Hank Marvin/Shadows Custom Shop Stratocasters

[David Martin]

If I remember rightly, Zoe's guitar is, in fact, the 40th which was ordered by Patrick Terrett, and supplied through Cranes of Cardiff. Apparently, at the time, other Fender dealers were annoyed that The Fling Pig seemed to have exclusive rights to this guitar (so it wasn't the equivalent of Dealer Select then?) and Cranes supplied at least this one, and Peter Cooks another two... at lower prices than Flying Pig. I remember Patrick expressing his disappointment in the guitar when it arrived and thus, I surmise, his willingness to have it customised for Zoe...

[bgohara]

Hi Everyone,

Many thanks for your support in our dispute with the E-Bay seller. The offending material has now been removed from the item description on E-Bay, so I have re-instated the item on my website.

Members of the forum are once again able to download the free PDF. The original link is now functional again, but is repeated here ..

http://www.mountain-images.co.uk/shadows/shadows-fender-facts.html

Ian - just downloaded it to have a look. Fascinating stuff - thanks for all your hard work - and for making this available in pdf (for free) - greatly appreciated.
Bernie

[bgohara]

Hi Geoff

I can't really add anything to Ian's explanation. In the early stages of the project we did discuss whether the other Signature models should be included but decided against it for the reasons Ian has so eloquently set out.

With regard to the 40th Anniversary strap, here is a photograph. The Custom Shop and Hank signature logos were picked out in gold leaf but, as you can see, it had worn quite badly on my strap. Since the photograph was taken I've painstakingly touched in the gold leaf and it looks much better now. However, to be honest, I'm not to keen on the strap because it is very wide and the leather is very stiff and rigid which makes attaching and detaching it very difficult. Incidentally, I note that the photograph of the strap on Hank's guitar no. 00 currently adverised on eBay shows a Fender logo which mine and, I assume, the others in the production models for retail do not have.

Hank_Strap.jpg

Cheers.

Tony

Tony - I think that Hank is wearing his strap in one of the photos taken for the 'Marvin at the Movies' album - which I think (from memory) is also reprinted in the 2000 tour brochure. I remember seeing the strap and wondering what it was
Bernie

[bgohara]

Hi Again,

Things are progressing and from the number of people who have pledged support to get this guy to withdraw our work from his description, we might get a result yet .. Thanks to all. Tony and I are considering making this work available again once this particular issue has been resolved.

Charlie Hall has made an interesting comment, saying that he thinks he was present when this guitar was given to Hank. If it is the same guitar, then Hank's immediate response to using it was that he didn't like the neck edges - the strings had a habit of 'falling off'. That would explain why it is only lightly marked - which is not what you would have expected had it been in regular use on the 2004 tour.

At some time in the past, someone did say that they knew the serial numbers of Hank's regular Strats. Surely someone here must have had access to that information through friendship with one of Hank's guitar techies ?

I don't know about Hank using it on the 2004 tour - but I do know that he holds it and demonstrates it in an interview he did for a DVD which came out around that time - think it was called 'the Stratocaster Legend' - I have it at home - it's the one where Dick Dale is also featured. There was also a short 'taster' DVD / enhanced CD of this which came with Guitarist magazine around that time. He demonstrates the led lights and mentions the ruby etc.

Can't quite remember the details but do remember seeing it on stage on a stand for maybe the 1998 and 2000 tours before the show. I'm pretty sure that Hank used it for at least one number (one of the rock'n'roll medleys?) and then (possibly) for oxygene which came straight after. He definitely used it for at least one of these numbers though - I remember it because the neck was quite light in colour compared to the others - and highly figured.

Bernie

[ScouserJoe]

Hi Bernie,

Yes, I know the DVD to which you refer .. it is "The Stratocaster Legend". I took quite a long look at this interview when we put together our Custom Shop Fact Sheet PDF because it is very interesting what Hank says about the body colour of the 40th Anniversary. He remarks that the 40th Anniversary guitar is "the right colour too" while pointing at the instrument and looking into camera. However ... he and Bruce also are firm in their belief that the new 50th Anniversary guitar is "the right colour" too. Yet, when you see them, the two colours are miles apart. It's something we made great efforts to illustrate on our fact sheet. It goes to prove that you can never rely on memory to reproduce a colour.

The quickest way to identify the 40th Anniversary from the other signature guitars is to look at the bridge, which is the vintage type as opposed to the modern type on the Signature and Autograph. You cannot always use body colour or neck colour and patterning to differentiate because the Autograph - which is the newer modified hybrid of the Signature - is lighter in colour than the Signature both in the body and the neck. The neck patterning, colour and extent are quite similar on the 40th and the Autograph.

Check out our PDF for more information.

[Tone]

H Bernie

Thanks for the info' in your post #33. I have the 2000 tour brochure and I've just dug it out. You're quite right - some of the photographs were used for the tray and booklet of the "Marvin at the Movies" album.

There are some excellent photographs of the Signature and 40th Anniversary Strats and, to my mind, the most accurate colourwise is the inside full page one of Hank holding the 40th (opposite another full page one of Hank and Cliff together).

There are several photographs in the brochure which show the strap clearly but there are, in fact, three different ones: one with the Fender logo I referred to previously (which I assume, is the one with 00 on eBay), one with the HBM signature (like mine) and a third which has an oval brown or gold logo (the picture is not clear enough to make it out). I daeresay we could all go one forever about which straps Hank used on which guitars - I don't remember the topic cropping up on these forums before!

Incidentally, while I was looking for the photos I found the "Guitar Player" brochure and there are some superb photographs of Hank's Signature Strat in there (or is it an Autograph?)

I'm off to get my anorak!

Cheers.

Tony

[bgohara]

H Bernie

Thanks for the info' in your post #33. I have the 2000 tour brochure and I've just dug it out. You're quite right - some of the photographs were used for the tray and booklet of the "Marvin at the Movies" album.

There are some excellent photographs of the Signature and 40th Anniversary Strats and, to my mind, the most accurate colourwise is the inside full page one of Hank holding the 40th (opposite another full page one of Hank and Cliff together).

There are several photographs in the brochure which show the strap clearly but there are, in fact, three different ones: one with the Fender logo I referred to previously (which I assume, is the one with 00 on eBay), one with the HBM signature (like mine) and a third which has an oval brown or gold logo (the picture is not clear enough to make it out). I daeresay we could all go one forever about which straps Hank used on which guitars - I don't remember the topic cropping up on these forums before!

Incidentally, while I was looking for the photos I found the "Guitar Player" brochure and there are some superb photographs of Hank's Signature Strat in there (or is it an Autograph?)

I'm off to get my anorak!

Cheers.

Tony

Tony - I think a few of us could be considered 'anoraks'. In fact, I'm so far gone, I might even start shopping in Maplin!

Re the straps - yes, I remembered the special '40th' one with Hank's signature from the Marvin at the Movies album - but I don't remember him actually ever using that one. I do remember him using a nice thick black one with a red, round fender logo - in fact I think he still uses these. I also seem to remember Warren and Ben being kitted out with these as well on tour but I could be mistaken. I remember seeing them one year at Shadowmania on one of the stalls - they were going for £35 - so I bought one. It's a really comfortable strap - it's well padded - so I can understand why Hank uses them. Have never really seen them for sale elsewhere, though maybe I haven't looked hard enough!

Expensive for a strap - but well worth it.

Bernie

[David Martin]

But I believe Hank has vintage bridges retrofitted to the Sig and Autograph guitars he uses... and, of course, Kinmans.

[Graylion]

Thanks S-J but...erm..I've just downloaded the pdf with no difficulties - it's purely for my own interest and goes with my collection of guitar data. I haven't looked for the offending eBay item yet. Just as a lighthearted comment - shame none of the guitars are pink enough! The bottom 2 on the pdf are closest but need to be lighter. Still, as the French say "Chacun a son gout".
Cheers, Lionel

[ScouserJoe]

Just as a lighthearted comment - shame none of the guitars are pink enough! The bottom 2 on the pdf are closest but need to be lighter.

As a 'lighthearted' reply, I assume therefore that you own both a 40th and a 50th Anniversary to be able to compare with the pictures and make a direct comparison in midday light ?? .

I should point out that in the 'Additional Comments' section of the notes we do say that the body colours on the PDF file will never appear to be accurate on everyone's computer monitor. They were intended to show the differences in colour, not necessarily the actual colours. That said, the printed versions are very close indeed. Both Tony and I have compared the final images on the printed version that we produced with the actual guitars themselves and we are satisfied that they are as close as you could get them bearing in mind that you are comparing ink on paper against paint on wood !!