There are many brilliant players but what sets Blackmore apart is that he surrounds his brilliant solos with catchy memorable hooks that you just can’t get out of your head.
Beginning in 1976 I saw every show that Ritchie played in Chicago, with Rainbow, Deep Purple and Blackmore’s Night. He was the most exciting musician to watch on stage, and I’ve seen them all.
Mr. Blackmore is the real 1970s Guitar Hero. He was the first classic style guitarist I ever heard. I love his partial scalloped neck. Fantastic idea for speed.
Meanwhile yngvie is trying to make everyone believe that he is the originator of the scalloped neck… Ritchie was the one who sanded his own guitar neck to creat the scalloped effect back when yngvie was still wearing a diaper…. It’s a shame not many people know that….
I know most won’t believe me… but I went to a concert at Sinclair Auditorium in Cedar Rapids, IA in April 1968. I was 17. It was DP Mark1 with Rod Evans on vocals. Ritchie played a Fender Strat the whole night except for “Wring that Neck” which he switched to his cherry 1961 ES335. OMG! I loved the sound of that guitar so much that I de-tasseled corn for a season to buy one. After the concert, I went to the back outside door of the auditorium and got all of the bands autographs, except for Ian Paice. What a great night in my life. I'm 6 foot tall and Blackmore's stature was maybe 3 inches above me. He was quite the gentleman, as was Jon Lord.
I believe you and envy you. You lived through pioneering times for rock music. Thanks for sharing your memory. I have recently bought a vintage strat and was enjoying a play along to Burn earlier today. I have to tame the attack of mine a bit to achieve parity with the record.
Thanks bro. On 1971 strats, you can find the two necks types. Mine is from August 1971, and it still has a 4 bolt neck and one string tee, with truss rod body side, no differences with a 1968 at first sight. Cheers.
Big admirer of Richie. Met him on a few occasions and very inspired by his style and approach. Love the natural Strat (18:30). I remember being introduced to Richie, by Cozy Powell's Dad on one occasion. Richie was brilliant, (as indeed was all of the original Rainbow line-up). For me, Richie is in a class of his own and understandably looked up to by many of the great guitarists. Legend.
I was at the Forum show. It was my first concert and I've always thought Deep Purple was more impressive. When I saw them again after Machinehead was released he was holding the black Stratocaster by the trem arm and wiggling the whole guitar. He seemed to have mastered the transition to Fenders by then.
Hendrix knew Blackmore was a outstanding Guitarist. Hendrix was a humble man. To say Ritchie blew him away is one of the many great statements about Ritchie's Playing. Hendrix was listening to a song and it was one of Blackmore's Studio Songs when he was a Studio Guitarist. Hendrix didn't know who the guitarist was and Hendrix said it was the best Solo he had ever heard. To me Blackmore is in my opinion the Greatest Rock Guitarist ever. His Acoustical Work has sold Millions of Albums. He is incredibly creative.
@RickyboyH It is all subjective but Hendrix was fantastic. When I was young I actually was mad about Hendrix dying. I felt ripped off because he had so much more to give. I felt the same way about Joplin and Bon Scott. Bon Scott and Blackmore are my two top Rock Stars out of so much talent in those days. There are so many greats I can't argue with anyone that has some of those other people as their favorites. I know alot of so called Hendrix Fans that never heard of Crash Landing and War Hero's. I was at a friend's house and with guitarist and I mentioned Peace in Mississippi off the Crash Landing album. Not one of those Hendrix Fans ever heard of it. So I enlightened them. They are just a couple of many that never knew about those two albums.
I read an article once that stated, Jimmy Hendrix was heavily influenced by Blackmore as was Blackmore with Hendrix… it went on to say no other famous guitar players ever influenced with one another like them two…….
@Carlo Calarco To me Hendrix and Blackmore are the most influential guitarist. Hendrix was amazed by Ritchie and Blackmore was influenced by Hendrix. Catch The Rainbows intro it does sound so similar to Hendrix.
Thank you SO much! I ve been a fan of Blackmore for last 27 years, as well as Beatles and Slash. So great you make all this detailed videos for us, guitar freaks!
Ritchie used dimarzio dlx plus humbuckers in 1974 there's is photos. Rb also used john birch hyperflux pickups similar to tony iommi's pickups in 1974 many photos. John birch even made a signature ritchie blackmore guitar. Yamaha made a ritchie blackmore signature guitar in 1978.
That's the Japanese version not the Mexican version that is junk. I rather spend the money on the Japanese version from the famed fugi factory quality and deficient guitar.
Awesome Goose! One of the first songs I learned to play was Rainbows Man on the Silver Mountain (I worked it out as best as I could). Ritchie Blackmore is still one of my guitar heroes. Great video!
There are photos of Ritchie in the mid '70's with some left handed guitars. At least one of them was even strung left handed. Did he ever gig like that a la Otis Rush and Albert King?
He was such a big influence on my style of guitar playing unknowingly, until I listened to my own guitar solos on my original songs. I was like, that sounds like Richie Blackmore playing that! So Cool!!
Dawk was a super nice guy. We spent a couple hours on the phone for two nights around 2005 or so. He was quite enjoyable to talk to. We really hit it off. I didn’t want ask him a bunch of Blackmore tone questions, since that info was generally available and I was already getting his MKIII/early Rainbow sound by this time. But he did volunteer some thoughts. Besides his MTC, he did get specific about pickups. He also talked about different ways of shielding. Great guy. RIP.
Amazing. Thanks for sharing this ! That must have been quite some work to research all this. I like Ritchie's sound very much. I think his sound is quite unique. Not too much gain so you could hear the tone of his strats coming out really well while still being very powerful. I think also his playing style makes the strat tone come out nicely. Mostly his riffs and 2 note power chords created the magic that made his strats stand out. As it seems he left playing full chord progressions to Jon Lord mostly. Besides scalloping the fretboard i never knew he modded his strats that much.
Quando uscì Made in Japan ,avevo 15 anni e diventai letteralmente pazzo. Ancora oggi dopo tanti chitarristi passati sotto i ponti , Ritchie é il mio preferito .Ho avuto la fortuna di vederlo almeno 10 volte in concerto e purtroppo non sempre mi ha soddisfatto. Quasi sempre scazzato e svogliato...Long live r'n'r
At 20:20 he strangely has a left handed blonde Strat turned upside down and his identical looking right handed one is also in the photo. It's like a reverse of Hendrix.
I was apprentice to John Birch in the early 70s and i remember Ritchie used to send Birch his strat necks to have them scollaped, he used to draw the pattern on the side of the neck.
Maybe you can help me, Anthony, I was watching an interview on You Tube of either Malmsteem or Blackmore and one of them told a story about scalloping their guitar fingerboard then when the neck needed a refret, the luthier, thinking the scalloping was the result of natural wear, sanded the fingerboard flat again, have you heard that story and if so, was it Blackmore or Yngwie?
Nice job Goose, very accurate. Fun little tidbit, before there was an offically sanctioned RB model from Fender, early 90s Fender Japan was making 'unofficial' RB models based on the ST72 model. (The first issues of the RB model from Fender came from Japan, then MX) They had the exact factory graduated scallop necks that ended up on the official ones with the signature on the headstock....but with no signature. So for a cpl years (92-94ish) it was possible to get the ash model/grad scallop maple, the sunburst/grad scallop rosewood and the white/grad scallop rosewood right from Fender Japan. When the signature model became 'official', the burst and ash were dropped and the white one showed with a headstock signature sticker. The signature "no signature" burst and ash MIJ's are really hard to find. No joke, took me 10+ years to find the 'burst/rosewood with factory scallop. Looking forward to the vids this week👍👍👍
@@TheGuitarShow All the way back in 1982 Tokai had an unofficial Ritchie Blackmore model, the SR-60. Came in olympic white with a factory scalloped rosewood fretboard, white guard, black knobs, quarter pounder style pickups in neck and bridge, and standard flat pole pickup in the middle position. Large headstock, 3-bolt neck. Largely an unknown model. Enjoyed this video very much, thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Yeah back in the early 80s a new guitar player came along... Yngwie Malmstein. In interviews Yngwie mentioned Richie Blackmore as his inspiration guitarist. Yngwie found out that the reason Richie managed to play neo classical style runs on the neck and his vibrato was all down to a scalloped fret board allowing for lightning fast runs on the neck and the vibrato effect a part of the whole. Blackmoore was into classical music from the beginning.😁👍🪕🎸
I guess we pick up on different things in our respective journeys. I have known about the scalloping for at least 25 years. I remember as 16-17 year old I went into a music shop were I lived at the time. This must have been in ´95-96 or something like that. I tried out a couple of strats, the shop assistent came by and I asked him "how much does a scalloping cost?" to which he replied "huh?" Poor me, that he didn't know what it was and that I couldn't explain it properly! Hahaha!
I have 3 genuine 70's strats, all scalloped (including a natural cal jam model!) and Malmsteen strats. My go to guitar is my Mexican Blackmore model(I have 2) it's perfect!!!
Huge influence. One of the 1970s greatest and most innovative players of that decade. Btw his 1972 ash body Fender Stratocaster despite seeing less action on stage ended up getting stolen out of his house during the mid to late 1970s(not sure of the date).
Im a big Blackmore fan and you did a great job on his guitar history. Im a new sub and thanks for the excellent work and incredibly detailed research 🎸
Saw an interview with BIG Jim. He was asked what he thought of his former pupils riff for “Smoke 💨 on the water”. He said “It’s just a part, guitarists are always coming up with parts” 😀 That “part” got them played to death on radio across America and pushed Machine head near the top of the billboard chart (Their second but biggest break in America) At last they could pay off their debt to the record company and management. Love that Ritchie used to tell journalists that “that” riff is the Beethoven’s 5th main theme ... but played backwards.
Really well documented as usual! I find the middle pickup really useful. Especially to eliminate the humming noise, since it creates a sort of noise cancelling humbucker, when using drive because it is coupled with the neck...
I loved the natural finish strat on the made in Europe album, I've owned a natural finish strat for 19 years, it's called the other woman Named by my ex wife The weedy tremolo arm always snaps off
Very informative and comprehensive study of the instruments of a true master of the Stratocaster. Ritchie Blackmore is a guitar icon and is an innovator with his own unique tone, style and technique. I’ve always been a huge fan. Thanks. 🇺🇸🎸👮🏻♂️
Very nice history of a Stratomaster's Strats and how his voice has evolved. Compare instrumentals during "Catch the Rainbow" Munich 1977 to 1980 MOR at Donington to Birmingham 2016. Now I have to go back and watch as many Blackmore vids on UA-cam as I can to id each guitar. Richie Blackmore in a mood? Can't be true .... Per chance did you catch the make, model and year of the tape recorder he used for effects/preamp?
I have a really cool strat with a Blackmore scalloped neck. It also has clapton active electronics and a Levinson Blade Falcon trem. I put it together from all my favourite parts. Its a great guitar.
I remember Crash Crallan (Lord rest 'is soul, innit...) telling me that all Ritchie Blackamore's tour guitars' control switches were nailed over so they didn't move off of his preferred setting when he whorled them all about... They, the members of sundry heavy metal bands from ooop north, also confirmed that the man could be a bit of a groanNgrunt.
I have a Strat with just neck and bridge connected. Separate Vol control for each p/up - four position switch - you can mix both p/ups and go in/out phase. MTC tone control too. Versatile guitar.
I recently aquired a '91 middle pickup from an american strat, supposedly owned by Richie...Met a session gtr guy, metal- said his tech also worked for a lot of well known players. He had 2 '73 strat pickups- supposedly from Yngvie...and the '91 from richies- the dates/numbers are correct. Dude really just gave em to me. Maybe a piece of the puzzle that richie didn't use the middle...hm, maybe ?
Great video. I've been a Richie fan for a very long time. But had no idea his 335 featured so much in early recordings. Good excuse to go back and listen again 😂
interesting how he simplified the pickups and switching on his Strat by eliminating the middle pickup. (I think bridge/neck pickups together is better than any of three middle switching positions on a normal 5-way Strat switching configuration.)
I have to say, although this is a nice listing of his main guitars, I worked on several Purple shows in the 70s and I can tell you he had a lot more strats than are listed here. He generally had 15 or 20 strats laid out on road cases and plugged in. I've seen him play as many as 3 guitars in 1 song. Also in one of the pics here you can see the Akai tape deck that he preamped the Marshalls with. Said he found it hard to play without it.
I bought in Rock as a schoolboy. I was looking for the heaviest sounding band and couldn't quite find it ...until I heard speed king! That was the sound I wanted to hear at the time.
I felt the same way when I first put In Rock on my GE wildcat Stereo. I was 9 years old. I bought the Album because I liked Hush. When Speed King came on it blew me away. Been hooked on Blackmore to this day. Child In Time knocked me out out. In Rock to me is my Favorite Studio Album. It took Hard Rock to a new level. A very pivotal Album.
I love the intro to speed king, and as the first track on the album it sets the stage for arguably the greatest album of all time. I'm primarily a sabbath fan, but in rock is hitting just as hard as master of reality for the top spot, it depends on my mood on which is the the greatest.
I've always wondered what happened to his older maple necked strats that were seen in those videos. That black '68 from that 1972 black and white video concert, that sunburst '71 used on that same show and what was the Machine Head strat, that sunburst '72 from that 1973 live video in New York, and the black '72 that he barely played in that video. To know that all these guitars were eventually smashed leave me feeling like, damn those were his best sounding strats from back then and they seemed to stay in tune amazingly well during his wild tremolo abuse. Fender did make a custom shop reissue of the black '68 with the custom tremolo bar a few years ago. Guess it didn't matter that he smashed the original one. Great video, btw!
This was great and interesting! Good to have it all in one place :) However, something that seems to be forgotten (or overlooked) is that Blackmore had at least 3 different natural strats at the California Jam in '74! Obviously he used his nr.1 natural through almost the whole concert, but at the end of Space Truckin' when they leaped into the destruction of amps and guitars he clearly has picked up another natural strat. He smashes it around, then he pick up yet another one... my memory doesn't serve me right now and I can't watch the video right now either. But you guys can check it out! How is it noticed that he changes guitars? Look at the straps! The strap on his number one is brown, then he switches to one with black strap and then one with a white strap. I know that I'm very nerdy about this, but why isn't this obvious fact mentioned in the video?
As for his first StratoTelemongrel. It could never have played in tune, since the Stratocaster has a rounded neck pocket, and the Telecaster has a squared heel. Mating those together means the neck will sit a few mm further outboard than it should because the corners of the Telecaster neck will prevent the neck from fully sliding in the pocket, meaning intonation will be "interesting" (read: neigh impossible).
There are many brilliant players but what sets Blackmore apart is that he surrounds his brilliant solos with catchy memorable hooks that you just can’t get out of your head.
Amén 🙏
Absolutely 💥🎸💥
Beginning in 1976 I saw every show that Ritchie played in Chicago, with Rainbow, Deep Purple and Blackmore’s Night. He was the most exciting musician to watch on stage, and I’ve seen them all.
Blackmore is criminally overlooked. I put him top 3 all time with Hendrix and Beck
Agreed
I second that!!
No one is in holdsworths league
@@pobinr in strangeness i guess
@@johnmiller9219 eh?
Mr. Blackmore is the real 1970s Guitar Hero. He was the first classic style guitarist I ever heard. I love his partial scalloped neck. Fantastic idea for speed.
Meanwhile yngvie is trying to make everyone believe that he is the originator of the scalloped neck… Ritchie was the one who sanded his own guitar neck to creat the scalloped effect back when yngvie was still wearing a diaper…. It’s a shame not many people know that….
I know most won’t believe me… but I went to a concert at Sinclair Auditorium in Cedar Rapids, IA in April 1968. I was 17. It was DP Mark1 with Rod Evans on vocals. Ritchie played a Fender Strat the whole night except for “Wring that Neck” which he switched to his cherry 1961 ES335. OMG!
I loved the sound of that guitar so much that I de-tasseled corn for a season to buy one.
After the concert, I went to the back outside door of the auditorium and got all of the bands autographs, except for Ian Paice. What a great night in my life. I'm 6 foot tall and Blackmore's stature was maybe 3 inches above me. He was quite the gentleman, as was Jon Lord.
I believe you and envy you. You lived through pioneering times for rock music. Thanks for sharing your memory. I have recently bought a vintage strat and was enjoying a play along to Burn earlier today. I have to tame the attack of mine a bit to achieve parity with the record.
Wonderful!
I hope you still have THAT GUITAR but even if you don’t you still have the memories👍
You definitely didn't see Deep Purple in April of 1968 in Iowa. Their first US show was on October 18th, 1968 opening for Cream.
6 foot and 3 inches? That is, 190 cm? It can't be that Blackmore was that tall. Unless at that moment he had shoes with a large heel.
An Internet search revealed that Blackmore's height is 179 cm. This looks more realistic.
Thanks bro. On 1971 strats, you can find the two necks types. Mine is from August 1971, and it still has a 4 bolt neck and one string tee, with truss rod body side, no differences with a 1968 at first sight. Cheers.
Big admirer of Richie. Met him on a few occasions and very inspired by his style and approach. Love the natural Strat (18:30). I remember being introduced to Richie, by Cozy Powell's Dad on one occasion. Richie was brilliant, (as indeed was all of the original Rainbow line-up). For me, Richie is in a class of his own and understandably looked up to by many of the great guitarists. Legend.
so cool
Man what I wouldn’t have given to meet Blackmore and Cozy! Two true giants! I love everything either have played on! Lucky man you are sir!!
Yes! A class of his own! However, the Blackmore's Night music is where he shines the brightest, no one can touch him!🥰
An all time guitar legend one of the reasons I picked the guitar up,,,, great video
Pleasure Paul
Thanks for this. History of his amps would be even more fascinating
Coming soon
I was at the Forum show. It was my first concert and I've always thought Deep Purple was more impressive. When I saw them again after Machinehead was released he was holding the black Stratocaster by the trem arm and wiggling the whole guitar. He seemed to have mastered the transition to Fenders by then.
so cool
Ritchie is absolutely one of my top favourites. I love the sound of rainbow and his whole vibe
agreed
I think my favorite Stratocasters that he used are the '71 sunburst and the' 72 one in natural finish. This two had a very great sound
I missed this series, I love Ritchie’s playing and this was a great way to bring it back
Always loved Ritchie’s playing, great work Ramon!
Hendrix knew Blackmore was a outstanding Guitarist. Hendrix was a humble man. To say Ritchie blew him away is one of the many great statements about Ritchie's Playing. Hendrix was listening to a song and it was one of Blackmore's Studio Songs when he was a Studio Guitarist. Hendrix didn't know who the guitarist was and Hendrix said it was the best Solo he had ever heard. To me Blackmore is in my opinion the Greatest Rock Guitarist ever. His Acoustical Work has sold Millions of Albums. He is incredibly creative.
Agreed 👍
Richard Hugh Blackmore is great. Hendrix is untouchable, there's Hendrix and then there's the rest of 'em. It's not even a fair comparison.
@RickyboyH It is all subjective but Hendrix was fantastic. When I was young I actually was mad about Hendrix dying. I felt ripped off because he had so much more to give. I felt the same way about Joplin and Bon Scott. Bon Scott and Blackmore are my two top Rock Stars out of so much talent in those days. There are so many greats I can't argue with anyone that has some of those other people as their favorites. I know alot of so called Hendrix Fans that never heard of Crash Landing and War Hero's. I was at a friend's house and with guitarist and I mentioned Peace in Mississippi off the Crash Landing album. Not one of those Hendrix Fans ever heard of it. So I enlightened them. They are just a couple of many that never knew about those two albums.
I read an article once that stated, Jimmy Hendrix was heavily influenced by Blackmore as was Blackmore with Hendrix… it went on to say no other famous guitar players ever influenced with one another like them two…….
@Carlo Calarco To me Hendrix and Blackmore are the most influential guitarist. Hendrix was amazed by Ritchie and Blackmore was influenced by Hendrix. Catch The Rainbows intro it does sound so similar to Hendrix.
My top 3 Rock Guitarists of all time..
Blackmore, Gilmore and May. 🎼🎶🎸
Thanks for share this. Very interesting stuff. I love Blackmore!
Awesome stuff...can’t wait to see the rest...rock on boys!!!!!
Excellent job The Goose. Really interesting. Thank you.
Thank you SO much! I ve been a fan of Blackmore for last 27 years, as well as Beatles and Slash. So great you make all this detailed videos for us, guitar freaks!
Ritchie used dimarzio dlx plus humbuckers in 1974 there's is photos. Rb also used john birch hyperflux pickups similar to tony iommi's pickups in 1974 many photos. John birch even made a signature ritchie blackmore guitar. Yamaha made a ritchie blackmore signature guitar in 1978.
That's the Japanese version not the Mexican version that is junk. I rather spend the money on the Japanese version from the famed fugi factory quality and deficient guitar.
Loved this documentary! Amazing research. Thanks
Awesome Goose! One of the first songs I learned to play was Rainbows Man on the Silver Mountain (I worked it out as best as I could). Ritchie Blackmore is still one of my guitar heroes. Great video!
There are photos of Ritchie in the mid '70's with some left handed guitars. At least one of them was even strung left handed. Did he ever gig like that a la Otis Rush and Albert King?
He was such a big influence on my style of guitar playing unknowingly, until I listened to my own guitar solos on my original songs. I was like, that sounds like Richie Blackmore playing that! So Cool!!
Dawk was a super nice guy. We spent a couple hours on the phone for two nights around 2005 or so. He was quite enjoyable to talk to. We really hit it off. I didn’t want ask him a bunch of Blackmore tone questions, since that info was generally available and I was already getting his MKIII/early Rainbow sound by this time. But he did volunteer some thoughts. Besides his MTC, he did get specific about pickups. He also talked about different ways of shielding. Great guy. RIP.
Brilliant video/photos/detailed information. Looking forward to the others.
100 Per Cent Correct mate !
Such an innovator....Way ahead of his time.....Amazing!
Thanks bro 🙏🎸
Absolutely enjoyed this Goose. Thanks!
Amazing. Thanks for sharing this ! That must have been quite some work to research all this. I like Ritchie's sound very much. I think his sound is quite unique. Not too much gain so you could hear the tone of his strats coming out really well while still being very powerful. I think also his playing style makes the strat tone come out nicely. Mostly his riffs and 2 note power chords created the magic that made his strats stand out. As it seems he left playing full chord progressions to Jon Lord mostly. Besides scalloping the fretboard i never knew he modded his strats that much.
I think the first two Deep Purple albums were his best work Wring That Neck and the Kentucky Woman solos are brilliant!!!
I wish someone would a video on the history of his rugs! If they could talk what a tale they would tell!!!
This was frickin awesome, period. 🤘🏻
You should do a Zappa guitar series. Youy could also do one on all his equipment.
Thanks for the idea!
Richie Blackmore is a brilliant guitar.
Quando uscì Made in Japan ,avevo 15 anni e diventai letteralmente pazzo. Ancora oggi dopo tanti chitarristi passati sotto i ponti , Ritchie é il mio preferito .Ho avuto la fortuna di vederlo almeno 10 volte in concerto e purtroppo non sempre mi ha soddisfatto. Quasi sempre scazzato e svogliato...Long live r'n'r
At 20:20 he strangely has a left handed blonde Strat turned upside down and his identical looking right handed one is also in the photo. It's like a reverse of Hendrix.
I was apprentice to John Birch in the early 70s and i remember Ritchie used to send Birch his strat necks to have them scollaped, he used to draw the pattern on the side of the neck.
Maybe you can help me, Anthony, I was watching an interview on You Tube of either Malmsteem or Blackmore and one of them told a story about scalloping their guitar fingerboard then when the neck needed a refret, the luthier, thinking the scalloping was the result of natural wear, sanded the fingerboard flat again, have you heard that story and if so, was it Blackmore or Yngwie?
It was Blackmore
@@pegheadthat's crazy , wonder how Ritchie reacted to that ? 🤔=😡
Your show told me more about Ritchie than any other Doc I've seen about him. Great Job.
Many thanks for watching 🙏
Nice job Goose, very accurate.
Fun little tidbit, before there was an offically sanctioned RB model from Fender, early 90s Fender Japan was making 'unofficial' RB models based on the ST72 model. (The first issues of the RB model from Fender came from Japan, then MX) They had the exact factory graduated scallop necks that ended up on the official ones with the signature on the headstock....but with no signature. So for a cpl years (92-94ish) it was possible to get the ash model/grad scallop maple, the sunburst/grad scallop rosewood and the white/grad scallop rosewood right from Fender Japan. When the signature model became 'official', the burst and ash were dropped and the white one showed with a headstock signature sticker. The signature "no signature" burst and ash MIJ's are really hard to find. No joke, took me 10+ years to find the 'burst/rosewood with factory scallop. Looking forward to the vids this week👍👍👍
Pleasure bro - thanks for the great info!
@@TheGuitarShow All the way back in 1982 Tokai had an unofficial Ritchie Blackmore model, the SR-60. Came in olympic white with a factory scalloped rosewood fretboard, white guard, black knobs, quarter pounder style pickups in neck and bridge, and standard flat pole pickup in the middle position. Large headstock, 3-bolt neck. Largely an unknown model. Enjoyed this video very much, thank you for taking the time to put it together.
Amazing research. Congrats!
Such a great guitar channel. Always informative.
Had no idea Blackmore scalloped his necks, until Tony McKenzie mentioned it. Who knew? Nice video.
Blackmore and John McLaughlin I believe were the first to scallop their fretboards. Now everyone does it. I wonder why that is ?
Yeah back in the early 80s a new guitar player came along... Yngwie Malmstein.
In interviews Yngwie mentioned Richie Blackmore as his inspiration guitarist. Yngwie found out that the reason Richie managed to play neo classical style runs on the neck and his vibrato was all down to a scalloped fret board allowing for lightning fast runs on the neck and the vibrato effect a part of the whole. Blackmoore was into classical music from the beginning.😁👍🪕🎸
I guess we pick up on different things in our respective journeys. I have known about the scalloping for at least 25 years. I remember as 16-17 year old I went into a music shop were I lived at the time. This must have been in ´95-96 or something like that. I tried out a couple of strats, the shop assistent came by and I asked him "how much does a scalloping cost?" to which he replied "huh?" Poor me, that he didn't know what it was and that I couldn't explain it properly! Hahaha!
I knew!
I have 3 genuine 70's strats, all scalloped (including a natural cal jam model!) and Malmsteen strats.
My go to guitar is my Mexican Blackmore model(I have 2) it's perfect!!!
Mine is my MIM hss strat...my PRS just sits there since I got this one 🎸 2021 model.
The image at around 14:25 is Ritchie's Strat but it's Ian Gillan playing it.
Yes you are correct
MAGNIFICENT JOB SIR!!!!!!! A VERY INFORMATIVE VIDEO ON MY VERY FAVORITE GUITAR HERO!!!!!!!! ❤️
Huge influence. One of the 1970s greatest and most innovative players of that decade. Btw his 1972 ash body Fender Stratocaster despite seeing less action on stage ended up getting stolen out of his house during the mid to late 1970s(not sure of the date).
Thanks Joshua
@@TheGuitarShow no problem.
Saw Rainbow 1978 1979 Deep Purple 1985 Blackmore is all the way up top Thanks for this vid🤩🎸
Thanks
Im a big Blackmore fan and you did a great job on his guitar history. Im a new sub and thanks for the excellent work and incredibly detailed research 🎸
Thanks for subscribing so kind!
@@TheGuitarShow least I could do , great work on a great musician! I look forward to more. Thank you and ☮️🇺🇸🎸
Wait, his first teacher was really big Jim? Jesus no wonder he is so good and plays so much
Saw an interview with BIG Jim. He was asked what he thought of his former pupils riff for “Smoke 💨 on the water”. He said “It’s just a part, guitarists are always coming up with parts” 😀
That “part” got them played to death on radio across America and pushed Machine head near the top of the billboard chart (Their second but biggest break in America) At last they could pay off their debt to the record company and management.
Love that Ritchie used to tell journalists that “that” riff is the Beethoven’s 5th main theme ... but played backwards.
Really well documented as usual! I find the middle pickup really useful. Especially to eliminate the humming noise, since it creates a sort of noise cancelling humbucker, when using drive because it is coupled with the neck...
I hear yiou bro
Excellent work. Thanks for posting.
I loved the natural finish strat on the made in Europe album, I've owned a natural finish strat for 19 years, it's called the other woman
Named by my ex wife
The weedy tremolo arm always snaps off
Takes me right back to the 14 year old me head banging away to Deep Purple In Rock...
Very informative and comprehensive study of the instruments of a true master of the Stratocaster. Ritchie Blackmore is a guitar icon and is an innovator with his own unique tone, style and technique. I’ve always been a huge fan. Thanks. 🇺🇸🎸👮🏻♂️
pleasure Joe Thanks for watching
Really loved this video. I appreciate the amount of work that was put into this video which I know is a lot.
thnanks bro
Excellent doc. Thank you.
Pleasure
Very nice history of a Stratomaster's Strats and how his voice has evolved. Compare instrumentals during "Catch the Rainbow" Munich 1977 to 1980 MOR at Donington to Birmingham 2016. Now I have to go back and watch as many Blackmore vids on UA-cam as I can to id each guitar.
Richie Blackmore in a mood? Can't be true ....
Per chance did you catch the make, model and year of the tape recorder he used for effects/preamp?
This is a really impressive piece of work!
Many thanks
Loving your work as always, Goose!
Thanks Henry
Fabulous video, love the research and detail. Very well done.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very detailed and comprehensive info on the master's Stratocasters!
Thank you kindly!
I have a really cool strat with a Blackmore scalloped neck. It also has clapton active electronics and a Levinson Blade Falcon trem. I put it together from all my favourite parts. Its a great guitar.
Absolutely awesome video. You did some serious homework with this one. Thanks!
Thank very much
I remember Crash Crallan (Lord rest 'is soul, innit...) telling me that all Ritchie Blackamore's tour guitars' control switches were nailed over so they didn't move off of his preferred setting when he whorled them all about... They, the members of sundry heavy metal bands from ooop north, also confirmed that the man could be a bit of a groanNgrunt.
Thanks. Very informative.
Super interesting Video. Awesome work, man! Thanks and greetz ✌🏼
Thanks Ramone, I really missed these
Nice well documented video Sir, compliments.........
Would like to know about the Roland guitar pickup and the set up that is now
He was also in Joe Meek’s “Outlaws”!!
I have a Strat with just neck and bridge connected. Separate Vol control for each p/up - four position switch - you can mix both p/ups and go in/out phase. MTC tone control too. Versatile guitar.
nice!
Did you buy the MTC from Dawk when his board was up?
I recently aquired a '91 middle pickup from an american strat, supposedly owned by Richie...Met a session gtr guy, metal- said his tech also worked for a lot of well known players. He had 2 '73 strat pickups- supposedly from Yngvie...and the '91 from richies- the dates/numbers are correct. Dude really just gave em to me. Maybe a piece of the puzzle that richie didn't use the middle...hm, maybe ?
Thanks for this Daniel
thank you.....Had the honor of being a member of Dawk Stillwells site ....RIP
Me too. Spent a lot of time there. Did you get a chance to talk to Dawk on the phone?
Great video. I've been a Richie fan for a very long time. But had no idea his 335 featured so much in early recordings. Good excuse to go back and listen again 😂
Glad you enjoyed it
interesting how he simplified the pickups and switching on his Strat by eliminating the middle pickup. (I think bridge/neck pickups together is better than any of three middle switching positions on a normal 5-way Strat switching configuration.)
Me too however he more and more recognized he is so far ahead of his time
What an excellent review great detail, so many strats, big contrast to Rory Gallaghers “1”
Thank you kindly!
Great video !! Thank you for sharing all this data !!
My pleasure!
Thanks Goosy Goose! good series of vids
Pleasure bro
I have to say, although this is a nice listing of his main guitars, I worked on several Purple shows in the 70s and I can tell you he had a lot more strats than are listed here. He generally had 15 or 20 strats laid out on road cases and plugged in. I've seen him play as many as 3 guitars in 1 song. Also in one of the pics here you can see the Akai tape deck that he preamped the Marshalls with. Said he found it hard to play without it.
Amazing comment, thanks Jacob!
@@TheGuitarShow Aiwa, not Akai ;-)
I bought in Rock as a schoolboy. I was looking for the heaviest sounding band and couldn't quite find it ...until I heard speed king! That was the sound I wanted to hear at the time.
I felt the same way when I first put In Rock on my GE wildcat Stereo. I was 9 years old. I bought the Album because I liked Hush. When Speed King came on it blew me away. Been hooked on Blackmore to this day. Child In Time knocked me out out. In Rock to me is my Favorite Studio Album. It took Hard Rock to a new level. A very pivotal Album.
I love the intro to speed king, and as the first track on the album it sets the stage for arguably the greatest album of all time.
I'm primarily a sabbath fan, but in rock is hitting just as hard as master of reality for the top spot, it depends on my mood on which is the the greatest.
Appreciate the great detail. I always assumed there was more going on electronically than stock.
I really liked the look of 2 pickup strats like the blackmoore
me too!
Love these man! Keep them coming!
Thanks James... Many more coming now
Awesome video! Very informative and accurate. Nice job mate!
Great Video
Great video!
By the way, 4:55 Bill Murray standing by the door at Jim Marshall 's store
Thanks
@2:53 the dude on the far left who looks like he’s staring into affinity also looks like someone who lives in an octopuses garden.
I've always wondered what happened to his older maple necked strats that were seen in those videos. That black '68 from that 1972 black and white video concert, that sunburst '71 used on that same show and what was the Machine Head strat, that sunburst '72 from that 1973 live video in New York, and the black '72 that he barely played in that video. To know that all these guitars were eventually smashed leave me feeling like, damn those were his best sounding strats from back then and they seemed to stay in tune amazingly well during his wild tremolo abuse. Fender did make a custom shop reissue of the black '68 with the custom tremolo bar a few years ago. Guess it didn't matter that he smashed the original one.
Great video, btw!
I heard the black Strat from the Fireball album accidentally got smashed at a concert in Boston in 1973.
There was something in the water during the 70s with players smashing there guitars
Getting started with the right teacher got him off to the right start!!
What about the black telecaster that he used in one of Deep Purples videos?
ever take a step back and think, all these mfs really needed one guitar every couple of years but end up owning like hundreds from mostly 2 brands
Made In Japan was one of the most influential guitar albums for me in my life.
respect
I liked the way Richie stuck to his guns and didn't play the 'shoe shine' music ...G...
This was great and interesting! Good to have it all in one place :)
However, something that seems to be forgotten (or overlooked) is that Blackmore had at least 3 different natural strats at the California Jam in '74! Obviously he used his nr.1 natural through almost the whole concert, but at the end of Space Truckin' when they leaped into the destruction of amps and guitars he clearly has picked up another natural strat. He smashes it around, then he pick up yet another one... my memory doesn't serve me right now and I can't watch the video right now either. But you guys can check it out! How is it noticed that he changes guitars? Look at the straps! The strap on his number one is brown, then he switches to one with black strap and then one with a white strap. I know that I'm very nerdy about this, but why isn't this obvious fact mentioned in the video?
I don't think it needs to be in the video. Ritchie always changed guitars to a cheap model if it was to be smashed up, for obvious reasons.
@@jonr1122 the sacrificial lambs.
Thanks most informative 👍
Sounds like Ritchie got some of his personality traits from his old man...
As for his first StratoTelemongrel. It could never have played in tune, since the Stratocaster has a rounded neck pocket, and the Telecaster has a squared heel. Mating those together means the neck will sit a few mm further outboard than it should because the corners of the Telecaster neck will prevent the neck from fully sliding in the pocket, meaning intonation will be "interesting" (read: neigh impossible).
Not if you sand it square
Hendrix did it at newport 69 they just sanded the heel round like a strat and they fitted perfectly