Posted by Nick on Thursday, December 4th, 2025,
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So Ritchie had an early on “Road to Damascus” experience about string gauges, string pull and how they affect the tuning stability of his (then probably) Gibson ES-335. Note: You can bend a string and you can put skimpy banjo strings (made for an instrument with a much longer neck and therefore higher string pull, a banjo scale neck is about 1,5 inches longer than a standard Gibson guitar one) on a guitar, but you cannot bend the laws of physics. 🤣
His Nashville role models using banjo strings likely played Fender Telecasters which have a longer scale than Gibsons so the tuning issue wasn’t as pronounced.
Jon must have been a joy for the lead guitarist to play with. He had great ears and also a very good sense on how to compliment their playing, when to stay on the side, when to fill the background and when to come in to complete something.
![[hand]](/hs-pics/portraits/hands/morse8.jpg)
![[face]](/hs-pics/portraits/faces/paice.jpg)
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
So Ritchie had an early on “Road to Damascus” experience about string gauges, string pull and how they affect the tuning stability of his (then probably) Gibson ES-335. Note: You can bend a string and you can put skimpy banjo strings (made for an instrument with a much longer neck and therefore higher string pull, a banjo scale neck is about 1,5 inches longer than a standard Gibson guitar one) on a guitar, but you cannot bend the laws of physics. 🤣
His Nashville role models using banjo strings likely played Fender Telecasters which have a longer scale than Gibsons so the tuning issue wasn’t as pronounced.
December 5th, 2025 at 00:49Jon Lord could listen to any tune and play it back instantly, note for note. Absolutely astonishing music recall.
December 5th, 2025 at 02:33Jon must have been a joy for the lead guitarist to play with. He had great ears and also a very good sense on how to compliment their playing, when to stay on the side, when to fill the background and when to come in to complete something.
One example, listen how he follows-up Steve’s fast lick at around 1:50 here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr4I4ZFqx8g
I think (one cannot know) this was not rehearsed, it is a great interplay if it was spontaneous
December 5th, 2025 at 07:54