The ShadowMusic Web Community

neil2726 wrote:I seem to recall reading that the black plastic trim was added on the original Marvins as Hank kept getting the sleeve buttons on his stage jackets caught under the trem plate!

That was my understanding as well Neil, indeed he used to turn up his sleeve on his right arm. Can’t remember which publication it was in.

Here's a quote from "The Shadows Story 1962 - 1969 The Burns Era" by Dag Johnson (taken from The Shadows - The Burns Years, a publication - I believe - by Tony Hoffman). The article also appeared in Per Gjorde's "Pearls and Crazy Diamonds" book.

"Hank did have some problems with this (keeping his guitars in tune) in the mid-1960s...Hank realised that it was the buttons on his coat which got under the vibrato plate when he used the vibrato arm. It was even possible to see the marks the button had made. Jim made a tiny adjustment and the problem was solved."

I don't think this is connected to the piece of black plastic trim, which - as Jim said above - is purely cosmetic. I've never seen a prototype of the Marvin without that black bit of trim.