Iconic 60’s (but non-Shadows) Guitars

[cockroach]

Andy,

There is plenty of live footage from Cliff's 1960 TV shows where Bruce is using the sunburst Jazzmaster. It may also have been used on records during 1960 whenever he needed to use an electric , before he and Hank got the matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats (mid 1961?)

[JimN]

Andy,

There is plenty of live footage from Cliff's 1960 TV shows where Bruce is using the sunburst Jazzmaster. It may also have been used on records during 1960 whenever he needed to use an electric , before he and Hank got the matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats (mid 1961?)

It is very likely that the rhythm guitar parts on Quatermasster's Stores, FBI, Midnight, Shotgun and Back Home were played on the Jazzmaster.

JN

[Didier]

There is plenty of live footage from Cliff's 1960 TV shows where Bruce is using the sunburst Jazzmaster. It may also have been used on records during 1960 whenever he needed to use an electric , before he and Hank got the matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats (mid 1961?)

According to those various TV footages, Hank and Bruce got their matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats around march or april 1961.

Didier

[GoldenStreet]

Andy,

There is plenty of live footage from Cliff's 1960 TV shows where Bruce is using the sunburst Jazzmaster. It may also have been used on records during 1960 whenever he needed to use an electric , before he and Hank got the matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats (mid 1961?)

It is very likely that the rhythm guitar parts on Quatermasster's Stores, FBI, Midnight, Shotgun and Back Home were played on the Jazzmaster.

JN

It looks like the J200 that Cliff is using, and one can only guess at what is being played in this shot. Maybe the amp in the right forefront could give a clue, but I would imagine it is from around the late 1959-60 period.

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Bill

[JimN]

Andy,

There is plenty of live footage from Cliff's 1960 TV shows where Bruce is using the sunburst Jazzmaster. It may also have been used on records during 1960 whenever he needed to use an electric , before he and Hank got the matching red rosewood fingerboard Strats (mid 1961?)

It is very likely that the rhythm guitar parts on Quatermasster's Stores, FBI, Midnight, Shotgun and Back Home were played on the Jazzmaster.

JN

It looks like the J200 that Cliff is using, and one can only guess at what is being played in this shot. Maybe the amp in the right forefront could give a clue, but I would imagine it is from around the late 1959-60 period.



Bill

The odds against that photo having been taken whilst the tape was rolling must be astronomical. An acoustic guitar would require much better separation for a start.

[cockroach]

I would think photographs of people taken in a studio while they are actually recording wouldn't be permitted...surely it would be too distracting (including use of flashbulbs?) and there could be possible accidental noise which ruins a take?

Most studio photos I've seen would probably be taken between takes? Although there are some of the Shads (in 17 Watts?)which might have been taken whilst they were playing, or perhaps they were just running through an arrangement etc, without the tape running.

I would think Bruce possibly only had the Jazzmaster or his Gretsch for electric guitar use on recordings around that time, plus he usually borrowed Cliff's J200 for acoustic use?

[abstamaria]

Yes, it should have occurred to me, but didn't; the Jazzmaster is the likely rhythm guitar for the pieces before the rosewood-fretboard Stratocasters (when an electric rather than an acoustic was being used).

Since the Shadows didn't very much about Fender guitars when Cliff's Stratocaster was imported, I assume that Bruce's Jazzmaster came after? Also, it seems Bruce was better off than the average guitar player then as he could afford the Jazzmaster, the top-of-the-line Fender at the time. I wonder if he imported this directly. I know little about its history.

Regards,

Andy

[JimN]

Yes, it should have occurred to me, but didn't; the Jazzmaster is the likely rhythm guitar for the pieces before the rosewood-fretboard Stratocasters (when an electric rather than an acoustic was being used). Since the Shadows didn't [know] very much about Fender guitars when Cliff's Stratocaster was imported, I assume that Bruce's Jazzmaster came after? Also, it seems Bruce was better off than the average guitar player then as he could afford the Jazzmaster, the top-of-the-line Fender at the time. I wonder if he imported this directly. I know little about its history.
Andy

There is some genuine room for confusion about this. Bruce has stated (indeed, he told me directly) that the sunburst Jazzmaster was his own property, as was his Gretsch 6120. The story seems to be that he eventually sold the Jazzmaster to Brian Parker of The Hunters, who continued to use it for some time.

But if that is true (and I don't doubt it - Bruce is hardly likely to have sold the property of JMI to Brian Parker), it raises questions about the status of Jet's first Precision - the sunburst example. Did it belong to Jet? Or was it a loan instrument which arrived in the nick of time to save the day when the neck of Jet's Framus bass was damaged in a dressing-room accident? Or was it only the red bass (spring 1961) which, along with the two red Strats, was the first loan instrument?

After all, why would Jet get a loan instrument whilst Bruce and Hank didn't?

Or why would Bruce and Jet get loan instruments (Precision and Jazzmaster) but not Hank, who was to continue using Cliff's Strat?

[cockroach]

If the only bass that Jet had at one point was the Framus, which then got broken, then somebody must have procured the sunburst Precision for him very soon after, as he evidently had no instrument at all and they had ongoing gigs..who knows? It may have been a loan from JMI, or maybe the management bought it for him. Then maybe their management did the JMI deal for the Vox amps and the matching red instuments..

Thinking about it, at one time or other, in the group or solo, they used almost every available model of Fender guitar and bass!

I can think of.....Strats(Hank and Bruce, and Jet years later), Jazzmaster(Bruce), Jaguar (Jet) , Tele (Bruce) Precisions (Jet, Lic), Jazz bass (Lic and John) and Bass VI (Jet and later, Hank...)

There were also various Gibson and Martin acoustics(one Martin with a built-in DeArmond pickup- Bruce), and electric hollowbody Gretsches (Hank and Bruce, and Jet on the Diamonds recording (tuned down to D)

Then the Burns guitars, basses and 12 string guitar...

How am I doing so far, JimN??

[Didier]

Obviously, Bruce dropped the Jaguar when he and Hank got the matched pair of rosewood neck Strats in march or april 1961, but did he owned it and sold it then, or was it on loan. The answer remains to be found !

Didier