Members charliekeys Posted February 21, 2017 Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 I have become obsessed by the question of what keyboard is played for the haunting melody on Pretty Girl Why on Buffalo Springfield's 1968 Last Time Around LP ? I presume it is the wonderful Steve Stills who plays it. Is it a harpsichord ? Is it a Gibson G101 combo organ ? Please end this affliction for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 Let's give everyone a clip so they can hear what you're asking about. [video=youtube;9v4iQWYqL3I] I'm not sure there's a keyboard part being played in the song. I think what sounds like a keyboard at times is actually a guitar. Listen to the solo at 1:16... that's the guitar I'm referring to. It has the treble rolled off a bit and it has kind of an electric piano vibe at times, but it's a guitar. It also pops in at other points in the song. The second solo sounds like a Coral Electric Sitar to me. At what specific locations are you hearing the keyboard? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 By the way, welcome to Harmony Central! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 1001gear Posted February 21, 2017 Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 @ 1/30 there's a sitarish thing with tremolo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soot29 Posted February 21, 2017 Members Share Posted February 21, 2017 Hard to be 100% sure but it sounds a lot like a Baldwin Electric Harpsichord (attached photo) played through a guitar tremelo pedal. The Baldwins were popular in the late 60s and appeared on many pop/rock records. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bookumdano4 Posted February 22, 2017 Members Share Posted February 22, 2017 There's no piano on the track. By the way (not that it matters), but I feverishly followed the Springfield the entire two years they were together. I saw them play a few bazillion times and by December 1967, could simply not understand how they had not broken through to the masses. I always felt there were only 12 of us who watched the whole thing unfold in realtime and were in disbelief that the planet wasn't getting it. I had seen the band at a gig three weeks before Monterey and.... (I'm going way off topic...) Pretty Girl Why. Recorded in April 67 a little after the Mr Soul session and during one of the three times Jim Fielder was doing sessions and the gigs instead of Bruce. The Guild electric doing the main rhythm with tone controls turned down (Steve)... Steve was still playing the Guild at that point (hadn't yet switched to a Les Paul till June) and he was still playing it with plastic thumb pick and three metal finger picks like on everything through the June sessions. The orange Nashville doing the Bandmaster/tremelo slurred chords, the now-obligatory harmonics chimes, and also (then set to rear pickup for the lead part (Neil). If you own Nashvilles or White Falcons, you already know those sounds a mile away. Richie's 12 string 335 doing the descending line parts where the song exits choruses. Steve popping the vocal whisper "ahhs" in the chorus, Fielder on his Hofner. Pretty Girl Why and "Leave" were two of my favorites to watch the band play live in the spring of 1967. Both songs were pretty much dumped from the sets by the time I watched the band play gigs a few weeks after Monterey when Neil had rejoined late July. But yeah, no piano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members charliekeys Posted February 23, 2017 Author Members Share Posted February 23, 2017 Thanks guys for posting the music clip, the answers and info about Steve Stills' guitars.I am referring to the part at 1.30. I am coming round to the view that it is indeed a guitar playing the part tho' thanks for the picture of the Baldwin harpsichord..I can get an approximate sound to this guitar sound on a clavinet.I think your answers have helped with my affliction. I can now get back to my other obsession - how to get hold of Gibson G101 combo organ ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 27, 2017 Share Posted February 27, 2017 Thanks guys for posting the music clip, the answers and info about Steve Stills' guitars. I am referring to the part at 1.30. I'm pretty sure that's a Coral electric sitar, but I can see how you could get kind of close with a clav. I am coming round to the view that it is indeed a guitar playing the part tho' thanks for the picture of the Baldwin harpsichord.. I wish more companies offered the Baldwin Electric Harpsichord in their sound sets. The only place I've ever been able to find it is in EastWest's Fab Four V.I. plugin. The Beatles used one on Because, and it was also used on Matthew Sweet's Walk Out. I think your answers have helped with my affliction. I can now get back to my other obsession - how to get hold of Gibson G101 combo organ ! This one? http://www.combo-organ.com/Gibson/gibson.htm Looks awesome! Are they rare and hard to find? I had never heard of them before you mentioned them. Guess I'm not a big enough Ray Manzarek fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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