It's never too late............
Posted: 11 Jun 2022, 15:52
Hello! I’ve recently joined this forum and as a bit of a gear-a-holic I’ve spent a lot of time reading all of the posts on the gear message board.
I was born in ’54 and can still remember the joy of hearing Apache and later Shadows tunes on the radio. Even at that age I was already a Cliff fan and I still have the 7 inch singles of Living Doll and Travelling Light that were bought for me but it was The Shadows that really got me excited. Owning a guitar was, for me, out of the question in those days but the next best thing was getting a guitar catalogue from the local music shop and I spent more time looking at that than I did my Rupert Annual. From what I can remember it was mainly big bodied semi’s.
My first guitar was a Hofner Verithin in Cherry Red with a factory fitted Bigsby and I will always regret having sold it for a succession of Japanese copies of Gibson guitars in the ‘70s. My amp was a Bird Golden Eagle. However, I sold all of my gear when I got married in the belief that I would not be needing it any more. How wrong could I be!
I started my current collection just over 30 years ago and in that time I have amassed far more guitars, pedals and amps than I could ever justify under cross examination! Most of it has been acquired over the past 10 years since I took early retirement and have had more time on my hands. I’ve played in a couple of short lived bands playing mainly ‘70s rock and Chicago Blues.
The strange thing is that despite being a Shadows fan for just about all of my life I had never played any of their music………..until now.
Over the last couple of years I had fallen out of love with the guitar and until a couple of months ago I had not played one since October last year. For the last 17 years I have played tenor banjo in a band playing Traditional Irish Folk Music. We do a few songs (pub favourites like Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band, Whiskey In The Jar etc.) but mainly instrumental tunes (jigs, reels, hornpipes and polkas). So I still had a musical interest to keep me occupied.
However, in late April things took a sudden and unexpected turn when I was searching for something to watch on TV and in the listings I spotted The Shadows final tour film on Sky Arts. That was the spark I needed to re-ignite my love affair with the guitar and I decided there and then that I would start learning Shadows tunes. I am probably enjoying playing the guitar more now than ever before. A good friend I have known since childhood has played semi-pro for the past 50 years and includes many Shadows tunes in his repertoire and when I broke the news to him I said I was looking forward to learning the tunes but would not be chasing tone and anyway, I had everything that was needed to get “close enough”. A clean amp (my Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue does that) an echo/delay pedal (I’ve got a couple of those) and a Stratocaster (yep, I’ve got some of those as well).
So here we are less than 2 months on and I have a brand new Fender FSR Strat in Fiesta Red and maple neck (Guitar Guitar exclusive) and a Baby Blue Tape Echo Pedal. After seeing something on Youtube I am using my Boss GE-7 EQ pedal to help make my Fender amp sound like a passable imitation of a Vox and in my good ear (singular!) it sounds ok to me. So why, last week, did I buy on eBay a Vox AC15CC1? Unfortunately, when I went to collect it it had a very intrusive reverb hum so I did not complete the purchase. But it’s probably only a matter of time before a Vox amp joins my collection. The AC10C1 looks nice and I quite like the look of a Strymon Volante but I’m getting ahead of myself now.
I live in North Somerset and my local club appears to be The South West Shadows Club in Exeter so once I’ve got a few more tunes under my belt I’ll probably get in touch with a view to joining.
I was born in ’54 and can still remember the joy of hearing Apache and later Shadows tunes on the radio. Even at that age I was already a Cliff fan and I still have the 7 inch singles of Living Doll and Travelling Light that were bought for me but it was The Shadows that really got me excited. Owning a guitar was, for me, out of the question in those days but the next best thing was getting a guitar catalogue from the local music shop and I spent more time looking at that than I did my Rupert Annual. From what I can remember it was mainly big bodied semi’s.
My first guitar was a Hofner Verithin in Cherry Red with a factory fitted Bigsby and I will always regret having sold it for a succession of Japanese copies of Gibson guitars in the ‘70s. My amp was a Bird Golden Eagle. However, I sold all of my gear when I got married in the belief that I would not be needing it any more. How wrong could I be!
I started my current collection just over 30 years ago and in that time I have amassed far more guitars, pedals and amps than I could ever justify under cross examination! Most of it has been acquired over the past 10 years since I took early retirement and have had more time on my hands. I’ve played in a couple of short lived bands playing mainly ‘70s rock and Chicago Blues.
The strange thing is that despite being a Shadows fan for just about all of my life I had never played any of their music………..until now.
Over the last couple of years I had fallen out of love with the guitar and until a couple of months ago I had not played one since October last year. For the last 17 years I have played tenor banjo in a band playing Traditional Irish Folk Music. We do a few songs (pub favourites like Wild Rover, Black Velvet Band, Whiskey In The Jar etc.) but mainly instrumental tunes (jigs, reels, hornpipes and polkas). So I still had a musical interest to keep me occupied.
However, in late April things took a sudden and unexpected turn when I was searching for something to watch on TV and in the listings I spotted The Shadows final tour film on Sky Arts. That was the spark I needed to re-ignite my love affair with the guitar and I decided there and then that I would start learning Shadows tunes. I am probably enjoying playing the guitar more now than ever before. A good friend I have known since childhood has played semi-pro for the past 50 years and includes many Shadows tunes in his repertoire and when I broke the news to him I said I was looking forward to learning the tunes but would not be chasing tone and anyway, I had everything that was needed to get “close enough”. A clean amp (my Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue does that) an echo/delay pedal (I’ve got a couple of those) and a Stratocaster (yep, I’ve got some of those as well).
So here we are less than 2 months on and I have a brand new Fender FSR Strat in Fiesta Red and maple neck (Guitar Guitar exclusive) and a Baby Blue Tape Echo Pedal. After seeing something on Youtube I am using my Boss GE-7 EQ pedal to help make my Fender amp sound like a passable imitation of a Vox and in my good ear (singular!) it sounds ok to me. So why, last week, did I buy on eBay a Vox AC15CC1? Unfortunately, when I went to collect it it had a very intrusive reverb hum so I did not complete the purchase. But it’s probably only a matter of time before a Vox amp joins my collection. The AC10C1 looks nice and I quite like the look of a Strymon Volante but I’m getting ahead of myself now.
I live in North Somerset and my local club appears to be The South West Shadows Club in Exeter so once I’ve got a few more tunes under my belt I’ll probably get in touch with a view to joining.