abstamaria wrote:The parallels between the Ventures and the Shadows are very interesting. In about 1959, when Bob Bogel and Don Wilson decided to upgrade to new, better guitars (from guitars bought at a pawnshop), Bogel wanted a Jazzmaster, but the model was not yet available in Seattle. He settled for a Stratocaster. Some time later, he was finally able to buy a Jazzmaster, and Wilson inherited the Stratocaster, thereby constituting the classic Ventures guitar combo.
Interesting.
Since the original Strat with which Don Wilson was pictured was a typical fifties two-colour 'burst model with one-piece maple fretboard, that probably makes it a 1958 instrument or a very early 1959 instrument at the latest. The Jazzmaster originally used by Bob Bogle must have been one of the very earliest production examples. And as it happens, when Nokie Edwards started playing with the group, he was using one of the 1954 style re-designed (Stratocaster-style) Precisions, also in two-colour sunburst with the gold-anodised aluminium pickguard. Those guitars must all have been produced within in a tight time-slot.