Jim Weider Interview: Talking Gear

By: Hugh Ochoa

Photo Courtesy of Jim Weider

Raised on rock and country blues, Jim Weider receives worldwide respect from fellow musicians and music fans alike. A master of the Fender Telecaster, he is among a select group of musicians that has an endorsement agreement with Fender and has developed a reputation for himself with a unique style of country rock, blues and slide guitar playing.

His musical resume reads like a Who’s Who of rock ‘n’ roll greats encompassing many generations and styles of music, from Bob Dylan and The Band, to Scotty Moore, Paul Burlison, Robbie Dupree, Paul Butterfield and Keith Richards, just to name a few.

His first claim to fame was replacing Robbie Robertson in The Band, a tenure that lasted from 1985 to 1998 that consisted of international touring with original members Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko, and also many recording sessions and television appearances.

Some highlights include: a 1990 show with The Band and Ronnie Hawkins at the Berlin Wall; the Bob Dylan Tribute show at Madison Square Garden; the “Unofficial Blue Jean Bash” for President Clinton’s 1993 Inaugural Ball, with special guests Bob Dylan, Steven Stills and Dr. John; and, The Band’s appearance at Woodstock ’94.

Guitar International recently sat down with Jim Weider to talk Fender guitars, amps and why, at the end of the day, he’s a Tele man.

******

Hugh Ochoa: You would consider yourself primarily a Tele player?

Jim Weider: Yeah, I would say so.

Hugh: Because I remember seeing a Homespun video called Get That Classic Fender Sound you did awhile back and I remember there being at least 7 or 8 Strats on the cover. Were all of those yours?

Jim: [Laughs] No, no. On that cover, there was a bunch of Teles and Strats. It’s something I did cause I like Fender instruments so I decided to do a video of all the people that influenced me and their styles and document it. So I borrowed them from a couple collectors. Only one guitar on there is mine.

Hugh: So you do own a Strat?

Jim: I do own a Strat. Gotta have a Strat.

Hugh: Do you think that some people just don’t get Telecasters? That maybe they just aren’t the guitar for some people?

Jim: Oh, yeah. You gotta know how to set them up. You know, I learned that from Roy Buchanan, by putting big frets an a Telecaster and a Strat, they play a lot better. Sid McGinnis, for 18 years was playing with the original frets on his ’55 Strat. They’re down to nothing. I said, “How are you bending a string? How long have you had the guitar?”

He said, “Well, since ’71 or something like that.”

And I said, “Well I don’t think you’re gonna sell it. So why don’t you put some new frets on it and enjoy yourself.” So he ended up doing it to all his guitars. It makes a big difference. You do that to a Tele, and you take the finish off the back of the neck and you set them up, and they play great.

Photo Courtesy of Jim Weider

Hugh: So you think that a lot of it has to do with having it set up properly?

Jim: Yeah. Set up. And then you gotta learn how to get a tone out of it.

Hugh: Do you strip the neck on all your guitars?

Jim: The ones that are new. The old ones are kinda worn off anyway.

Hugh: Any neck profile and fretboard radius that you prefer?

Jim: I like the old big neck – the ’50s necks. I like the 7.5″ [radius] and after you refret it a few times, from the 9th fret up you get a flatter radius – you know, kind of compounded a little bit. I like having a 7.5″ radius by the nut that flattens to a 9″ radius further up the neck.

Hugh: You credit Buchanan with inspiring you to want a Tele.

Jim: Yeah. Yeah.

Hugh: I read the story somewhere about how after hearing Roy Buchanan’s ’52 Tele, you went searching for one across the country.

Jim: Yeah, that’s true. That’s how I got mine.

Hugh: How long did that take?

Jim: It took going across the country and buying a few till I finally found the right one.

Hugh: Were you just randomly going into stores looking for one or did you have leads on them?

Jim: Well, I’d look in the papers and stop into stores while I’d be driving to California. Back then, you’d go into stores and there’d be four or five 1950s Teles hanging up for $300 apiece.

Photo Courtesy of Jim Weider

Hugh: So how did you come across your ’52?

Jim: I saw an ad in the paper when I lived in Los Angeles. The guy had a ’50s bass and a ’52 Tele. He wanted $300 for one and $350 for the other. I went over to his house and turns out it was Norm of Norman’s Rare Guitars. Now he’s a well-known vintage guitar guy out in L.A. He sells guitars to everybody but back then he just worked in a music store and had a little side business in his apartment.

Hugh: And your ’54, that you have on your website. Is that just a back-up?

Jim: It’s another one that I use. I used it on the album Big Foot. I haven’t played it lately though.

Hugh: I see you put a ’60s Firebird pickup in the neck. Is that a mini humbucker?

Jim: Yeah, it’s a standard ’60s Firebird humbucker.

Hugh: The Thinlines have the dual humbuckers in them. Some Tele purists consider those “anti-Teles.”

Jim: Yeah, well, on my new album, I got a guitar in Finland that has two humbuckers in it and I’ve been getting into the humbucker world so, I’m kinda “anti” lately. I’m a slight traitor but, whatever, I’m enjoying it.

Hugh: Of course, all the old jazz box type of guitars have the dual humbucker set up.

Jim: Lot of guys used to put ’60s humbuckers on a Tele, in the rhythm position – very unbalanced. But you know, I’m just messing with it. I always go back to my old one.

Hugh: Do you work on your own gear or do you have a tech?

Jim: I have a tech, Dominick Ramos.

Hugh: What is it about the ’50s Telecasters that make them more desirable to you?

Jim: Well, they have the best sounding pickups. The early ’50s till ’55 with the flat pole magnets were the best sounding pickups.

Hugh: Do you ever play Gibsons?

Jim: I bought a ’50s Les Paul Junior from John Hall that I played in the late ’60s for about a year or so, but then I went right back to a Tele and stayed there.

Hugh: Is your recording rig the same as your live rig?

Jim: Not entirely. I use my trusty black face Deluxe Reverb. But I also use a slew of different amps, from Marshalls to Supros, for different guitar sounds. Once in a while I use a 1960 Guild Starfire with DeArmonds.

Photo Courtesy of Jim Weider

Hugh: Do you worry about taking vintage gear out on the road?

Jim: I’m conscious of it, but you have to play it because it’s what you have it for. I just always keep it with me.

Hugh: So you see them as tools and not museum pieces?

Jim: That’s how I feel. I think they should be played so people can hear them. You know, if I’m in a bar and I see a guy playing an old ’50s Strat, I get excited. If he’s a good player.

Hugh: As far as amps go, I see you lean more towards smaller combos. Any particular reason?

Jim: Yeah, it’s easier to carry them. Deluxe Reverbs I like, that’s mainly what I use. That and a Princeton. Or if I’m playing a bigger show, I plug another speaker speaker into the Deluxe, to make it a little larger, but that’s usually loud enough. It’s a very loud Deluxe – mine’s been modified with a Bandmaster output transformer, 6L6s, and 50w speaker. It’s really souped up.

Hugh: You don’t have any Twin Reverbs or Super Reverbs?

Jim: I used to have all that. I sold all my big amps because I just didn’t use them.

Hugh: You only play Fender amps?

Jim: I’ve been playing a Marshall on the new album.

Hugh: What kind?

Jim: A 50 watter.

Hugh: Like a JTM?

Jim: Yeah, a ’70s. Good Sound but it’s too loud for live.

Hugh: Do you get into the NOS and expensive tube craze?

Jim: Yeah, if you can find a set of Mullards, they sound great. They’re a little bit warmer and have a little bit more bottom to them. I like the GEs and a Mullard in the preamp is great. You’ll sound a little bit rounder in tone. They’re worth it. And they last, they don’t go anywhere.

Hugh: I see you use a TS9 modified by Analog Man and what looks like a delay. What else are you using?

Jim: I use a little delay, it’s an Aquapuss, for a little rockabilly slapback. But my main delay is a T-Rex Replica delay. And I use a King Of Tone pedal that I helped invent with Analog Man, which is kinda like my improvement of a Tube Screamer. And that’s pretty much it, and an old Italian Wah-Wah.

Hugh: What was it that you couldn’t get from the stock Tube Screamer that led you to have something made for you?

Jim: No bottom on the TS808, there’s just more mids. I didn’t want to lose the bottoms.

Hugh: And the Tube Screamer, is that an 808 or a 9?

Jim: Well it’s an 808 in a 9 box. Rick Danko stepped on the original one and broke it.

Hugh: Do you have your perfect tone or are you always searching for it like the rest of us?

Jim: Always searching. It’s been a really hard search. I’ve been working on a channel switching amp with Ben Fargen, an amp builder from California. It’s a 50 watter with big, warm, clean Fender-like sounds and channels switches into a lead channel that doesn’t lose bottom. It sings. I am very excited about this amp.

It’s still in the prototype stages. I am using it live now. We’re trying to get the bugs out now. And it should be available soon as my Signature amp. It’s just two 6l6s. We want to keep the tone of your guitar in both channels – no tone loss, just more.