Hank's Guitar Preference

[Twangaway]

Well I never knew Bruce was having problems with his Strats ? What do we know as that problem today in hindsight ?
Why do you think Hank favors the old Strat ? because he is free to choose without Bruce influence anymore, and why has Bruce been happy as a daisy to be playing Strats again ? Is it because his is now worth it's weight in gold . So many interesting revelations.

Thanks for the info

[dusty fretz]

Bruce is blessed (cursed?) with an exceptionally good ear and was having major intonation-based tuning troubles with his Strat back in the '60s, so much so that he was convinced the frets had been positioned incorrectly. Other examples were presumably perceived to suffer the same flaw, so an alternative had to be found, hence Burns to the rescue! Mr. Welch was seemingly happier with the Marvin, but took further steps to solve the problem by eventually letting John Rostill tune his guitar. Perhaps the whole situation was a symptom of the stress Bruce was suffering at the time, because, as you say, these days he's more than content to strum Strats again, including Hank's original of course.

Regarding the latter being worth its weight in gold, it depends how you view vintage value. In terms of historical importance to Shadows fans and sheer artist association, this example would naturally command a severely stiff price tag, but when seen simply as an old Strat that's been re-finished more than once, re-plated and probably undergone a few other changes along the way, its monetary worth on the open market must be significantly less!

[Twangaway]

It does not come as any surprise to me about Bruce and his intonation issues. Much of us encounter same problems am sure, particularly if you are playing chords as for rhythm. Only difference is that Bruce like Hank too, probably liked to experiment and messed with chord options such as the inversions. As we all know there is nothing worse than a guitar chord strummed where one string let alone two are slightly out. Correct it only to find another chord in a different position is now out where it was OK before. Even with electronic tuners, even a rogue string could make a difference. In his days they probably never had guitar techies, so like Hank he probably has his own too and all it ever needed was TLC. I blame Fender for probably putting out guitars with less quality control once they were hitting high volume production with bridge saddles incorrectly positioned common with many out of the factory guitars.

It's a shame not many shop sales guitarists realize that tweaking a guitar could improve a sale prospect. Of course some do that in quiet spells in the shop, but like Curry's and Comets of this world, I always cringed when I looked at tellies in the shops that were anything but perfect pictures on their display models. For a laugh I would sometimes kill some time and tweak them myself and when challenged would use the excuse " you don't expect me to buy this TV on the strength of the picture displayed which was rubbish ?, just need to see if it is correctable via the menu " LOL and the guy would look at me and say thanks mate, it's like a different tellie.

I guess many guys buy guitars on basic instinct that it sounds right and maybe because it just happened to be perfect in intonation. That to me would stand out as tempting and distract me from the guitar's tone and sway me to get out my dosh as nothing is sweeter than a guitar that plays perfectly wherever you go on the neck.

David

[Bojan]

What an interesting discussion !!

[dusty fretz]

Due to the instrument's inherent design, it's impossible for any guitar to play perfectly in tune at every position. This little nugget of information is naturally common knowledge these days, but it wasn't necessarily the case some 50 years ago and could cause a lot of grief, especially to someone like Bruce, who could hear discrepancies but couldn't cure them. These days things are certainly easier, with greater awareness and abilities regarding guitar set-up techniques, along with the appropriate tools and people to do the job if necessary. In other words, knowing that compromise is required and how best to do it makes a lot of difference to one's mental well-being!

[neil2726]

A case of "what if" ? The Marvin was designed to Hanks ( and Bruces) specification and he continued to use them long after Burns went under, so he must have been happy with them at that point. He only reverted back to a Strat following the theft of the Burns. There were no more Burns available and Strats were available off the shelf. What if the Burns had not been stolen - would he have returned to a Strat? What if Burns had continued in business, would they have continued to modify the Marvin to Hanks tastes? Would he still be using them today?

[Twangaway]

I think, the answer is self evident, as we now have the re emergence of the beautiful Burns guitars probably better sounding than the originals, but seemingly no longer the axe of choice. Strats forever eh ?

[cockroach]

Not necessarily Strats forever for Hank these days- more like Django style 'gypsy jazz' acoustic guitars....

I bet his Strats are mainly 'under the bed' now the final tours have finished!

[Twangaway]

I must admit I admire Hanks hobby in this style of music and mucking in and seeing where it takes him. It's a life changing vocation I am sure and Strat playing and recording is more of a 9-5 recording bread and butter thing, like BB with his composing and scoring.

I bet Hank will eventually be revered and respected for a great Gypsy styled guitarist and no longer be viewed as that guy with glasses who plays echo type guitar sounds. OK in it's day but 50 years on am sure Hank sees more challenges in pursuing a contrasting and more gratifying role of more serious and an artistic genre music.

Go for it Hank

[Didier]

I bet Hank will eventually be revered and respected for a great Gypsy styled guitarist and no longer be viewed as that guy with glasses who plays echo type guitar sounds.

Hank was an innovator when he created his unique echo sound playing that all Shadows' fans love, but he is only a follower in gypsy guitar style playing, which is now more a hobby for him than a career evolution. His playing skills in this style will never match the best ones...
Just watch Bireli Lagrene when he was still a kid : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJVYmcW4xcs

Didier