The Band – The Last Waltz (Deluxe Version)

Robbie’s famous “Last Waltz Strat” Dipped in Bronze with his unique pickup configuration and Telecatser knobs for better volume swell control.

"Accustomed to performing with the two-pickup layout of the Tele, however, Robertson noticed that while on stage with the Strat, his plectrum would nick the guitar’s middle pickup.

So he replaced it with a left-handed pickup and moved it lower on the body so that it nudged the bridge pickup, which made it look like a humbucking pickup, all engaged by the three-way switch that was common on pre-1977 Strats.

While the modified pickup placement was eye-catching, the Strat earned its legendary status after it receieved a bronze coat. It wasn’t just painted bronze. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer actually dipped it in molten bronze before performing the Band’s final concert on Thanksgiving day, November 25, 1976.

Not only did the bronze shell offer a thicker sound, it also added about 10 pounds to the instrument, more than doubling its body weight. Though due to its weight he switched to another guitar late in the show, Robertson used the bronze Strat throughout much of The Last Waltz, forever pairing the bronzed work of art with its artist.

Robertson later modded the Strat in the 1980s with a tremolo before handing it over in 1995 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for display." - Fender article.

This was Robbie’s main amp with The Band. You can see it on stage in The Last Waltz.

Used live in the early 1970's and on the recording of 'The Band'

In this article it is said that Robertson used the tuner with The Band during “The Last Waltz”

“To begin at the beginning: In late 1961, having been pursued by Levon Helm and Ronnie Hawkins for some time, Garth Hudson was playing hard to get. Although asked to join The Hawks as pianist, Garth, feeling he couldn't match the rude power of his hammer-breaking predecessors, and mindful of the low opinion his family held of bar musicians, he coolly told Ronnie he preferred to play organ. Discussing this with his right hand man, Levon Helm, Ronnie decided that Garth had to be secured at any reasonable cost. They finally offered Garth two incentives: a retainer in addition to payment for gigs, hitherto referred to as music teacher wages for the benefit of his parents, and a new Lowrey organ, a model FL (Festival).

The Festival, Lowrey's first full-size console model, was physically influenced by the industry standard Hammond B2/B3 series, whose popularity among jazz and blues performers had as much to do with portability as it had to do with the legendary tonewheel sound - their "four-poster" style cabinets were gutted out, working musicians alternatives to the churchier-looking Hammond C3's and A100's. Portability was still a relative term, though, with a B3 weighing 425 pounds, and the Lowrey FL around 390. A separate external speaker, most commonly a Leslie rotary type, would be substituted for the internal ones.

Although outwardly resembling the B3, Lowrey made no attempt to mimic Hammond's trademark sound, which they regarded as inferior (it was, in terms of its resemblance to a pipe organ) and archaic (Hammonds' technology did have numerous limitations). Lowrey's market was the burgeoning home organ trend - essentially still classical style instruments with a peppering of novelty effects mostly inherited from the glamorous theatre organ "tradition". One of these effects, the exclusive Lowrey "glide" footswitch, particularly appealed to Garth. Originally intended to imitate a Hawaiian guitar or slide trombone, he modified the factory preset so that the organ pitch could be "bent" down a whole tone, rather than just a half-step. His solo in "The Shape I'm In", from The Last Waltz, is an obvious example of this effect, and his future Lowrey's would all have this alteration.

Another interesting feature of these early consoles was the stereo capabilities - Lowrey had separate outputs for upper and lower keyboards, and Garth would later use a separate Leslie speaker for each of these. Starting out he used a Leslie model 45 to the right of the Lowrey, and like all pre-'63 Leslies this was a single speed (fast/off) cabinet. The fast/off sound can be heard on the Hawks early singles, right through to Dylan's performances at the end of their European tour in 1966.”

In this article it is stated that Hudson used the synth on the “The Last Waltz”

Shown around the 0:31 mark. Garth Hudson is seen playing a Yamaha CS-80 Synthesizer

"On the left is a Roland SH-2000 lead synth on top of what appears to be various rackmount mixers and other processors."

At minute 0:57 you can see the Ampeg B-15 Bass Amp behind Rick. It used that amp for the Last Waltz Live in 1978

Danko can be seen playing a Gibson Ripper in this photo.