, and I traded it in on a new Strat. Later in ‘74, I got a ‘59 Tele and realized how great they can be. Loved Teles ever since, and when I started playing country, I had the right guitar for the job. But I’ve never owned a Paisley one, although I wouldn’t turn one down!
For a second, I thought you had Brad’s blue paisley! That thing must be a one-off. I don’t remember seeing an original blue flower, either. These things are all super cool…why does a yellowed clear coat make everything look so much better?
Great video of Waylon doing me and Bobby McGee the guitar player in the background is playing one the video is probably from the 60 or 70s how about doing a video on the Waylon telecaster love your videos
