Elmore James' Guitars
This was Elmore's prime guitar that gave him his twangy and iconic delta blues silde sound.
The guitar in the picture has two Dearmond pickups. The pickup closer to the bridge appears to be a DeArmond Rhythm Chief.
At 1:29:30 of the referenced Youtube video there is a photograph which shows that Elmore James is clearly playing an Epiphone hollow body archtop with the Tree of Life headstock and Epiphone E trussrod cover. Though a lot of the details in the guitar top are a bit blown out due to overexposure, the frequensator tailpiece is quite apparent. The Broadway is the only guitar of this type that Epiphone exhibits on their website that has the "Tree of Life" headstock and a frequensator tailpiece.
In this grainy image of Elmore James on the cover of an instructional book, he can be seen holding a Silvertone.
Elmore James played a Kay K-6000 "Western Rhythm" guitar fitted with two DeArmond pickups, a RHC-B in the soundhole and a Rhythm Chief 1000 just in front of the bridge. The combination of these pickups with the crude X-bracing of the Kay gave him his unique and iconic sound. Before the DeArmond pickups, the guitar had a different electric guitar pickup fitted in the soundhole. The guitar also had a trapeze tailpiece attached to it, and it was used to hold the strings instead of the original bridge.
This is a community-built gear list for Elmore James.
- Find relevant music gear like Guitars, Amplifiers, Effects Pedals, and other instruments and add it to Elmore James.
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Discography
The Complete Fire & Enjoy Sessions, Pt. 1
1962
The Complete Fire & Enjoy Sessions, Pt. 3
1962
The Complete Fire & Enjoy Sessions, Pt. 2
1962
Complete Fire & Enjoy Sessions, Pt. 4
1962
Elmore James Blues Legends
1963
The Sky Is Crying
1965
Whose Muddy Shoes
1969
All Them Blues
1971
Street Talkin'
1975
Dust My Broom
1992
The Sky is Crying: The History of Elmore James
1993
Blues After Hours
2000