Walter does some amazing stuff. I found this at bluesquest. Seems hard to believe but here it is. Master at 4 or higher with R2 and tweed sounds sweet. The just on the verge of breakup sounds the best to me. But I don't own a strat either though.
BluesQuest.com: What kind of gear are you using these days?
Walter: I play through a Mesa Boogie and I leave it on the lead channel. And with the suggested settings that come with the Boogie, I have it set for "death metal," but I control the amount of overdrive with the volume knob on the guitar. If you want to play clean, put the guitar up to about two and you'll get a big, fat, beefy clean sound. And anywhere between two and 10 you can actually control the amount of overdrive you're getting, just using that one channel. So what I'm doing with my baby finger [adjusting the guitar's volume control] is almost as important as what I'm playing. My baby finger is moving all the time. I go through a lot of volume pots.
BluesQuest.com: That knob - on the guitar you've been using for years - actually says "Tone" on it, but it's your volume knob?
Walter: The reason being the volume knob is right here where the tone knob should be. That's the original volume knob that came on the guitar when I bought it 27 years ago, new, when the guitar was pure white. It's worn out. It got used so much that you can turn it and it doesn't affect what's happening. And somebody said to me, 'Well, just get a new volume knob,' And I said, 'That's the volume knob that this finger has been wrapped around for 27 years and I'm not getting a new one.' So we just shifted them around that's all.
BluesQuest.com: Did you shift the knobs or rewire them?
Walter: We just shifted the knobs. I mean this tone knob works fine. It'll go down over the pot and actually make it turn, but this volume knob is loose on there. It's about ready to fall off, and it has fallen off on numerous occasions. I'd be on a big stage and I'd be doing my thing and the knob would fly off and bounce across the stage.
BluesQuest.com: But you'd run after it to pick it up?
Walter: I wasn't letting anybody get it man! It came on the guitar when I bought it and this guitar has my spirit in it. I mean it was pure white when I bought it.
BluesQuest.com: What year is it?
Walter: It's a '73. It's one of the ones you're supposed to hate. That's what I love about it.
BluesQuest.com: A notorious post-CBS guitar.
Walter: Yeah, you know: a three-bolt neck and all the stuff that the non-players say you're supposed to hate. The real players realize that guitars are like people. You have to take them on their merit. You know there's some good '54s and there's some pretty crappy '54s. And there's some good post-CBS guitars and there's some pretty crappy post-CBS guitars. It depends on the guitar and it's own individual quality.
