Eddie Hazel
Eddie Hazel's Gear
The photo clearly shows Eddie holding a Gibson Les Paul Custom with dog-ear P90 pickups.
"Eddie started right out learning the pedals—the wah wah, the Big Muff, and phasers and shit. We bought all the gadgets in the world, [especially] once Bootsy got with us." - George Clinton
In this video at 0:18, we can see Hampton with a heavily modified Fender Stratocaster with three DiMarzio Humbuckers and a reversed headstock.
This guitar is also mentioned in a March 8, 2016 Interview with Premier Guitar:
[Premier Guitar]: Michael, there’s a video online of “Red Hot Mama” and you’re playing a guitar that looks like a Strat but it has a reverse headstock and it’s got three humbuckers. What is it and how did you get it to sound so good?
[Michael Hampton]: It’s a Strat. I put the left-handed neck on and three DiMarzio Super Distortions—I just went crazy with that guitar. I had an Alembic preamp they made back in the day—that kind of blew out later. I always liked funny cars and hot rods and that’s basically as close as I’m going to get for the guitar [laughs].
Plus, I would just crank the guitar, man. I would turn it all the way up. Most of the time everything would probably be at 10. I guess it came from the pickups itself and the actual makeup of however it resonated. I pulled the saddles all the way back, too, so I could get more flexibility and more play in the string, and it wasn’t intonated correctly. The guitar was intonated with itself—if I hit everything open and you gave me all the strings open on the keyboard, then the guitar would be kind of out. But that might have a little to do with the tone, too, because there was more play in the strings. But it’s got to be those preamps, that Alembic preamp was probably working at the time, and those Super Distortions along with it probably gave it that tone.
Not to give it all up to me, but some people actually say it’s in your fingers. And I guess there is some truth to that, but I’m just trying to stay humble on that one. I’m pretty sure we’re talking about the electronics [laughs]. And the strings probably were definitely somewhere near new. Because I used to change them every two gigs or something, keeping the strings fresh.
"Eddie started right out learning the pedals—the wah wah, the Big Muff, and phasers and shit. We bought all the gadgets in the world, [especially] once Bootsy got with us." - George Clinton
In a photo featured on Rockaliser, Eddie Hazel is seen with a Marshall JCM800 2203 amplifier head, specifically the 4211 model, which was used for studio purposes.
Excerpt from "GEORGE CLINTON & THE COSMIC ODYSSEY OF THE P-FUNK EMPIRE" by Kris Keeds, in a chapter discussing "Maggot Brain": "Eddie played his solo in a pentatonic minor scale in the key of E, putting it through a fuzz box and Cry Baby wah-wah pedal, glazed with dub-style delay."
"Eddie started right out learning the pedals—the wah wah, the Big Muff, and phasers and shit. We bought all the gadgets in the world, [especially] once Bootsy got with us." - George Clinton
Eddie Hazel used the Fender Dual Showman amplifier as his preferred amp in the 1960s, as detailed by Angela Jamoso on Guvna Guitars.
Eddie Hazel’s amp of choice in his later years with Parliament-Funkadelic.
Besides his Strat and Les Paul, Eddie Hazel also played a Gibson Firebird with Parliament-Funkadelic.
Eddie Hazel can be seen in this photo playing a Gibson ES-335.
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Discography