Guitars and Gear

My nephew Brandon has recently begun to describe various musical instruments in his possession and their significance in his life. He suggested that I might do the same. I've made an attempt to begin the process here, but for me the story goes back to the early Sixties.

I can’t remember who gave me my first guitar. A hand-me-down, it was an arch top “F” hole, Spanish type acoustic. Probably not a very good one, but fourteen year olds don’t question these matters. I remember my friend Gene had a dilapidated jukebox whose carriage mechanics no longer worked, but it could be coaxed to play records manually. It still had a mighty jukebox sound. We discovered that by removing the cartridge from the tone arm and holding it against the body of the Spanish acoustic we could amplify it. We fashioned a sort of crude electric guitar that way, but it only made me want a real electric.

Gene owned a nice new blond Fender Telecaster. He patiently taught me to form chords on his Tele, gingerly grasping my faltering fingers and guiding them to the proper string and fret when necessary. That Telecaster was really the guitar that lit the fire in me. My own first electric was much less glamorous. After much pleading my father agreed to order it from the Aldon’s Catalog. It was black with a white pick guard, and the case had a built-in amplifier. It looked a lot like something that could have been manufactured by the Danelectro Company with a masonite body and lipstick tube pickup. I recently saw a photo of Beck with the very same guitar.

In the meantime Gene had traded the Tele for a Stratocaster and soon after decided the enhanced prestige of a Fender Jaguar was for him (more knobs and switches ostensibly made so many more sounds). That discarded Strat became my first good electric guitar. I was never the one with jingle in my pockets, however, and the Strat was eventually repossessed.

Next I was able to scrape together the down payment for a brand new Fender product. The much ballyhooed Mustang. The salesman at Hays Music highly touted its charms, but I think he was actually just steering me toward something I could afford. It didn’t work. That one was repossessed too. Actually it was down traded for a Duo Sonic that soon went back to the store. I sucked at paying for gear. The Mustang and Duo Sonic were my first “new” guitars, but they were not great instruments, and were no real loss.

I finally got a hold of a nice used Tele. It was black, and a bit unusual in that the body had a white binding that made a nice contrast. I was soon living in the “Colored” section of Manhattan, KS playing in a number of destitute bands. The Tele was usually in the pawnshop during the week so I could eat, and only bailed out on weekends for gigs. I think it became a pawnshop casualty over time, because I can’t really remember what became of it. I had a Cort violin shaped guitar at the same time, but could never get a decent loan for it, so it played a few jobs, but I much preferred the Tele.

In my youth I was never able to collect guitars. I’m sure I had a few that I’ve failed to mention so far, but never more than one or two in my grasp at a time. Amps were nearly always Fender. I liked the sound of the early Vox and Marshalls, but they were rarities around here, and pretty cost prohibitive. In those days the affordable used Fender amps were of the vintage tube variety (imagine that!). The powerful Showman, Bandmaster, Bassman, Concert, and Tremolux amps were all widely available and relatively inexpensive. Not to mention the venerable and cheap Princeton and Champs stashed in every picker’s bedroom. I ended up with a Bassman for my first road amp. I grew up with that sound and I’ve always loved it. There’s nothing sweeter than an old Fender tubie.