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I heard "On The Beach" recently and was reminded of how well-recorded it was - for me, it's a much tougher, in-your-face sound than some of their previous records. Brian's drums are really upfront, there's some really deep bass coming through at certain points (was this Licorice playing?) and of course the rich sound of the Burns Double Six.

Now here's the thing. I had always assumed that Hank's use of the Double Six was influenced in some way by George Harrison's use of the Rickenbacker 360-12 on 'A Hard Day's Night'. I was therefore surprised to read that the songs for Wonderful Life were recorded in November 1963 and there is a separate posting on this forum which states that Hank acquired the Double Six before the Burns Marvin went into production. I wonder if it was to enable him to play Don't Talk To Him live - I've always heard that riff as being two 6-strings playing an octave apart.

I'm probably stating something very obvious here so please be a bit patient with me but it seems that Hank should really get some credit as a pioneer of the electric 12 string in the UK. It's just unfortunate that 'On The Beach' came out in the UK after 'A Hard Day's Night'.

(I almost bought a reissue Double Six once - incredible sound but such a formidable guitar in terms of size and weight. I have an Eastwood Sidejack baritone that is almost comparable in size!)

If you mean a solid body 12 string electric or similar, then Hank was probably the first in the UK to use one..

However, there were a few people back then using acoustic 12 string guitars with a pickup, including Tom Springfield..(Mike Hurst had a Martin electric jumbo with 2 pickups)- see attached photo..probably from late '62/early '63..although the article states they were on Benny Hill's TV show in November 1961..not sure if the photo is from that actual show?

http://benny-hill.wikia.com/wiki/The_Springfields

IIRC, the first Double Six which Hank had was the first model with the bass strings...Bert Weedon also mentioned he was trying out a new guitar with bass strings and normal strings around that time, and I suspect he either also owned one or had tried/played one..I think the Burns 12 with 'normal' string setup came after the bass string model?

The first 12 string of any type that I ever heard was the acoustic one prominently featured on the American record Walk Right In by the Rooftop Singers earlier in 1963..

Some of the earliest commercially available 12 string electrics were introduced by Danelectro in the USA in 1961 or so.

Incidentally, the concept of a 12 string guitar with bass and normal guitar strings doubled in six courses (pairs in this case) wasn't a new idea when the Burns Double Twelve was first made.

The Mexican acoustic instrument (the bajo sexto) was also a 12 string with low tuning and had been around there since earlier in the 20th century. Some players later added a soundhole pickup for amplification.

There's a clip of Hank playing On The Beach on his Double Six from the 1970 series of It's Cliff Richard on YouTube. If you keep watching, Hank sings Peggy Sue with his Burns Marvin as part of their rock 'n' roll medley. Not great quality but worth a watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsZn1079OWQ

I believe Don't Talk to Him (recorded October 13, 1963) was the first Cliff and Shadows use of the Burns Double Six. The NME did a Cliff feature around that time and it referred to Hank having problems with a new guitar at the Don't Talk to Him session.

Yes, Licorice was the On the Beach bass player.

On the Beach was released two weeks before A Hard Day's Night.

There was a lengthy discussion here about Tom Springfield's Stan Francis 12-string jumbo a few years ago.

Stan died about seven years ago. He was a Liverpool-based custom maker, who produced guitars (six and twelve-strings) for Tom, Pete Seeger, Lonnie Donegan and The Spinners.

strongbow wrote:I believe Don't Talk to Him (recorded October 13, 1963) was the first Cliff and Shadows use of the Burns Double Six. The NME did a Cliff feature around that time and it referred to Hank having problems with a new guitar at the Don't Talk to Him session.

...although it sounds like a Double Six (normal stringing) it was in fact two six-strings (presumably Strats) recorded to sound like a 12-string. Stuart Duffy told me this about 35 years ago. There's one place (towards the end, I think) where one of the guitars comes in half a beat after the other one.

Thanks very much for all your replies - very interesting stuff. I didn't realise that the original Double Six was fitted with bass strings! I'm just trying to imagine what that must have felt like to play. I'm also thinking about what Hank plays on OTB and I'm even more impressed with the man. I'm pretty sure those are barre chords on the intro - even if they're not, there's quite a few changes in there. Then there's the solo where he's bending strings. The guy must have had calluses of steel.There are also some really deep bass notes which I can only assume is the result of Hank and Licorice both hitting their low E at the same time. (Sorry I've never tried to play the song - yet! - so I don't know what key it's in).

I heard that moment in Don't Talk To Him as well - where the guitars are momentarily out of sync. Up until then, I also thought it was a twelve string.

I have a Danelectro twelve string and it's a lovely guitar. I also have a Vintage Gordon Giltrap electro-acoustic 12 and it is gorgeous.

No mention of Hank, of course, but this piece by Frank Allen from the Searchers official website (ref. Mike Pender) is his version of the UK history of the electric 12-string... quite interesting in its way...

http://www.the-searchers.co.uk/ricky.htm

Bill

MartinC wrote:Thanks very much for all your replies - very interesting stuff. I didn't realise that the original Double Six was fitted with bass strings! I'm just trying to imagine what that must have felt like to play. I'm also thinking about what Hank plays on OTB and I'm even more impressed with the man. I'm pretty sure those are barre chords on the intro - even if they're not, there's quite a few changes in there. Then there's the solo where he's bending strings. The guy must have had calluses of steel.There are also some really deep bass notes which I can only assume is the result of Hank and Licorice both hitting their low E at the same time. (Sorry I've never tried to play the song - yet! - so I don't know what key it's in).

I heard that moment in Don't Talk To Him as well - where the guitars are momentarily out of sync. Up until then, I also thought it was a twelve string.

I have a Danelectro twelve string and it's a lovely guitar. I also have a Vintage Gordon Giltrap electro-acoustic 12 and it is gorgeous.

The original Double Six must indeed have been a difficult beast to play...a few players used them as a bass...Eric Haydock of the Hollies, and IIRC, the bass player of Them also got one for a bass.

BTW Has anyone here on this site ever actually seen and/or played one?