Garry's Corner, The tribute page to Garry W. Tallent

The Gear
	This section is obviously dedicated to the gear Garry has used over the years. As always, any additional information will be welcome. Just in case you want to know more about this gear I have linked the names of the companies to their Websites and you'll find some pictures where Garry plays each instrument (if there is a picture available, of course); put the mouse pointer over the picture to read the instrumet name. Check out the 2007-2008 Magic Tour gear here
	Danelectro Longhorn: The Danos were affordable basses made with cheap materials such as hardboard that turned out to be great sounding instruments. Introduced in 1958, The Longhorn (the picture don't let much space for imagination) were Garry's main instrument in the early years with the E Street Band and its crisp, cutting tone can be heard in live and studio recordings from
that era (a good example is Born to Run). Garry is carrying three of this basses along with him in the 1999 Reunion Tour, one of them is the same one he played on Born to Run. By the way! They were originally built in Neptune City, N.J. CORRECTION: Not all the Danelectro style basses that Garry has played are in fact Danelectros. Some of them are good quality copies made by Jerry Jones (thanks to Kevin McIlvaine for the info)

	Ampeg Dan Armstrong: The weirdest of them all. Another short scale bass that Garry played in the early days. The body was carved from blocks of clear perspex, a transparent man-made material. This bass has been recovered in the last shows of the Reunion Tour. Click here to read more about it. Kramer Ferrington acoustic bass guitar: Garry plays two of these instruments in Nashville sessions. One of them has a fretless Sadowsky neck and he usually puts a mike pointed at it instead of using the pickups. Giltone EB0 style custom bass: Garry got this custom bass built for him at Main Street Vintage Guitars in Tupelo, MS. OTHER INSTRUMENTS: Garry played tuba before picking the bass, I love the simple elephant roar in Wild Billy's Circus Story (The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle). He gives a rest to the Dano in the Reunion Tour to pick an acoustic upright for a song.
AMPLIFIERS: According to the article that appeared in the Jan 1996 issue of Bass Player Garry kept on plugging to the old AMP solid state heads that he bought long ago. Amplified Music Products is out of business, but its amps still are quite popular among bass players. Garry played through the new Hartke HA4000 and his speaker cabinets were Hartke XLS410 in the Reunion Tour with Bruce and the E Street Band. The tone that we hear through the PA is a mix of a direct signal through a DI and a miked cabinet. As far as I know Garry has used Peavey amps in the past and you can see him plugging his Longhorn to a Gallien-Krueger 800RB head in the Murder Incorporated live video recorded in NYC's Tramps, although it probably was the house amp. STRINGS: If you play bass I'm sure you are a little picky about the strings you use (at least I am). Garry strungs his Jazz with DR strings. The Danelectro and Hofner get GHS flatwounds and he puts Rotosounds in the Spector.
2000 TOUR Garry is right now endorsing a new Hartke rig, DR strings, Aguilar Amps (Garry uses the Aguilar DB680 preamp in the studio) and the Ampeg AMB1 bass. This bass is a version of the Dan Armstrong that Garry had played in the early days.

2002-2003 THE RISING TOUR Garry is playing a bunch of basses in this tour: From left to right you can see him playing an Spector and a '60s Guild Starfire fretless, a 60s Guild M85 (with the thick semi-hollow body). He also played an AGB (acoustic bass guitar) in Letterman. Gavin Farrel sent me this info by email (Thanks a lot Gavin): "I spoke with the E Street Band's guitar tech after a show in Orlando last year and told me the M85 is a 1966 Bluesbird and I believe it is a M85 I single pickup and and is the semi-hollow body version. The Guild Starfire is a single pick-up that looks to have been modified with a custom pick-up. It is also fretless which gives it that great tone on songs like Missing etc."

Spector: Garry's main bass for The Rising Tour is the Spector NS-2J USA bolt on neck that you can see in the photo below. It has a swamp ash body with a black stain oil finish that let's you see the grain under the finish.This photo was taken on stage at Madison Square Garden before the 8/12 show! This is the one and only short scale (30") Spector, custom made for Garry.

Other Gear: For some years now Garry has been using Aguilar gear in the studio. The DB680 preamp and DB900 tube direct box.

He also used the Demeter SSC-1 Silent Cabinet (1x12) and the classic Ampeg B-15S 60-watt combo amp.

He strings his basses with Pyramid Gold nickel flats, La Bella 0760M “Jamerson” flatwounds and when the song calls for, he plays with
Dunlop Jazz 3XL and felt ukulele picks.

"Thinnin' the herd"

The following basses and guitars from Garry's collection are/were for sale at Grhun Guitars in Nashville, some really interesting pieces there, click on the brand/model for the picture:

Fender Jazz Bass with 1963 neck and late 1960s body, original Candy Apple Red finish with gold undercoat, replacement pickguard, copper shielding in all cavities, refretted, route under controls enlarged for battery, replaced pots and lead wires, used on Springsteen's "Secret Garden" from The Reunion Greatest Hits CD and on numerous Nashville sessions.

Guild Starfire fretless bass 1965, refinished natural blond, replacement Bartolini pickup (original pickup in case), used on Springsteen's "You're Missing" from The Rising CD and on The Rising tour.

Danelectro Longhorn Bass, circa 1958, EXF, used on Springsteen's "Waiting on a Sunny Day" from The Rising CD.

Old Kraftsman, made by Kay, single cutaway, circa 1960, body in excellent condition, neck repaired and oversprayed, set up with Grover Imperial tuners, sunburst finish, the only bass Garry used on the Southside Johnny CD Messin' with the Blues.

Fender Esquire, 1963, body professionally refinished, formerly owned by Bruce Springsteen and used on The River album, pickup replaced with rewound pickup from Springsteen's 1953 Telecaster (not a genuine Fender pickup), replacement pickguard, brown Tolex covered OHC.

Ampeg Dan Armstrong, late 1960s, NM, clear Plexiglass body, used in the studio and onstage on Springsteen's Reunion tour.

Gibson EB-2D, 1968, NM, two pickups, sunburst finish, used by Garry in performances with The 28s (a Chuck Berry cover band that performs only on Berry's birthday).

Hofner 500/5 "Stu Sutcliffe model", circa 1999, M, made from vintage Hofner 1960 neck and 1960 body as a replica of model used by Stu Sutcliffe of the Beatles, replica pickups by Kent Armstrong, used on CD by Gigi Dover of The Rank Outsiders.

Gibson EB-0, 1959, EXC, original banjo style tuners, body shape like double cutaway pre-SG Les Paul, cherry red finish.

Gibson The Ripper 1978, NM, natural finish.

Hofner 500/7 Verithin, 1963, EXC, double cutaway thin hollow body, two pickups, cherry red finish, first version of the model.

Hofner single cutaway bass, 1963, used onstage with various power pop acts and in the studio on Bill Lloyd's Set to Pop CD.

Hagstrom double pickup solid body bass, circa 1970, red plastic front, red vinyl covered back, black neck finish.

Gretsch Bikini (two-piece), 1962, EXF, six-string guitar neck and four-string bass neck, single neck body and interchangeable doubleneck body, two OHCs (one designed to hold one neck and single neck body and the other for two necks and doubleneck body).

Gibson Nick Lucas Special, 1933, EXC, rosewood back and sides, 14 fret neck, extremely rare variation.

Gibson Century, circa 1934, EXC, multicolored decal on top between bridge and soundhole.

Gibson J-160E, 1961, EXC, vintage replica tuners.

Gretsch Chet Atkins Tennessean, 1959, EXF, one patent applied for Filter'Tron pickup in the bridge position, replacement tuners, refretted, finish touch up on top (expert professional work), orange finish.

Gretsch 6192 Country Club, 1955, EXC, no pickguard, single coil DeArmond pickups, Melita bridge, sunburst finish.

Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins, 1962, EXC, body binding starting to deteriorate but still intact.

Danelectro Convertible, circa 1960, EXF.

Guild F-44BLK (model designed by George Gruhn), 1986, EXC, quilted maple back and sides, black finish, set up with internal pickup, preamp, and endpin jack

Weymann parlor guitar, circa 1910, VG+, 14 1/2" body width, spruce top with fancy abalone and pearl edge trim, Brazilian rosewood back, sides, and peghead veneer.

Gibson L-4, 1929, EXF, arched top with round soundhole, sunburst finish.

Gibson '59 Les Paul Flametop Reissue, 2004, M with certificate and papers, attractive curly maple top, cherry sunburst finish.

Gibson ES-350TN, 1961, EXC, pointed Florentine cutaway (typical of only the last few ES-350T models made), attractive curly maple body, two patent applied for humbucking pickups (one rewound by Lindy Fralin), natural blond finish, interior paper label missing.

Gibson L-5, 1947, EXC, sunburst finish.

Fender '62 Jaguar, recent, M, rosewood fingerboard, black finish.

Fender American Vintage '62 Jazzmaster, recent, NM with papers and accessories, Olympic White finish.

MusicMan StingRay: 3 words to define the StingRay tone: Low End Muscle. MusicMan were the next project by Leo Fender after selling Fender to the CBS in 1965 and the StingRay were the first instrument to see the light of day, it was 1976. 2003 Update!!! I always thought that Garry played two different StingRays and I always wondered where the natural finish had gone.
	Garry himself solved me the mistery: He refinished the bass black because it was too clear and shiny!!!. He stopped playing it live because it was very heavy (around 12 pounds), but he still uses it in Nashville sessions restrung with the 4 lower strings of a five string set (tuned BEAD). This instrument has a maple neck and fingerboard and lacks the characteristic oval-shaped pickguard. G&L: An L-1000 model, which began production in 1980. After leaving MusicMan, Leo joined forces with George Fullerton and G&L was born. Garry played this bass from 1980-1981 but I don't know if he recorded Born in the USA with this bass.