Guitar Spotting

[stephen]

My Dad bought a metallic green with black side 'flash' Singer Gazelle new sometime in '65 and that was a 'C' reg.

Stephen.

[dave robinson]

The guitar that Bill noticed that looks like a Les Paul is a Hagstrom, I froze the frame and you can clearly see the headstock, it has a distinct shape that identifies it. I'm not sure but I recall a model called 'The Swede' and it could have been one of those. The bass is the two pick up model and the Burns as Bill said. Still watching and will go through the second episode too. I love seeing those old instruments again.

[dusty fretz]

Just to be a bit of a nit-picker, Bill said the Burns employed in the first episode was a Vibra Artist, when actually it was the small-bodied Sonic model. So what, you may ask and you'd be right! The sparkle-fronted electric was indeed a Hagstrom, an EDP46 Deluxe to be exact and, as I mentioned before, this wouldn't have been one of the most obvious choices for a beat group back then.

[dave robinson]

Just to be a bit of a nit-picker, Bill said the Burns employed in the first episode was a Vibra Artist, when actually it was the small-bodied Sonic model. So what, you may ask and you'd be right! The sparkle-fronted electric was indeed a Hagstrom, an EDP46 Deluxe to be exact and, as I mentioned before, this wouldn't have been one of the most obvious choices for a beat group back then.

Thanks Paul, so can I just clear this up in my head, the Vibra Artste is the square shaped one and the Sonic is the tiny one ? I always used to see bands with these and never knew the names of them, probably because I'm not keen on them and never wanted one back then. I opted for a Vox Duotone instead because the colour was more like the Fender. I should have course gone for the Vox Ace because it had the trem arm, but money dictated everything in those days and the Duotone was cheaper by about a tenner. In retrospect the Burns guitars did sound good and were better than my Vox, but I was a kid and knew nothing about guitars. Perhaps the choice of a Hagstrom guitar back then was governed by availability and price ?

[JimN]

It's amazing how wide-ranging is the historical soul-searching caused by the first two episodes of "Cilla"!

Motor vehicle registration of the period has always been a topic of discussion on the web and luckily, there is plenty of information available on the subject.

The major "wrinkles" in the new sixties system were encountered during 1963 and 1968. The "A" suffix was introduced for use 01/01/63 to 31/12/63 inclusive, but not every county or borough adopted the system immediately. Thus, there were still plenty of cars registered under the "old" system in 1963. When I was an apprentice in the sixties, I recall that a colleague had a Ford Consul Cortina reg no 411 JKA. No suffix, but he insisted it was a 1963. I have no reason to doubt that.

So the first anomaly is that some 1963 cars were not part of the new system. Other than that, it ran:

A - 1963
B - 1964
C - 1965
D -1966
E - 1967.

The second hiccup occurred in 1967, when the process was changed to a 1st August changeover, brought forward from 1st January 1968. For that reason, there were always fewer E-reg cars around (it only ran for seven months) than D and F, each of which ran for a full year).

From then on, it worked:

G - August 1968 - July 1969
H - August 1969 - July 1970, and so on.

The story is told reasonably clearly at:

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_numberplates.html

I suppose it's slightly on-topic because for those of us with amplifiers or drum-kits to carry, motor vehicles were an absolute necessity and access to them was governed purely by money, with value largely determined by the reg. letter...

[dave robinson]

Just seen the clip of the other guitar that Bill mentioned, it's a Hofner Colorama, which is the very same guitar that in 1961 my mate at school had and took me home to show me on the afternoon of the Crackerjack programme in which The Shadows appeared and changed my life. The guitar was finished in a dark 'see through' red with two pickups, toaster style and the big single sided headstock. An hour after seeing that guitar I was sat in front of the TV and The Shadows came on and played FBI and I think The Frightened City and blew me away. From being a potential pro footballer I decided there and then it was the the guitar for me - no contest. At first it was to be a hobby but by 1966 I was professional and touring the UK and Europe. That mate of mine has a lot to answer for !

[dave robinson]

Re the comment about the session musician using a bow for the bass, he was actually part of the string section but there was a double bass being plucked that wasn't shown.

[JimN]

The Colorama pictured above...



...seems to have had an aftermarket mod to fit that non-standard vibrato unit. That model of the Colorama tended to come with either a short arch-top-style tailpiece or a factory-fitted "horseshoe" Bigsby, as seen in the case of the example used by Brian Griffiths in The Big Three line-up around 1963:

[Billyboygretsch]

In 1964/65 I worked at Lotus and helped build the Mk1 Lotus Cortinas. I can remember them having "c" reg plates. When they introduced the Mk2 lotus Cortina assembly was transferred from Cheshunt to Dagenham. I can remember them being "D & E " registration

[Billyboygretsch]

I think I had A Hofner Colorado at one time. It certainly looked like the ones shown but it was covered in a red leatherette type of material. Would that have been a Colorado