More Thoughts on Red Guitars

[Gatwick1946]

The history of Hank's first Strat is pretty well documented. But why red?

The story goes that Hank liked the sound of James Burton on Rick Nelson records, and assumed that Burton would play the most expensive guitar in the Fender catalogue, the red Strat with gold plated hardware. This indicates that there were no photos to hand of Burton with his guitar. But on the cover of the Crickets LP they are shown holding a sunburst Strat. Hank was a big Buddy Holly fan so why did he not opt for a sunburst model?

Was it that red was a custom colour and, unlike sunburst, more expensive? Could this be why may other guitarists also opted for sunburst?

When the Red Strat arrived Bruce and Jet admired it and also decided to equip themselves with Fenders. Did they have to order from the catalogue, or had the import ban on American guitars now been lifted and they could browse the Tottenham Court Road music stores? Jet opted for a sunburst Precision Bass. Did he prefer this or was there no custom option to order one in red?

Bruce chose to use a sunburst Jazzmaster. Had he had the opportunity to try one out, and preferred it to the Strat? Did Bruce and Jet have to buy their own guitars at that point, until later they were supplied by Fender? I am sure that I read somewhere that Bruce later sold his Jazzmaster. Is its whereabouts now known? Interesting that rival band the Fentones chose white fenders, a Strat, a Tele and a Jazz bass.

So were the intial colours produced by Fender only a limited range, and it was only in later years that red in all its variations become the favourite in the UK? When he had to replace his guitars after the Burns were stolen, even Hank gave up on red and chose cream, later resprayed black.

Regards
Christopher

[JimN]

From conversation with people in the early sixties retail trade (who were there at the height of the instrumental and beat booms), it seems that if you wanted a quality American guitar, you more or less had to have whatever the shop had in stock, or order something specific and wait... This is part of the reason why people would use Gretsches, Gibsons, Guilds, etc, as well as the Holy Grail Fenders.

This "import ban"... did it really happen as described (other than during WW2 and the austerity period of the late 1940s)?

Selmer London imported Gibson guitars during 1950s. Jennings were importing Fender amplifiers from 1958. The "ban" doesn't stack up. There certainly were currency restrictions at one time, but clearly not by 1960 (hence Selmer and Jennings dealing in USA items by then). Fender, Gretsch and Guild were just slow to acquire international distributors. And when they did, their products (especially Fender's) were routinely marked up to 200% or more of USA list price.

Colours? Yes - both Selmer and Jennings offered Fenders (a restricted range: Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Precision Bass) in only either "red" or "sunburst" in 1960/61, with the Jazz Bass and Jaguar joining them in 1961 and 1962 respectively. The Telecaster was offered primarily in blonde. Custom coulours came later as far as the Uk was concerned. Even when the imported colour range widened a bit, only a couple were added (Olympic White, Sonic Blue). Neither company ordered metallics (CAR, LPB) or black. All you ever saw in the UK was Red (whether Fiesta or some other variant), sunburst, white or that light blue.

JN

[RUSSET]

I'm not so sure about a trade ban on guitars in the '50s. That's the story that's been put around the music forums for several years now, but I would guess that up until 'R N R' became really popular in the later part of that decade & the increase in the broadcasting of music on TV, there wouldn't have been much of a mass market for any electric guitars, let alone Fenders in particular. I imagine a few of the West End dealers would have had one or two samples in stock, but the price of imports inc. the tariffs at that time would have made them very expensive for average joe musician, & certainly out of reach of the young upcoming Rock 'n Roller. We certainly didn't know much about Fender Strats until we began to see American artistes on the tele.
As far as Bruce's Jazzmaster is concerned, I thought I read somewhere that it went to the Lead guitarist of 'The Hunters' after Bruce got his 'Matching Red set' Strat. I have seen a photo of the Hunters sporting a sunburst Jazzmaster.

Tony.

[Gatwick1946]

Thanks Jim and Tony.

The first Strat I was able to inspect at close range had a sunburst finish. In a lot of photos from the early 60's, sunburst strats seem to be in the majority. I wondered if the red was more expensive or had to be specially ordered.

I am quoting Hank from 'The Shadows by Themselves' where he puts the Strat as being worth £200. That is about 20 times the average wage at the time, about £9500 in today's money. I struggled to save £2.50 for my first electric, let alone the amp. In the hall at school at that time it was commen to see 2/3 guitarists sharing one amplifier! Happy Days!

Regards Christopher

[RUSSET]

The first actual Strat I saw in the flesh was in about 1962, with my nose pressed up against the window of a music shop in Birmingham. It was a Fiesta Red (?) with a Rosewood board .... they all seemed to be Rosewood at that time. It looked as Pink as a stick of Blackpool rock, much lighter & brighter than the shade we see as F.R. these days, rather like those Shocking Pink socks you could get in the late '50s. The story going round now is that the importers to the UK were repainting some of the other colour models for this market due to the popularity of the Shads at the time resulting in phenomenal demand for that colour. I did see quite a few Sunburst models & some White, & occassionally Light Blue. They were about 160 guineas, if I recall correctly, & a Vox AC30 was about 110 guineas. I was earning about £6 a week at the time & had to settle for a Hofner V3 solid, secondhand, for £30 on Hire Purchase, signed for by my Dad. Happy Days .... ?

Tony.

[Didier]

There certainly were currency restrictions at one time, but clearly not by 1960.
JN

Hi Jim,

I think there was still some currency restrictions at this time. You could only change a limited amount of money, so it was difficult to buy something from the US if you had only British pounds or French francs. Of course, if you had US dollars, you could buy anything you wanted from the US.

Didier

[Gatwick1946]

Thanks Tony,

I still have my first guitar which I bought from a schoolfriend in 1962.

Here is a link to the Antoria/Guyatone catalogue:-

http://sebastion.virtuozzo.co.nz/gitbox ... oneAntoria

Mine is the L60 model. I am tempted to get it back to a playable condition to see what it would sound like through a modern amp.

Regards
Christopher

[cygnetshadow]

On the subject of Bruce's Jazzmaster, Geoff Strachan has given me the green light to retell the history as posted many years ago on the old site.

The guitar was passed on to Brian Parker, lead guitar with The Hunters. Jet's sunburst Precision bass was bought by John Rogers, The Hunters' bass player. Cliff and Brian were best friends so Cliff told Brian that the guitars were going back to the Jennings shop for resale, there was no premium on a famous player's guitar in those days. Geoff was a good mate of Brian's so he was also able to visit the shop at the right time to buy Hank's TV front AC30.

When the Hunters disbanded they continued to do a few semi-pro gigs (just like most of us). On the way back from one of these gigs, travelling in a Ford Consul estate with the gear in the back, a vehicle drove into the back of their car and the Jazzmaster was damaged. It was not too serious but looked very tatty, so Brian got Selmers to refinish it, in Lake Placid Blue. Geoff used it for a while in his band, but being unable to afford two Fenders it was sold to Keith Sanford of a band called The Eltones who passed it on to his brother Hedley when he finished playing in bands. That's where the trail runs cold. Can anyone pick up the thread?

The bass was destroyed in the road accident that killed John Rogers in 1964 when he was touring with Adam Faith as part of The Roulettes

The history of 34346 is well documented, but I am happy to rebroadcast the history of the other two of this triumvirate of great guitars.

Best wishes, Stephen

[Apache1]

Just to say Jim Russell you are spot on with your comments and your prices here is a picure of me with my Strat Vox AC30 and Baby Binson in 1962

The Deltas 4.jpg

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[Apache1]

So Sorry Tony Dont know where the hell i got "Jim Russell from