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Eugenio Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: Mar. 29 2002, 07:20 What is the best guitar of Mike Oldfield???? Back to top

Luke 666 Group: Members Posts: 30 Joined: Nov. 2001 Posted: April 04 2002, 14:44 His Red Stratocaster - but I'm sad because he used it only 2 (or more?) times in Berlin consert 2000. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 04 2002, 20:26 I always liked the SG Junior - he seemed to have a more edgy way of playing when he was using that guitar. I love the basic design concept of guitars like that - 1 pickup, nothing to worry about - plug in and play (of course, what you gain in simplicity you lose in versatility, but then that's half the fun - the variation in sound comes from the way you play it). It's also possible to play right the way up the neck on those guitars with no trouble at all - take a listen to that twiddly solo in QE2 for evidence of that (that's a lot harder to play on a guitar where you're having to reach round a big neck joint or something). He has many great guitars, of course...just I have this thing about the SG... Back to top

Eugenio Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: April 08 2002, 13:34 Ohhhh thanks Korgscrew. These guitar are very interesting, but why Mike doesn´t use now his Gibson SG Junior???? In Art In Heaven DVD is in the interview of the Millenium Bell, in his house. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 09 2002, 20:02 Something I can only guess at... It seems to me like the SGs have been replaced, for live work at least, by the PRS, which has 24 frets, a feature which Mike likes (the SG has 22) and offers a lot of versatility with its pickup switching. He might also prefer the feel of the PRS. I suspect he uses it a lot on his albums now, and wants to use the same guitar live as he did on the album, to get as close a sound as possible. I'd think, though, that as the SG is hanging on his wall, he probably still plays it sometimes - just not as much as he may once have done. Back to top

Thea Cochrane Group: Musicians Posts: 445 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: April 11 2002, 10:16 PRS guitars are very nice. I was lucky enough to have a go on one while I was on work experience, although I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the price. They just feel easy to play for some reason, and the tremolo system (on the guitars that have them) seem to work without putting the whole guitar completely out of tune. I suppose that when using a VG-8 (or one of it's derivatives which models the guitar in circuitry) Mike could be playing a washboard as long as it had metal strings and a Roland pick-up; nicer to have a lovely guitar though. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 11 2002, 17:50 Some of the secret of the PRS's tuning stability lies in the use of locking tuners... Roland did create a guitar for demonstration of the VG8 which was little more than a plank of wood with strings and one of their pickups on it, which goes to prove what you say there...it is certainly nicer to have a good guitar in your hands, though. Back to top

Eugenio Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: Jan. 2002 Posted: April 17 2002, 13:54 Thank you very much. So, the best guitar of Mike is the Gibson SG Junior or the PRS 24 frets? How many cost each one??? Are photos of Mike playing this guitars??? Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 17 2002, 18:15 You might want to look here first off - http://tubular.net/discography/OmmadawnInstruments.shtml The SG in amongst the guitars there, though I'll admit it's not the clearest view you could find of it... This picture gives quite a clear view of the SG - http://www.oldfieldmike.de/Live/Hannover_1981/booklet813.jpg ...while this one http://www.oldfieldmike.de/Live/London_1998/Premiere1.jpg shows the PRS quite nicely. I was going to say that Gibson don't make any SG Juniors at the moment, but it seems they've started making them again - take a look here http://www.gibson.com/products/gibson/Sg/SGjunior.html. There was an version in Epiphone's catalogue a few years ago, which they might still make - I believe it was very inexpensive. The Epiphone version wasn't quite the same, though - it had a bolt on neck (the Gibson has a glued in one) and I believe that instead of the honbduras mahogany body of the Gibson, the Epiphone was made of something like plywood. I think the UK price of the Epiphone was probably somewhere under £150. I don't have a price for the new SG Junior - I'd guess it might be about £700 in the shops. I've seen the SG Juniors made in the 1960s sell privately second hand for about £800. That was a few years ago, though, and I've seen them selling in shops more recently for around £1300 (such is the way of the vintage guitars market...). Prices for a new PRS Custom 24 in UK shops start at about £2100 and go up to about £2600 if you add some of the more expensive options. I hope that helps... Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: April 18 2002, 11:38 Mike is usually in too much of a hurry to set up an amplifier, so he usually plugs into a processor. Google Images has some good photos of Mike and his guitars - especially the one he used at Knebworth 1980!! Back to top

Thea Cochrane Group: Musicians Posts: 445 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: April 19 2002, 06:00 That's a little unfair - one of the major selling points of the kinds of processor that Mike uses is that it is impossible to get those sounds from a conventional gutar-to-amplifier set up. For instance on the the VG-8 you can simulate frets placed on a guitar neck where you wouldn't normally be able to fit one easily. Then there is all the synthesis abilities. It's like saying that a guitarist uses an e-bow because they can't be bothered with plectrums; it's just a different sound. Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: April 19 2002, 11:17 I was referring to Mike's words in the 'Guitarist' magazine interview in 1994, though I recently read at interview from '91 when he said that he still used amps By the way, Mike's SG shaped guitars are early Les Paul Junior's - before Gibson decided to call them SG's. I didn't realise Mike had a few Les Paul Jrs until I saw views of his studio on 'Through The Keyhole'!! In '94, he said that he didn't play his Les Paul Jrs much as they are the sort of guitars that need to be played through an amp. Does anyone know the name of the Manson model acoustic guitar pictured on the 'Five Miles Out' cover - I think it might be a Manson Heron or Dove. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 19 2002, 17:54 He also a pre-SG Les Paul Junior, in the TV Yellow finish (a limed finish intended to look good on black and white TV, for those wondering) as well as a double cutaway Les Paul Special in the same colour (I have a feeling I've seen a cherry red one as well). But yes, David's right - at least one (probably all) of his SGs has the Les Paul logo on its headstock. I think his were made in the early 60s...I tend to just call them SGs to avoid confusion (though it's not 100% correct...). If the acoustic you're talking about is the one on the inside of the LP gatefold cover, I have to say it's very hard to make out...perhaps if someone can find a larger picture, something more can be done to identify it. Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: April 20 2002, 04:54 Some people call the sort of guitars Mike used to play SG/Les Pauls. I wonder what the acoustic was he used on the cover of 'Guitars' and also the nylon string he used in the interview on the 'Elements' video, and also the one he used on the 'Then & Now' tour. Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: April 22 2002, 11:09 Mike used the Les Paul Jnr. on all of his early albums - except 'Incantations'. He also used it on 'Ammarok' through a Fender amp for a really searing sound. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 22 2002, 13:38 Interesting to hear about Incantations...I know he took a liking to the L6S around that time - did he just use that? I'd be interested in more info... Back to top

Thea Cochrane Group: Musicians Posts: 445 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: April 25 2002, 12:56 My apologies. So why doesn't he like moving amps around, yet he has a huge array of effects pedals (looking at his feet in the fly-by shots from the Art In Heaven concert)? Odd. David Mar wrote: "I was referring to Mike's words in the 'Guitarist' magazine interview in 1994, though I recently read at interview from '91 when he said that he still used amps..." Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: April 25 2002, 20:23 From what I remember about what he said, it was the hassle of miking up the amp that was the reason he preferred to plug the guitar in direct...or maybe perceived hassle - I'd not personally say it's terribly much effort, though it is a little more so than plugging straight in. There is, of course, slightly less consistency with a mic, from session to session - each time it's set up, it'll be in a slightly different place - that could make it slightly harder to match parts up afterwards (which is why I'd always try and do them all in one go). Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: April 26 2002, 11:22 Mike also used his Telecaster on Incantations. He didn't like the pickups on the L6-S much, but he said that using Mesa Boogie amps make anything he used sound good! Mike used around 3 L6-S guitars over the years - as far as I know! Same with the SG/Les Paul Jrs. His main guitar in the '70's was the SG/Les Paul, but his first one got stolen - I'm not sure when. I'm not sure if that's the reason he didn't use one on Incantations, or else maybe he just didn't require it for that album Back to top

MusicallyInspired Group: Musicians Posts: 1445 Joined: June 2001 Posted: April 29 2002, 18:34 my fav guitar of his is the PRS Custom 24...with the Amber finish.....so nice. -------------- BrandonBlume.com "The beauty in life is in the embracing of the variety of things. If all the world was blue there would be no colour blue." Back to top

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