Patrick James Eggle, Discus 5 String Guitar, 2001

Tabs

Specifications
Builder: 
Patrick James Eggle
Model: 
Discus 5 String Guitar
Year: 
2001
The Story Behind

 

About the Builder:

In 2000 Patrick James Eggle began a collaboration with Michael Stockwell to market a range of jazz guitars under the name PATRICK JAMES EGGLE and a total of fifty guitars were built. During the same period twenty PATRICK JAMES EGGLE “DISCUS” electric guitars were built. An article on the Discus appeared in the Guitarist magazine April 2003. 

Patrick James Eggle made the Discus guitar as a tribute to Tony Zemaitis. The guitar features engraving by Danny O'Brien on all of the metal parts. The artwork was designed by John Goode of Marvell comics. The pick ups were made by Jim Rolph. The instruments have been inspired by the Zemaitis Disc front. Patrick build all those guitars in his U.K. workshop.

He moved to the USA in 2003 during which time he continued to build and sell a range of guitars under his name PATRICK JAMES EGGLE, in particular a range of acoustic guitars.

About the Guitar:

Only very few Discus 5 String were made.

In Guitar Player, March 2005, you can read about the origine of 5 String guitar playing:

In addition to being the poster child for rockers with attitude, Keith Richards is one of the greatest rhythm guitarists ever to strap on a 6-string. Or more accurately, a 5-string. Richards crafts many of his most memorable riffs using a modified open-G tuning, which involves removing his sixth string and tuning strings 5-1 to G, D, G, B, D.

“The whole idea of getting rid of the sixth string in the open tuning was having the root on the bottom,” he told GP’s Tom Wheeler in 1983. “You can get a drone going, so you have the effect of two chords playing against each other. One hangs on because you’ve just got to move one finger—or two at the most—to change the chord, so you’ve still got the other strings ringing. It’s a big sound.”

To get a handle on Richards open-G riffage, try Ex. 1, a two-bar phrase inspired by the intro to “Brown Sugar.” Bar 2 features an essential “Keef” voicing, Fadd2. An amalgam of F and C major triads, this is the grip Richards’ describes as “two chords playing against each other.”

Distilled from key moves Richards plays in “Start Me Up,” Ex. 2 revisits the interplay between C and Fadd2 we encountered in the previous example, and also includes a classic R&B pattern. This Bb5-Bb6-Bb5 shift ties Richards to his greatest hero, Chuck Berry, who used such chunky sounds to power many hits, including “Roll Over Beethoven,” “Johnny B. Goode,” and “Memphis, Tennessee.”

Open G isn’t limited to churning rhythm riffs. Spun from the country-fried licks Richards plays in the intro to “Honky Tonk Women,” Ex. 3 illustrates the tuning’s melodic side. The droning first string provides a backdrop for the twangy bends, releases, and seesaw pentatonic line.

In terms of tone, Richards favors a blend of grit and chime. “I’ve always found that a really good distortion needs to come from two different places. You want some distortion and some clarity at the same time where you need it, so I’d rather put my guitar through two amps and overload one of them.”

The first one of the Discus 5 String guitars has a Pirate inspired theme with a skull engraved on the disc.

The second of the Discus 5 String guitars has a dragon theme engraved on the disc.

As with all Discus guitars engraving was done by Danny O'Brien on all of the metal parts and the artwork was designed by John Goode.

If you have any questions, please contact us