Ritchie Blackmore: 335 or Strat?

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Ever since I heard this song, I've loved it... and being a guitarist, loved the solo. I am looking for the history on what guitar was used on this track. Reading around I found as a general consensus that he used a fuzz face and treble booster together into a Marshall. That said, there is controversy as to which guitar was used, at the time he had a strat and a 335. He was always using the 335 in the early years but if I read all this correctly, a few months before the album, In Rock was recorded he got a Strat. Using both a treble booster/fuzz face makes it a bit difficult but does this sound more like a strat or 335? I don't want this to be a fender vs gibson thread, he uses the 335 in the live in UK show and the strat in the made in japan album. They both sound awesome, I am just curious to what he used on the original track.


Solo begins on neck pup at 3:30. Around 4:00 he switches to the bridge pickup.

[the guy who invented fire]

That ain't no Strat...

[STRATDELUXER97]

Yeah it's pretty fat sounding and I'd lean towards the 335...Studio eq could fool us though?

[the guy who invented fire]

I don't even know if there is a fuzz or booster on that...

[Andrew Lamprecht]

But this is a strat... hear the similarity at 5:10?

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Yeah it's pretty fat sounding and I'd lean towards the 335...Studio eq could fool us though?

Yeah... but check this out... studio too.... 6:05.. he brought 2 strats with him to the hotel where they recorded this.

I don't even know if there is a fuzz or booster on that...

I don't know either, I just know around those times people say he was using a hornby skewes treble booster/dallas arbiter fuzz face.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Hard to say on the amps also Andrew...Early(MK1) I saw Blackmore playing through the BF Fender stuff in the playboy after dark footage..He also used Vox AC 30s and of course Marshall...

[Andrew Lamprecht]

I didn't know about the BF fenders. I know he loved the AC30 in the studio. Should have stated that in the original post....

[STRATDELUXER97]

Found this..Check this out Andrew!

"Child in Time" is an essentially simple composition, featuring an organ intro, three power chords, and a two minute long guitar solo. Lyrically dark, vocalist Ian Gillan utilizes his wide vocal range and goes from quiet singing to loud, high-pitched, banshee-esque falsetto screaming. Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore comes in with a slow solo, which builds up to a fast-pace playing and then ends abruptly, with the whole song cycle starting over again. Blackmore is normally associated with playing a Fender Stratocaster, however, he played a Gibson ES-335 on the studio version of the song."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_in_Time

[the guy who invented fire]

But this is a strat... hear the similarity at 5:10?

A little but there is a difference...

[Andrew Lamprecht]

That was from the treble booster site yeah? That is probably the most knowledgable site on him as the guy is obsessed with Ritchie but lots of other people are saying Strat, I don't know..... whatever happened to his 335? It got auctioned or something last year yeah?

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Either way, it's awesome.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Another good read...His 335 auctioned off in 2004...Not that these internet stories are the gospel?

http://meandguitar.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/hush-money/

[JeffB]

Either way, it's awesome.

Zaktly.

[Mincer]

Yeah, as a huge Blackmore fan, I always assumed it was the 335. He got such great tone on the 335- listen to the Concerto for Group & Orchestra, recorded right before In Rock. His first solo in Child in Time sounds nothing like a Strat.

[STRATDELUXER97]

Yeah, as a huge Blackmore fan, I always assumed it was the 335. He got such great tone on the 335- listen to the Concerto for Group & Orchestra, recorded right before In Rock. His first solo in Child in Time sounds nothing like a Strat.

Yeah alot of the british players got bit by the Hendrix bug pretty bad and switched over to strats... ;o)

[STRATDELUXER97]

]

I didn't know about the BF fenders. I know he loved the AC30 in the studio. Should have stated that in the original post....

If you watch the Playboy After Dark video of them doing Hush..You see Blackmore playing the 335 through the BF Fender setup.

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Ahh cool vid John, thanks, I've never seen that before.

[blueman335]

Yeah it's pretty fat sounding and I'd lean towards the 335

+1. More mids than I'd expect from a Strat. What a great style he had. Such energy.

[Mincer]

Funny, this is the song Deep Purple, um, borrowed from: