Funkytown Amp Settings

Original Gear

Guitar

Schecter Stratocaster-style (rented from Knute Koupe music shop in Minneapolis) — per forum-sourced insider account; alternate claim references a 'Lestocaster' (Les Paul body / Strat neck hybrid) built by guitarist Tom Riopelle

Pickups

Stock Schecter/Fender-style single-coils (estimated) (bridge+middle)

Amplifier

Likely DI (direct-injected) into the Sound 80 console with studio compression; if miked, most probably a Fender Twin Reverb (85W, 2x12) — the Chic/Nile Rodgers disco standard of the era

Channel

Clean channel (Normal or Vibrato)

Tuning

standard (E A D G B E)

Pickup Selector

bridge+middle

Strings

Unknown (likely 0.009-0.042 or 0.010-0.046, standard for late-1970s funk/disco rhythm work)

Recorded at Sound 80 Studios Studio 2, Minneapolis (same room used for Dylan's Blood on the Tracks), engineered by David 'Z' Rivkin. Forum listening analysis from pro-audio sources describes the guitar as sounding 'direct into the console, compressed, double-tracked, with a short delay pan.' Amp vs DI is not documented in any interview or liner note.

Amp Settings

Playing Technique

Tight 16th-note muted rhythm strumming ('chicken-scratch' disco/funk technique) with a light wrist-driven attack, palm- and fretting-hand muting producing a percussive 'tick' rather than sustained chords. Played with a thin pick (~.60mm) for bright attack. Locked to the drum-machine grid around 124 BPM, 4/4 time. Voicings sit mostly on a Cm/Cm7 vamp with small barre shapes in the 3rd-fret region, likely only 3-4 strings struck. The rhythm part was double-tracked and panned hard left and right for width.