For years I have been wanting to emulate the beautiful clean and smooth guitar sound Andrew Gold gets in his lead guitar on Art Garfunkels 1970's hit "I Only Have Eyes for You" (listen at: I Only Have Eyes for You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yrl3T8MaX8E), but can't seem to get near it.

Although he favoured using a Rickenbacker for a lot of his work, I'm certain he didn't on this track.

I'm guessing he may have used a Telecaster with new strings for clarity through possibly a Roland JC120 amp using minimal chorus and heaps of compression(possibly studio not stomp). I think he also ran the guitar track through a slow leslie to complement the keyboards but it may be a slow tremolo or phaser.

I would love to have your thoughts on this - I can't try my guesses out anymore as I no longer have a Telecaster guitar or a quality amp but would like to see what can be achieved using computer vst plugins. I'll need some help, though.

Good luck and many thanks
Cheers
Larney

Welcome aboard Larney! I know I'm not studio qualified to comment on what he was using, but if I was going to try for the sound I would start with my single coil Strat in the mid or neck position with some Fender reverb and vibrato for the intro, then switch to the position between the bridge and mid pickups for the fills with reverb and comp (maybe throw in some chorus). It sounds Fender, all the way to me. Kind of surf'ey vibrato intro and a chimey Knofler sort of thingy for the fills (instead of a Rickenbacker). I can see why you picked a Tele but you might be fighting with the twang...

Beautiful tone and playing... I'd expect that one could largely cop that sound with a Strat on position #2 or #4 through a compressor and a Uni-Vibe followed with a little echo (easy on the repeats) and reverb. May I suggest a Homebrew Electronics Compressor-Retro (aka HBE CPR) and a Fulltone Mini Deja'Vibe 2 with your choice of analog-flavored delay and digital room-'verb?

Maybe it was recorded "direct", with echo and reverb added after? Though I don't know why a bf or sf Fender couldn't get you there.

To my ears:

Maybe a Strat plugged straight into the mixing desk through a phaser, with compression.

sounds like a humbucker with a treble booster into a univibe into a blonde pro with the trem on. a LOT of limiting and a delayed plate reverb.

but i've been wrong before. not use the jc120 had debuted yet in 75. definitely not chorus. too phasey for a chorus.

this piqued my interest so I did some searching around... Larney, you've posted this question on quite a few boards. Cool, I dig the dedication to a tone.

Like a lot of people who answered, I'm pretty sure it's a strat with phaser into a DI and into the board, with short reverb or slapback echo and compression added at the board. This was a hot production trick in the 70s and 80s and 90s for pop, soul, disco and dance records that gets a glassy clean tone. Best example that comes to mind is in "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, which is attacked differently (harder, more rhythmically and scratchy) than Gold's use here. I think a lot of those chorusy 80s tones by people like The Fixx and INXS were done this way, too.

check this out for discussions of some examples of this trick that might surprise you:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/tonefiend/recording/adventures-in-direct-recording/

Nile Rodgers from Chic, who's probably used this trick on countless hit records, talks about it in GP. He's always been one of my fave guitarists and producers: Bowie, INXS, etc. The guitar in Diana Ross's "I'm Coming Out" drilled its way into my head as a kid and is still there.

How did you record your guitar on the classic Chic records?

It was mostly my guitar on the neck pickup, direct into a Neve console with some compression, with maybe a touch of miked amp blended in. Onstage, Bernard and I had matching Sunn cabinets, and I used a Fender Bassman or Music Man head. My amps haven’t changed since Stevie Ray Vaughan died. When we were doing the Vaughan Brothers record, Peavey gave him a bunch of Classic 50s. He gave two to me, and I’ve been playing them ever since, because I love the sound, and because I’m emotionally attached to them. Stevie was a great friend. We use to hang out and play guitar together for hours on end.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/nile-rodgers/8940

Interview with Garfunkel & producer Richard Perry about the record, but doesn't get into stuff like how they recorded the guitars:

http://www.artgarfunkel.com/articles/stuart.html

Why not send Richard Perry an email and ask him how they did it? He might appreciate that you love that track so much.

A good Uni-Vibe stylee or an EH Small Stone (either being deeper, cluckier, lusher than a Phase 90) will get you well in the ballpark.

If miking an amp's speaker, fool around with mic-placement such as off-axis, mic at an angle instead of straight on to the speaker.

If going direct, go for as clear and clean/non-overdriven a sound as you can (no crappy blatzy peaks), with lots of compression one way or another.

If possible, reverb should not necessarily be amp/tube/spring type or sim thereof, but room or plate style, sparkly clean, bright but warm. A little echo, too; listen closely to figure out the right delay-time/tap-tempo and number of repeats/regeneration.

With a Strat, 'vibe or Small Stone, compressor, and echo pedals, and a Fender Twin, Pro, or Deluxe Reverb (these kinds of amps, lots from other makers will do the bf/tweed Fendery clean; Carvin "Vintage" series amps, Peavey Classics, etc.), I could really nicely cop this sound live. Better yet, if money were no object , a Strat and those pedals hitting two amps- a Matchless JJ-30 AND a Tone King Comet 40B or Meteor II or Fender Vibro King simultaneously via a good A/B/Y like a Fulltone True-Path or Radial Switchbone... Sparkly and shimmery... ! Sorry, didn't mean to drool... !

jeez I said "maybe" a little touch of chorus LOL...don't really use them myself and you'll probably get by with just reverb, delay and vibrato using just a Strat and a Twin and a MXR Carbon Copy...

> B U M P < for picker...

I KNOW NOTHING, NOTHING!!

Hahhaahhahhaahhaahhahhaahhaahh!!