Iconic 60’s (but non-Shadows) Guitars

[abstamaria]

I wish we could use this Rickenbacker 360/12 in our shows, but this 12-string electric, beloved of Beatles fans, was introduced just outside our December 1963 cut-off. Not mine, but I’ve kept it for a friend for twelve or so years now. Most twelve-strings have the octave strings on the bass side, but Rickenbacker reverses this convention. George Harrison introduced the distinctive new sound of this guitar on “I Call Your Name" in March 1964.

[JimN]

Original Danelectro 12-string guitars (the Bellzouki models) also had the courses arranged with the octave string below the main string. In other words, on a downstroke, the pick hits the lower-pitched string first.

PS: Your Rick has the later hi-gain pickups, from much later than 1963.

[abstamaria]

Thanks, Jim. I didn't know that about the Danelectro. And, yes, I figure that Rickenbacker is an early 1990s model. It belongs to a Japanese friend who doesn't really like it and so has kept it with me all these years. I find it hard to fret, but it is the only 12-string guitar I've played, so do not know whether all 12-string guitars are like that. I should probbaly just play it more.

Regards,

Andy

PS: I am amazed constantly by what you know, Jim. You shoulkd write a book.

[noelford]

Andy, does your friend have any other nice guitars they don't really like and need someone to look after? I'll pay shipping costs!

[RayL]

For a really fine jangly 12-string sound my Baldwin 712T is Nashville-strung (even the largest string is, from memory, only a 22 thou). With the accuracy that a guitar tuner provides, the pairs are tuned so that one string is very slightly sharp, the other very slightly flat, to increase the chorus effect.

Baldwin 712T.jpg

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Although hardly 'iconic', the Baldwin/Burns 700 series have steadily appreciated in value and have kept up well with other Burns guitars from the '60s.

Ray

[abstamaria]

I'll tell him, Noel, but he probably likes the fact that his guitars are just around the corner. I don't mind keeping his guitars, of course. I owe my getting started to him actually. He came one day some 14 years ago with a gift for me - a brand new Fiesta Red '62 reissue Jazzmaster. I am very lucky.

Andy

[cockroach]

It's quite ironic that early on, George Harrison apparently really wanted a Strat but bought his Gretsch Duo-Jet, because the Strat that he was saving for was sold before he got there...

Many post-Shadows groups not only adopted newer music styles (primarily vocal with backing, rather than instrumentals, and/or merely being a solo singer's accompaniment)but also switched to other types of guitars to emulate their new heroes (Beatles, Stones etc), and it became 'uncool' (I suppose) after about late 1963/early 1964 for a group to use three matching colour Fenders...which trend later changed again somewhat later in the '60's as it was apparent that Fenders couldin fact handle most styles, and the 'image' thing was perhaps a bit less important as far as guitars went (people like Hendrix, Clapton etc started using Strats, and lots of bass players went back to Fender basses.)

I think folks tended to start using solid Fenders again (and solid Gibsons) because when the really powerful big amps came in, many hollowbody guitars gave too much unusable feedback in live situations.

[abstamaria]

For posterity, here is the head of the 360/12, small for a 12-string.

[abstamaria]

To me, the demarcation line of “early“ Shadows music, the music I knew as a teenager, was the shift by our heroes from Fenders to Burns. That was I think about November 1962, but please correct me if I am wrong.

I have a similar demarcation line for the Ventures, and that one is drawn by the band’s move from Fenders to Mosrites. I believe that took place in the fall of 1963. The last Ventures album I bought was “In Space,” which was probably largely recorded with Mosrites.

Here is a Mosrite, circa 1992 or so, probably made in Japan. It is not mine, but also has been in my care for more than a decade. It has very thin strings, as Nokie Edwards used thin strings (banjo in the very early days), and also a very narrow neck. I find it hard to get used to it actually, and the lack of fretboard markers is sometimes a problem for me.



The owner, my Japanese friend, considers Mosrites the Ventures guitar. He explains Japan first saw the Ventures as a group in 1964, and it was the raw sound of the Mosrites that caught their attention. He has a metallic red one, too, so I am hopeful he will bequeath this to me.

Andy

[abstamaria]

FENDER JAZZMASTER.



Of course, Bruce Welch had a Jazzmaster and played it on that black-and-white promotional video for “Apache.” I thought that he used it for recording “Tales of a Raggy Tramline,” but was later told here that that probably wasn’t so. I don’t think therefore that the Jazzmaster ever figured in any Shadows recording, so I would classify it as a “non-Shadows” guitar. Certainly, its unique sound isn’t identified with the Shadows.

The Jazzmaster was the first guitar I dreamed of when I was a very young teenager. My hero Bob Bogle used it, and it was the “top-of-the-line” Fender guitar. A popular local band here, composed of rich college kids, had a Jazzmaster in 1962, and, boy, was I envious.

I have two Jazzmasters now, including the one shown here. The other one is Fiesta Red, given as a gift by a good Japanese friend when I was already 50, and my very first Fender. I really didn’t know how to play or anything about echoes and tone then. I learned “Apache” on that red Jazzmaster, but couldn’t figure out why, seeing that I had this nice Fender and a Twin Reverb, I didn’t sound like Hank Marvin at all. It’s a good thing we have this site (and its predecessor). I was a complete novice.

Andy