I have learned a lot since Roberto passed and I am certain that if we could discuss today we could finally put this to bed once and for all.
The sound of electric guitars and their nuances are something that intrigue me and as I have mentioned many times, there are a lot of guitars that are not Fender Strats' that will do a very close early Shadows tone, dependant on what you are playing it through. When I first took an interest in this music, I was too young to go inside the pubs where bands were playing Shadows music every Fri, Sat & Mon, but we would peek through the windows and sometimes slip in at the back, until getting booted out. The main thing at this time was that only a sprinkling of Fender guitars were around, they were mostly Burns, Hofners' and Futuramas', but one thing in common was the amps, which were Linear Concords' with home made cabinet, Watkins Dominators, Selmer, Elpico, Bird (remember those) and the odd Vox AC15, always with a Copicat for lead guitar, sometimes a Selmer echo and very rarely you would see a Meazzi Factotum or Binson PA if they were well off, but mainly the PA would be a Leak amp with a Varislope pre-amp. The point is, they sounded like the records we were hearing on radio at the time.
We did notice a difference as more Fenders' appeared as well as the Gretsch and Gibson guitars that were finding their way here into the shops. Also the bigger Vox & Selmer amps began to appear too, the only guy who had a Fender amp was Frank White, who was lead guitar for Jimmy Crawford at that time. Frank went on to buy several Fender amps and ended up with the Showman when he got the first Gibson SG double neck guitar to be imported into the UK, which coincided with his appointment as lead guitarist for Dave Berry & The Cruisers, after the original and best ever Cruisers split with Berry.
I'm currently putting a book together about the local scene in South Yorks at this time, so I have lots of pictures at my disposal that people have kindly contributed. Bloody hell I'm rambling . . . . I'll get me coat.
