If Hank had Freeview in 1959, would he have chosen a Jazzmas

[RayL]

One of the Freeview channels shows videos of sixties artists and bands. Flicking through the channels today, I came across Ricky Nelson singing Hello Mary Lou. Who's that on Ricky's left, a-pickin' and a-grinnin? Why, it's James Burton, playing a fender Jazzmaster!

The story goes that Hank wanted a guitar like James Burton "because he played a Fender" and so the Stratocaster was chosen. Now, just supposing Hank had seen that clip . . . . .

Ray

[JimN]

...or, indeed, if he had ever seen a clip of James Burton playing his accustomed Telecaster...

The Stratocaster was chosen out of that 1958 Fender brochure purely on the basis of its looks and the fact that it was (temporarily, as it turned out), with the custom finish and the gold-plating, the current top of the Fender line of instruments.

[anniv 63]

An interesting question but again not available in UK till 1960.
Bruce Welch appears to have had no complaints on the Jazzmaster he used mostly in 1960 ? and would Hank have
tried the JM and created another That Sound alternative.

Mike

[abstamaria]

The parallels between the Ventures and the Shadows are very interesting. In the fall of 1958, when Bob Bogle and Don Wilson decided to upgrade to new, better guitars (from guitars bought at a pawnshop), Bogle wanted a Jazzmaster, but the model owas not yet available in Seattle. He settled for a Stratocaster. Some time later, in 1959, he was finally able to buy a Jazzmaster, and Wilson inherited the Stratocaster, thereby constituting the classic Ventures guitar combo.

Andy

[JimN]

The parallels between the Ventures and the Shadows are very interesting. In about 1959, when Bob Bogel and Don Wilson decided to upgrade to new, better guitars (from guitars bought at a pawnshop), Bogel wanted a Jazzmaster, but the model was not yet available in Seattle. He settled for a Stratocaster. Some time later, he was finally able to buy a Jazzmaster, and Wilson inherited the Stratocaster, thereby constituting the classic Ventures guitar combo.

Interesting.

Since the original Strat with which Don Wilson was pictured was a typical fifties two-colour 'burst model with one-piece maple fretboard, that probably makes it a 1958 instrument or a very early 1959 instrument at the latest. The Jazzmaster originally used by Bob Bogle must have been one of the very earliest production examples. And as it happens, when Nokie Edwards started playing with the group, he was using one of the 1954 style re-designed (Stratocaster-style) Precisions, also in two-colour sunburst with the gold-anodised aluminium pickguard. Those guitars must all have been produced within in a tight time-slot.

[abstamaria]

I checked my notes, Jim, and edited my original post to put in dates. You are right.

When Bob Bogle bought their first Fenders, a Strat for himself and the entry-level Musicmaster for Don Wilson, Bob also bought a Fender Twin Amp, which they probably both plugged into. (Although both were still bricklayers, Bob as a supervisor was making more money than Don.)

In 1959, Bob traded in the Musicmaster for the Jazzmaster. They had met Nokie Edwards by then. Nokie had an almost new Precision Bass. purchased from a pawnshop. Those are the guitars we hear in the original Walk Don't Run, recorded in March 1960.

Andy

[abstamaria]

Bob Bogle and Don Wilson were bricklayers before they played guitar and became the Ventures. Some years after he left the Shadows, Jet Harris worked as a bricklayer, among the other odd jobs he had to take when his fortunes failed. That is quite sad.