fenderplucker wrote:Hi Rob, Roger,
That sound bite from Hank is interesting but again raises some questions. For example, he says that "Theme for Young Lovers was recorded in the summer, in Blackpool, in 1963". But documentary evidence shows that it was recorded with Walkin' at Abbey Road on 1 November 1963 (i.e. Autumn 1963). He goes on to say that they didn't ask Jimmy Burns to design those first guitars ‘till the middle or end of summer 1963, and didn't get them until almost the end of 1963 (but had a prototype to try out). But in Pearls and Crazy Diamonds, Jim Burns says that he was first approached in 1962 and delivered the first two "final" versions to Hank and Bruce in November 1963, though Hank still wanted some further changes. This as borne out in a statement by Hank in his column in the October 25, 1963 edition of New Music Express where he says that he has started playing his guitar but it still needs some adjustment. So could he have used a Burns on Walkin' and/or Theme for Young Lovers, or was it a Strat? To my ear TFYL was probably a Strat, but then Walkin' sounds more like a Burns:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuYc1r945Jk&feature=youtu.beWhat are thoughts on the matter?
However, I agree that the "20-30 prototypes" was indeed probably a myth, and just some adjustments/changes in the instruments sent to Hank each time.
Paul (trainspotter!!).
The "thirty prototypes" story - whatever its truth or mythicality - was first retailed by
Hank himself in his monthly column in the "Beat Instrumental" magazine in early 1964. I'm sure someone here has a copy of it they can post.
The same is true for the statement of the length of time that the Burns guitars were in development (not too far off two years before becoming available to ordinary buyers). That too came from Hank's comments in his column. It didn't come from anywhere else.
Additionally, a television programme shown in May 1962 - "Dan Farson meets The Shadows" - had Hank answering a question by saying that they had designed their guitars. This was at a time when I knew nothing about guitars or their makers and I naturally assumed he was talking about the red instruments they were using. It was only later, given what Hank had said about the development period, that it became apparent that he had been talking about the Marvin and Shadows bass. Well, he certainly wasn't talking about the Stratocaster, that's for sure.
There is a thread on a Shadows Facebook page about
Walkin'. It is true that Roberto Pistolesi's database contains the information that four songs were recorded at Abbey Road on 1st November 1963, one of them being a Cliff number.
Shazam! is definitely listed (meaning that there is an index card for it in the Hayes EMI archive), but it is possible that this was a polishing session with an edit or two - or perhaps even the piano being added by Norrie Paramor. The Blackpool sessions are represented in that card index by exactly nine songs...
Blue Shadows / Dakota / French Dressing / Boum / C'est Si Bon / La Mer / J'Attendrai / Say You're Mine / What've I Gotta Do...recorded between the 1st and 9th August inclusive. There is no mention of
Shazam! or
Theme For Young Lovers being among them, but that could possibly be partly due to a record-keeping error.
The length of time it took to develop the Burns Marvin was totally unconscionable. Had that guitar become available in the summer of 1962 when The Shadows were still the toppermost of the poppermost and solid guitars still the main pop music objects of desire (as opposed to Gretsches, Gibson ES-335, etc), production could have been measured in the thousands rather than the (few) hundreds.