The ShadowMusic Web Community

... in the USA:



JN

I think Willie Nelson also played a Baldwin thinbody semi electric in the mid '60's (when he was a clean shaven and 'normal' looking country singer/songwriter with short hair!)before he started using 'Trigger' (which is a Martin N20 classical with a Baldwin piezo pickup which he plays through the Baldwin amp, which they brought out about then, and which he was still using when I saw him about 10 years ago, which had inputs for a both normal electric guitar and a piezo acoustic pickup- Chet Atkins also used one of these Baldwin electric nylon string classical guitas with the same pickup and amp- this was some years before Ovation piezo guitars, and Gibson also had the Bossa Nova cutaway nylon string classical with a piezo bridge pickup in the mid '60's)

The Baldwin 700 series had metal knobs with a narrow skirt, so it looks as if the bass-player's 704 has had a change to white plastic with a wider skirt. If that bass is still around, the original red colour will have probably faded by now to the same shade as is shown in the very faded clip. The reds were very prone to this whereas the sunbursts have lasted well.

Ray

Always liked the American Breed version as, I thought, distinctly different from Amen Corner's but just as good. However this is the first time I've seen footage of them with the Baldwin guitars. Love the bass player's stage act, a cross between The Shadows and Village People.

... and the standing, trumpeting drummer! Wonder who's playing trumpet at the start?

Bill

cockroach wrote:I think Willie Nelson also played a Baldwin thinbody semi electric in the mid '60's (when he was a clean shaven and 'normal' looking country singer/songwriter with short hair!)

Way back when!

Bill

From a Baldwin brochure c.1966-67, but with no price quotes - there probably was a separate price list now long since lost!

Bill

If I recall correctly, the 1967 RRP on the Baldwin Vibraslim (with short Rez-O-Tube and stacked pickups with a secondary coil which could be brought into circuit by the "Density" control), was 127 guineas (£133 / 7s / 0d or £133.35).

In those days, the RRP was what you expected to pay. Discounting didn't really start until the early 1970s.

JN

Confirmaing Jim's recollection, both the Vibraslim guitar and bass were priced at 127gns. The top price in 1967 was for the Marvin guitar (150gns). The Shadows Bass and the Bison guitar came next at 141gns.

Ray

I remember HIRING a Vibraslim bass for a few gigs in 1980, before I managed to persuade my dad to lend me the money for a new Precision copy. Of course in those days, it was just an old bass rather than a collectors item. It was lying around in my local music shop and he couldn't sell it so he hired it to me instead!