Duane Allman - The Telecaster & Fuzz Years - Ask Zac 107 

I can’t say it enough that Duane Allman is one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Dude was a genius already in his 20s. RIP Brother Duane

On top of Jesse Ed Davis in Taj's band, there was another guitar player who'd later be considered "the other" premier slide player: Ry Cooder.

I'm old enough to have seen Duane play three times with the Allman's and Delaney and Bonnie before he passed away.....he was my inspiration to learn how to play guitar.....still play today..... He was special.....

I started playing guitar 48 years ago because of Duane. I've always loved his Gibson/Marshall sound, and yet as a player I've always gravitated to playing strats and teles through Fender tube amps. Go figure...

This is an interesting episode. I saw The Hourglass at the Back Door in Ventura, California in the summer of 1968. If my memory serves me right, they opened up for Taj Mahal's band when Jesse Ed Davis was the guitar player along with Chuck Blackwell on bass and Gary Gilmore on drums. Taj Mahal played at The Back Door a number of times during that era. Of the Hourglass, I remember both Greg Allman and Duane Allman. Duane was playing a white Stratocaster with a maple neck. It looked fairly new from my memory. I definitely remember that. Someone in audience yelled out 'Hey Joe". Duane said to the band, "Do we know that one?" The band then proceeded to go into a "blistering" version of Hey Joe that left the audience 'stunned". Taj Mahal and his band had their work cut out for them that night.

It felt like Duane saved my life in boot camp. Being pent up, is not easy. Marching one day, some one off base had big speakers sending 'Whipping Post' our way. That feeling has not left me yet. Chris

Great video Zac! So much I didn’t know about Duane’s early tones.

Duane's tone (and what he played, of course!) was unmatched, on "One Way Out" ... I was fortunate to play the same "Comic Book Club" on Forsyth Street in Jacksonville, that The Allman Joys were playing (as well as The One Percent). That was in 1966, IIRC. We would play the early teen club venue, and they would play the later bottle club. Never got to hear them as I was too tired to stay up that late! I once had an original '63 Firebird II that had a BOSStone fuzz built into the pickguard ... thing sounded fabulous. This was an interesting video ... Telecasters have long been a "player" in music history: but I still don't have one! That new Gold Foil job has me thinking I need to part with some dough, though!

The fact that the man was so taken by fuzz that he bolted that contraption to his guitar makes me smile. Those were intrepid times.

That Taj Mahal album is killer! I've been listening to it since it came out and the first side in particular is all over my playlists.

I’m so happy that Dwayne switched to a Gibson Les Paul.

Idea for an episode: Clapton's "blind faith" telecaster. There's a great film of them live at Hyde Park.

Dude I didn’t know there was tele years- that’s epic. Thank you for uncovering even more about Duane

Many people do not realize how well Gregg played guitar...

You can watch a interview with Dickey on RU-vid where he says that's why Duane sounds different than anybody else on slide. He aproched it as a harp player. He would tell Dickey "Slide aint about guitar, it's about the harp!" and that's what he patterned his playing after. 😁👌 Nice job on that one, Zac! 🙏

Absolutely great, love DUANE ALLMAN.

Around 66 or 67 many guitarists used a fuzz tone called a Jordan I believe that was the smallest unit available at the time and was an on board fuzz as opposed to the more common floorbox with cable Gibson/Maestro unit.

Thanks Zac. I totally agree that the items you showcased such as Skydog and the box set as well as the Hour glass are must haves for any ABB listener. He was by far the best and way ahead of his time...

The photo at 6:07 was made in Nashville in the mid 60s at a club called The Briar Patch on 5th Ave. I got that photo from Duane and Greg's late uncle David Allman who gave me several shots from the family album.

The first fuzz available, that I remember, was Vox fuzz. They were thin rectangle box, with a quarter inch output jack that went into a Vox amp from the top and then the quarter inch imput was where the guitar cord plugged in. It kinda locks like Duanes.

''66 Strat and a Fuzz Face... sounds like Duane got "Experienced" ; )

Thanks for the very interesting video Zac! We always talk about what a musician might have done when they die young and have a relatively short career, and I think this especially applies to Duane.

Statesboro Georgia, that is! Fascinating stuff Zac. Thanks for a great episode. Another Telecaster slide maestro was Rory Gallagher.

Such a great topic. I actually occasionally forget that Duane played on some amazing stuff before The Allman Brothers Band existed.

I’m a longtime Duane Allman fan. Very informative video, thank you.

Great video. I'm jealous of your Coricidin bottle. Had one I got from the Dispensary while I was in the Navy, but it was brown. Loved it. Unfortunately we had a big pot bust in our "cube". We had it decked out, had a huge sofa, an easy chair, monster stereo, I had my guitar & amp. Much too at ease for the Navy in 1977. Anyway, a lot of the other guys, would stash their stuff in our couch. Of course WE had ours stashed around too. Some one, had seen my little brown bottle, & stuffed a pipe, with residue, in it. They confiscated that. I tried to get it back, they said "What do you need that for?" I said "I use it for slide guitar." They laughed & told me "F*ck you. It's EVIDENCE". Well they searched our area 4 times, & still didn't find OUR stash. We didn't have anything in our personal possession. Back then, that mattered. They've since changed the rules. (Because of us). Anyway, I wanted to get another bottle, the price is astronomical, for them. Still in my opinion, & I found this out, after buying my Telecaster, that the Neck pick up, is perfect for slide, clean or overdriven. Just my opinion as some one who learned the basic chords as a kid, & never looked back. I've got 2 friends, both younger brothers of friends, who are monsters on guitar. They put me to shame, & did when they were 10 & 11 yrs old!!! Ones in Atlanta, getting paid good playing covers. The other is in OKC (our home town) last I heard. Both have perfect pitch, one can listen to a song, tell you the chords, even Jazzy stuff. Wish I had that. Any way, I've got a Brass bottleneck slide, & an old Dunlop steel slide, but they are nothing compared to that old brown bottle. I have to wipe the tears from my eyes now. Thanks for the info on Duane. My dead hero Tommy Bolin, had guitars with Strat bodies & Tele necks, he said the Strat neck was "sticky". God knows what he'd have done, had he not played with fire. Thanks again Zac. (Sorry such a long comment. Mom always said I was verbose.)

Duane was my main hero early on. Scott Lamar who owns the 57 Goldtop is a friend. I got play it in a bar before Vince Gill and Derek Trucks. Great show.

You’re a wonderful story teller Zac, I truly enjoyed this and I learned quite a bit about Duane Allman I always assumed he was a LP into Marshall stack. Thanks

The Telecaster is a great guitar. Just wish I realized it during the 60s and 70s when everyone was playing Strats and Pauls.

In 1972 I joined the Navy and was stationed aboard a destroyer that came back from Viet Nam.....so we were in a stand down condition. Everyday was normal Navy stuff but on weekends most of the officers went ashore and were gone. I learned to play guitar...so I bought a big Univox head and a cabinet with six 10 inch speakers, a telecaster, a wah pedal and a funny little fuzz box that plugged right into the guitar input jack. On weekends we would pull out our gear, cranked it up and play 8-10 hrs straight,...we only had to stop playing music when they played Taps on base. We had a great time...we could play just about anything on the radio. I had forgot about the little fuzz box until I saw your youtube episode, What great memories!!!!!

Hi Zac, Coincidentally, about 6 months ago I listened to the Taj Mahal album with Statesboro Blues on it. I also realized that that is where Duane must have learned a lot of his slide guitar vocabulary. Great content (as always) Zac. :-)

Duane didn't use a pick when playing slide, which is why his notes sound so smooth. The Gibson humbuckers are also smoother sounding than Fender single coils, which might be why he switched to Les Pauls and SG's. You're right about Randy Poe's book. It's fascinating.

Great episode Zac I loved Dwayne, still do. Thanks for bringing the early years out.

I read a Guitar Player Magazine interview where Duane said the battery in the fuzz had to be half dead to get the right sound.

I’m a tele guy and used to own a bunch. Here are my Allman stories. I knew an older guy from around Decatur, AL. He met some girl who took him over to this place they were all living in. It was an old sharecropper type shack, with dirty mattresses right on the floor. This guy and the girl were just smoke buddies, and she wandered off at some point with Gregg. End of story 1. Story 2. The guy who taught me Travis picking was from Decatur, AL and Moulton area. Apparently the Band kinda settled and worked out of that area some. Their guy was Johnny Sandlin, if I recall, who lived over there and had a studio maybe? Muscle shoals is maybe 35 miles away? Anyhow, my mentor in all things fingerstyle guitar, was one hell of a Travis picker. He had the blackguard 53 he LOANED to Duane, as they all played clubs, partied, knew Sandlin, etc. my mentor was pro quality, but had alcohol issues he did finally kick in senior years. When he got his tele back, Duane had stripped it from blond down to natural. And home routed for at least one humbucker. Might’ve been both I cannot recall. I was younger and had no cash, to speak of, but did have a super nice truck I was working a trade for that guitar. It just never came to fruition, and time interceded, and my thumb-picking mentor passed. I lost any and all contact and I never got to see the guitar myself. I was only going on the original owners words. I never knew him to lie, including his testimonies of addiction, and failures as result. I had enough faith I was willing to swap a $4k truck, sight unseen, if he’d bring me the guitar. I wish I could recall the year. Somewhere around 1990 or 1991 maybe. In those times, $4k offer for refin, home route, pickups gone, etc. was a very generous offer. But, I knew he was being honest, by that time, I’d known him well at least 12 years or so. We used to pick together a lot. He was so disappointed to see me grow up and take to alcohol as readily as I did. He was a great influence to straighten up also, and I’m sure thankful. Not playing clubs and being around it helps also. Honestly, if the guitar hadn’t had Duane’s legacy of playing it and remodeling it, I’m guessing a totally buggered 53 in 1990 would have changed hands from one guy to another for maybe $2500?? I recall making money selling a factory bigsby tele for a grand. Sold my mint 56 years later for 5500. Also, for perspective, the $4k value used truck I had (and he badly needed) I did sell for $4k to a neighbor. In 1987 I bought a new mustang for under $11k. So, $4k offer for boogered 53, would have been a high offer, I thought. Maybe not, as I didn’t get it. Might’ve, but time interceded.

If you go to Duane Allman sight on line(getting around the comment censor), you can read the Taj Mahal story. Both things happened. He went to the concert and that started his fascination with playing slide and Statesboro Blues. Later, Gregg bought the album and the Coricidin and that's when Duane really picked up on it and started really gettin it down. So he called baybro to come back over and hear what he could do. That initial Taj Mahal concert is the reason Gregg bought the album for Duane, along with the Coricidin. That 2nd event was when it all started clicking for him, I think. Both events happened and are intertwined in this story. You can't have one without the other or you don't have the entire story. I told ya. I'm a Duane-head. Certified. 🤣🎸👌

If you haven't heard Duane Allmans building solo on Loan me a Dime. It is Epic !

YES! Sir, you never disappoint. Great info on one of my favorites, and his early gear. When you did the Jesse Ed Davis episode, you helped me see just what you eluded to here, the point where he found his inspiration for slide guitar. As always, thank you for helping me connect the dots to get the big picture of my childhood guitar heroes.

Duane talking Wilson Pickett into covering "Hey Jude" I love that story..then Duane putting those killer licks on it especially the outro was some of Duane's best..all these years later I make a point of going to the gravesite.

Jesse was the slide player on Dylan’s Watching The River Flow, love them both.

Love hearing all these old stories. I never really hear much about this era. Thank you!

What?! Had no idea Duane ever played to telecasters. Thanks for this and everything you share with us

Saw Duane with Derek and Dominos in Syracuse, NY and he was playing through a Twin with JBLs.

mANY tHANKS Zac, great episode in Memo of Duane. First I was in Les Pauls, then in Strats and now forever in Tele. Four really good Teles.

Great shows!! Over and over. Thank you!

Your sincere devotion to the memory of Duane Allman has prompted me to relate a tiny vignette about the man. Around 1970 (?) ABB were about to perform a concert at the String Factory ( venue ) in Richmond, Va. , my home town. A good friend of mine ( let's call him Gary ) was waiting outside of the hall for to open to let in the crowd of concert goers. He and his friend were sitting on the sidewalk . Gary was barefooted. At that moment , Duane and a companion happened to walk onto the sidewalk from around the corner as they were heading towards the concert hall. As Duane rounded the corner , he accidentally stepped on Gary's foot and broke his little toe ( you could hear the bone crack ! ). Very concerned about my friend's injury, Duane did not keep walking like he could have , but stopped and asked Gary if there was anything he could possibly do to alleviate the situation . My friend , knowing exactly who had just stepped on his foot said , " Hey man , it's no big deal . " ( Gary , afterwards, told me that he counted it a privilege!! ) I thought that this was a very kind gesture on Duane's part , especially coming from someone who had such notoriety as he had ! That's the kind of guy I believe Duane was . Famous Duane had a caring, personal touch about him that perhaps people should know about. I just wanted to share that.

"He was playing a strat ... for some reason." Easy there.... big guy. Money says he painted the pick guard black to cover a regret he wrote on it previously. Thank you for keeping Jesse Ed Davies in the discussions , That old Tulsa boy. Taj and Keb Mo recent stuff, is highly recommended for a great listen. Their live shows together. Good for family road trips .

Hi Zac, I'm familiar with Duane Allman's Les Paul sound from his Allman Brothers output so was only made aware of his Telecaster playing days via this video, goes to show how many great players hone their abilities on the Tele!... 🙂

Excellent Zac. Really enjoyed this.

Thank you for the very interesting back story on Duane Allman as well as the book and music recommendations! Great video.

Tremendous! This was fantastic!

I paused the video for a moment and found a live 1969 version on RU-vid (of course) of Taj Mahal with Jesse Ed Davis and boy are you right. Now I know where Duane found his inspiration. I also found that Amazon Prime members can stream the Allman Brothers at Fillmore East album for free right now. I had the vinyl back in the day but it's long gone now, so I ordered a recent CD version. I will check on Discogs later to see what an original vinyl version goes for nowadays but I'm betting it's a king's ransom. Anyway, thank you for another educational and fascinating story, Zac. You're bringing back to me so much of the great music I've loved over the years, but adding a depth and background that I never knew. 🚀🎶

The Allman Joys & Hour Glass albums are great - heavy Duane fuzz. He even does a very psychodelic version of Norwegion Wood. Great music to understand the early years. I Cant Stand Alone, Changing of the Guard, Power of Love, on and on.

Dang! This was great! Lots of stuff I haven’t heard before! Really enjoyed this!

Coricidin bottles were in every bathroom medicine cabinet in the late sixties. OTC meds were dispensed in it. Great glass. And you'd see green and brown. Every slide player had at least a couple in the pocket of his guitar case in the day. LOL

I’ve been away for awhile but I really enjoyed this episode. Thank you.

Thanks. Interesting and very informative. Great job !

Hey Zac - great mini biography on Duane. He was the reason I picked up the guitar many many years ago. Thanks man!

That is a really great photo of Steve Cropper behind you.I love Booker T. and The Mg’s.

This was great, thank you.

In the 60's my 2nd cousin (my Dad's 1st cousin) was in a band that used to play at this club called the Omni in Daytona Beach. One night the Allman Joys opened for them. Near the end of the night they invited Duane & Greg to come up and sit in with them. Can you imagine that? i.e. to have Duane & Greg to open for you and then to have them come and sit in with your band?

Great work, Zac ! man, i never heard The Hour Glass stuff but reminded extended family about it and other albums of his at my In Laws house (married in '79, this is mid '80s). Next visit, its all gone :) Never knew of the Tele years for Duane.

Great, great episode Zac!

Outstanding vid!! Great story!

Zac, you are a wealth of info man...simply groovy ...outstanding

Wow! Never knew about the built-in fuzz

NOTE TO EVERYBODY; ALWAYS, REMEMBER TO TURN ON YOUR RECORDING DEVICE BEFORE YOU TRY SOMETHING NEW - LIKE YOUR FIRST ATEMPT AT SLIDE, OR ANYTHING THATS NOT YOUR NORM . ( BECAUSE it will INEVITABLY be your BEST. ). And you will PROBABLY NOT be able to pull it off as Well as you did the Very First Time You Took A Crack At It.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Great episode. Thank you Zac I learned alot about Duane

All apologies for my last reply , really greatful for your information , good stuff !

Have really been getting in to Duane’s session work lately. Awesome work with Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett! I also got turned on to Jack Pearson who is another amazing player! Great content my friend!

Going to pull out my Anthology. I think I read Duane used a twin on the first Allman Bros record and maybe the 2nd too. I think also I read about Tom Dowd putting the amp on a chair to decouple it from the floor. After reading that 30 years ago, I always get my amps off the floor. As always top notch video!

Nice to hear about one of the great guitar players, thanks. 👍🏻

Thanks a LOT for this wonderful episode.

Zak i grew up in Daytona and knew Duane and Gregg. i am all most positive that Tele with the Strat neck was given to Duane by the guitar player in the Blues Magoos. i was actually at the concert when the Escorts fronted for the Beach Boys in Daytona.

Such beautiful guitar playing! Wow!

Great video. Thank you Zac👍🏻

Great episode as usual Zac.Really neat info. Thanks

It was a Vox Distortion Box strapped to his Tele AFAIK. That's what I've always seen it referred to as, anyway.

Nice Zac, Thank you.

@Ask Zac. You may already know this. Some years ago I read that Joe Walsh liked to use the Coricidin meds' container for his slide guitar playing. And when he found out that the drug manufacturers were possibly going to change their containers to plastic, Joe went out and bought as much of the glass bottled Coricidin that he could find. Joe ditched the contents and stocked up on plenty of bottles for the future! Great work as always Zac. You and yours stay safe and well.

Thank you Zac for another great video.🍺

Fantastic!

I love this channel thanks Zac!

Another great Rock History video. I love the backstory and all your detail. Obviously you're a Telecaster guy as am I, and I appreciate the great stories you find and share!

thank you Zac, very entertaining, and nice history. I'm another person who started playing electric guitar because of the Allman Brothers band live at the Fillmore East. I especially was interested in the string selection, have to try it someday....."Hurry, before the roar of the moment becomes but the whisper of a distant memory"...........doug

I bet that Skydog compilation would be great to have in one's collection.

Very nice, Zac!

Zac, first I’d like to thank you for the educational, informative and enjoyable posts. I’m a Vintage Guitar subscriber and always looked for your column which, by my opinion, was way too short! I’ve always been amazed that Glen Campbell was an in demand session guitarist and member of the Wrecking Crew but couldn’t read music! I recently read that another guitar great Mark Knopfler was requested to record with Steely Dan, they sent the sheet music to him and he explained he couldn’t read music. We all know that none of the Beatles could read music. With your vast knowledge of musical history and musicians who else couldn’t read music and rose to acclaim in the music industry. I’m willing to bet many of the self taught old timers played “by ear” only . Again, love your work.

I've had Strats, Les Paul, SG, ES 335, Fender Bassman, Vox AC15, Marshalls... The best guitar is the Telecaster and the best amp is the Blackface deluxe reverb. Thanks Zac!

Hard to fathom how much Duane did in his short life and how his influence lives on! I wonder if Duane and Jessie Ed Davis ever jammed?

Thankyou for shortening the into song, not that I don’t like it! Also seems you’ve gotten the volume difference from amp to voice more equalized. This is huge because I watch your show with my 5 month old sleeping over my shoulder 90% of the time.

Nice , love duane ! Also love the nod to the legend that was tony rice, his biography top right …..maybe an episode on TR ?

Another not-strictly Tele guy I would love for Zac to tackle is the late great Eddy Shaver. Little documentation exists but I bet Zac could dig up some great insider info.

Great video! Dickey next?

I've read that the makers of Coricidin sent Duane at lease one box of empty bottles when they heard he was using them for slide work.

Part of the Gregg story, from Gregg, is he talked Duane into riding horses, Duane fell off and broke (?) his arm and was angry enough to stop talking to his brother. Supposedly Gregg bought the Taj recording and left it at Duane's house and they made up almost immediately .... now I watched that video somewhere but I don't know where, apologies, but that was from Gregg's mouth hisself. And as you say Zac, he fell hard into slide.

Tying this episode to one you did recently on Big Al Anderson….. The Hourglass recorded a version of No Good to Cry, by The Wildweeds, written by Big Al

Spot on nice thanks also another big influence was Jeff Becks song Beck Bolero just a very small piece of that sounds just like Duane meaning he copied Jess Ed for the blues part and Bolero for the chromatic stuff as a jumping off point into the world of slide guitar he took it to the absolute limit and did it like no one else we are ALL heavily influenced but just wanted to add that

Greg's Coricidin drop off story is the best version of how it came to be.