Cordes, tirant et action

Rory Gallagher a écrit:I use the ordinary light-gauge Fender rock'n'roll strings —.010, .012 (sic), .015 etc. — the standard set.

I'm still not 100% happy with the gauges that come out of the packets, but it's as close as I’ll get, probably. I like the first four — I like the .015 for the 3rd. I’d like the bottom end a little heavier, but then you try the Ernie Ball sets and there's a .009 on top which is too light. It's strange — if I put a .009 on top, it's too light and if I put a .011 on top, it's too heavy and I’ll miss the .010. That's not to say that if I was stuck, I couldn't plough away on something else.

Rory Gallagher a écrit:I use a Fender rock ‘n’ roll set – 10s. On the Strat I change them every second gig, on the others maybe every four or five gigs. A lot depends on how damp they get. As a rule I don’t like fresh strings, they have a kind of harshness.

Rory Gallagher a écrit:I always use Fender Rock'n’Roll, so they're nice and bright. The Silver bullet Fender strings I only tried once, but I believe they're even more responsive to pick-ups and so on. But I don’t know, the thing with Fenders is that it’s a handy gauge already. It's not every shop in the world you can go in and pick out a custom gauge. I use a 10, 11 (sic), 15, 26, 32, and 38. Ideally if Fender made a set with 40 in the bottom I'd be happier, but it's pretty well balanced. If you go for that heavy bottom, light top, it becomes a little unbalanced.

I like to be able to get a crisp enough chord, and so you do need some reasonably strong strings, and also keep the action fairly high. I have had it higher, but with the height you get more of a definite note. You don’t get that nice comfortable ride that you get with the lower strings. I find it handier, you can also get underneath the string, and it also works with the one hand playing style too.

Rory Gallagher a écrit:I’m using Fender Rock and Roll strings at the moment. I’ve been with them for some time because you can get them easily anywhere in the world and they perform very well.

I’ve tried Ernie Ball strings and I used Clifford Essex Strings for quite some time, but I’m fairly settled now with Fenders.

I saw Rory in 1982 or 83 at the Agora in Columbus Ohio. He broke a string in the middle of a song and I don't remember which one.

What I do remember is that he ran to the side of the stage while the band played on, grabbed a replacement string and ran back to the mic to continue singing ! I'm pretty sure it was a high E. WHILE he was singing, he was replacing the string.

The amazing thing was, that when he was done, it stayed in tune for the rest of the song, and was used during the solo. How he did THAT I will never know. Perhaps he just avoided it until the song was done, I don't know. I was close to the stage and watching carefully - he didn't even pull on the string to stretch it out after he wound it on. Just one amazing moment of an evening full of amazement.
Lowell