cockroach wrote:Not sure of exact dates, but I'm sure there will be folk here who would know for certain..
1. Jet got his Precision bass (sunburst) the day after his Framus bass was knocked over and damaged in a theatre dressing room - late '59 or early 1960?
2. Cliff ordered and privately imported only one guitar for Hank(the 'original Red Strat) direct from Fender in the USA, as Fenders were not yet generally available in the UK at the time...late 1959.
3. I think the import restrictions were lifted by the UK government not long after..again late 1959/early 1960..
4. IIRC, the new Fender lineup (red Strats with rosewood fingerboards and red Precision bass) were supplied to the Shadows by Jennings Ltd as part of an endorsement arrangement in 1961.. the red P bass used by Jet was then provided to Licorice Locking when he replaced Jet in 1962...I would suspect the all white Fender lineup (including a white P bass) which the Shads used in late 1963 (before they changed to Burns) were similarly an updated new set of gear supplied by Jennings.
The received opinion is that 34346 arrived at 100 Marylebone High Street in about May 1959. It was the
only Fender used by The Shadows for some time (probably about five months). Jet continued with the Besson/Framus and Bruce with the Vega guitar previously the property of Hank.
The other Fenders (sunburst Jazzmaster and Precision Bass) were delivered later in 1959 and were more or less the standard set-up for The Shadows until about March 1961. Sometimes though, during that period, Bruce can be seen playing a Telecaster and sometimes a Gretsch 6120. There is also a 1960 photo of him using a sunburst R/N Stratocaster (probably belonging to Chas McDevitt). The Gretsch was seen, for instance, in a TV programme broadcast on 31st December 1960. It was later seen the movie "Summer Holiday". Bruce once told me that the Jazzmaster was not a loaner and that it belonged to him. I would assume that this means that the sunburst Precision belonged to Jet. This would pre-date any loan deal with Jennings.
A Youtube video currently referenced on the Cliff Richard website shows an unusual combination: Hank with 34346, Jet with the FR Precision with his initials on and Bruce with a Telecaster. The bass means that the video must be March 1961 at a minimum. The adhesive initials on the red bass indicate that it wasn't a temporary loan pending service or repairs on the sunburst example. Why Hank was still using 34346 is a puzzle. Perhaps the red guitars arrived one by one rather than all three at once. And perhaps the Telecaster was a loan against the still-to-arrive Stratocaster.
There is never going to be any firm data on the issue of the supposed "import ban". Selmer were importing Gibson guitars (and probably their amplifiers) during the 1950s, which tends to militate against the usual suppositions.
Whatever the ownership of the first Fender guitars (34346 and the sunburst models), it seems that the eventual deal was between JMI and the Shaows' management company, which is why and how the basses could be passed from bassist to bassist.