Uli's answer:
Date of answer: 29.1. 2005
Hello Danny once more,
Regarding that particular guitar solo on ‘Longing For Fire’, I think the lead sound I got back in 1975 on that song was just as I wanted it to be.
The overall recording technique and the sound of the room, though, were rather poor, but somehow the guitar managed to cut through all that.
If I was to record that lead again today, it would probably end up sounding very similar. And yes, I CAN get virtually the same sound with the Sky Guitar if I so wish, because I still remember exactly how to get it and I still have the same amp, which is also crucial.
But you must know that it is impossible to recreate a sound 100% on a different occasion - even using the same white Strat, the same room, the same everything – on each and every day things will sound slightly differently. It’s a mystery, but very true for most recording artists and engineers.
Having said all that – and while bearing in mind that each individual guitar, be it Strat or Sky, has its own unique tone - it is still possible to get very close, IF one has the right means at ones disposal and if one knows how to get it.
If I wanted to get that sound today, I still have the means. The reason why my sound is different these days is not because of the choice of guitar, as some experts on our forum claim to know, but because my approach has gradually changed in more ways than one over the years. People who think that the Sky Guitar cannot sound like a Strat are barking up the wrong tree – it’s not the guitars – it’s because of me and the way I prefer to produce sounds these days. It is a question of personal evolution and a very deliberate choice. The whole thing involves a lot more than just the choice of guitar.
What was back then was then, but I had to evolve - and am still evolving - and that included my tone. I’m not saying that I am always getting it right nowadays; the world of sound is too complex and mercurial for that to ever happen, as sound depends on too many variables to ever control them completely – it is only that I am on the whole more personally satisfied with the results that I am getting. It is a question of taste and also of choice.
The Sky Guitars can deliver all those sounds if I want them to, but Stratocasters – as much as I have always liked them – can’t deliver the sound and the versatility of Sky Guitars. Back in those early days my playing was much more one-dimensional and my scope wasn’t as broad, which means I didn’t have or didn’t need such a variety of tonal options. Compared to nowadays I had a rather limited palette, as I really just had started playing a few years before and was still a novice in some respects with relatively little experience. But within that spectrum I played with great intensity and conviction and, I guess, a certain ingenuity, if I may say so, which somehow made up for a lot that may have been missing.
I do remember often being dissatisfied with my sound, though, and looking for ways to improve on it. Even to this day it is not often that I hear a guitarist whose tone really speaks to me. I guess it’s a very personal thing and people have very different taste buds when it comes to matters of sound.
Nowadays, the lead tones I tend to go for much of the time are generally warmer, softer and rounder, less harsh and less piercing. Back then my sound HAD to be bright and piercing, because it was the only way I was able to achieve a singing, somewhat sustaining sound given my choice of equipment and instrument.
I love variety and colour and I need lots of that for what I am trying to achieve nowadays. In order to get these many-facetted tonal variations I will often use hum-bucking modes alternated with single-coil ones, but it is clear that both modes sometimes have certain disadvantages and are not equally suited to all situations.
The Strat single-coil approach, which you can hear on 'Longing For Fire', worked well with a band and loud drums, meaning a rock environment, where all the instruments were on the verge of competing for dominance for much of the time, but it tended to blow your head off, because it was almost unbearably loud and powerful – best suited only for large halls, but lethal in clubs or in an orchestral setting.
A sound like that in an orchestra environment would be the kiss of death. Playing with drums and distorted rhythm guitars, which are doing power chords, completely limits one's choices in terms of sound, but it also covers up a lack of tonal quality.
Sky Guitars can do all that, however, when I so desire and I still go into that realm from time to time during live shows, such as the recent ones in America - particularly during some of the Electric Sun songs or any Hendrix-related playing. In that case I usually play mainly single coil on a six-string Sky Guitar, because it gives me a somewhat cleaner rhythm and lead spectrum, more jingly jangly, so-to-speak and in some ways more earthy, less ethereal, more physically tangible, which is more the kind of tone some people prefer in general.
Thinking about the early days, it may be interesting for you to know that on a recording one gets no sense of the sheer volume at all and it is actually and most definitely not an accurate representation of what the whole thing sounded like in real life. It may amuse you to know that during Scorpions days I always played with cotton-wool in my ears, both on stage as well as in rehearsals. Not many people used to do this, but this is what saved my ears. I don’t need to do that anymore, although it still gets really loud sometimes, depending on stage environments, but at least it’s not as shrill and harsh, unless you’re standing right in front of the amps – which is hardly ever a good place to be – particularly in front of a 100-Watt Marshall.
I call that particular line of fire the “death ray”, because it is just that – the tone has little sideways bloom, but is thrust directly forward like a sharp laser beam.
The sound is much more congenial when you are standing at a slightly different angle. To this day I always cringe when I see people directly in front of my amp, but sometimes, in clubs this is unavoidable and this is one of the reasons why I have always tended to favour larger stages in general and why I am often much less happy in clubs.
This was a long answer to a short question, because the world of sound is always a fascinating subject for me and one could go on and on – but I hope this answers your question fully.
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